Kings Row

In the small midwestern town of Kings Row, in 1890, five children know and play with each other: Parris Mitchell, a polite, clever little boy who lives with his grandmother; pretty blonde Cassandra Tower, daughter of the secretive Dr. Alexander Tower and a mother that is seen only through the upstairs window; the orphaned but wealthy and fun-loving Drake McHugh who is best friends with Parris; Louise Gordon, daughter of the town physician Dr. Henry Gordon; and the tomboy Randy Monaghan, from the "wrong side of the tracks", whose father, Tom, is a railroad worker.[8]

Drake McHugh (Ronald Reagan) with two lady friends in Kings Row.

Parris is both friends with and drawn to Cassandra, whom the other children avoid because her family is "strange". They play together regularly. The boys are best friends, and Randy plays with the boys sometimes as well. When Dr. Tower takes Cassie out of school, and she is confined at home, Parris does not see her for many years.

He finally meets her again when she opens the door for him to begin his medical studies under Dr. Tower's tutelage.[8] However, she is very hesitant and says almost nothing. The next morning, Parris' best friend, Drake, says that he intends to marry Louise, who is in love with him as well, despite the disapproval of her father Dr. Gordon. Louise, however, refuses to defy her parents and will not marry him. As Parris continues his studies with Dr. Tower, Parris and Cassie begin a secret romance, seeing each other at Tower's house. But he and Dr. Tower have a good relationship as well. Dr. Tower has interested Parris in psychiatry, which he intends to study in Vienna. Parris' grandmother becomes ill from cancer and dies as he is about to go overseas to Vienna for medical school. Parris wants to marry Cassie after he returns from his training. One night Cassie comes desperately to him, begging him to take her with him to Vienna. When Parris hesitates, she runs away again, back home.[8]

The next morning, Drake learns that Dr. Tower has poisoned Cassie and shot himself, and has left his entire estate to Parris. Drake tells Parris and gives him Dr. Tower's notebook, which showed that he killed Cassie because he believed he saw early signs that she might go insane like her mother, and he wanted to prevent Parris from ruining his life by marrying her, just as Tower's life had been ruined by marrying Cassie's mother.[8]

Dedicated young doctor Parris Mitchell (Robert Cummings) is secretly in love with his mentor's daughter.

While Parris is in Vienna, Drake's trust fund is stolen by a dishonest bank official. Drake is forced to work locally for the railroad, and his legs are injured in an accident when tiles fall on him. Dr. Gordon amputates both of his legs. Drake, who had been courting Randy before the accident, now marries her but is now embittered by the loss of his legs and refuses to leave his bed. Parris exchanges letters with Randy and he tells her how she might best support Drake emotionally. They decide to start a business with Parris' financial help, building houses for working families. Parris returns from Vienna to Kings Row to support Drake. But, when Parris suggests they move into one of the homes they've built, away from the railroad tracks and sounds of the trains that plague Drake, he becomes hysterical and makes Randy swear to never make him leave the room.[8]

Parris decides to remain there at Kings Row when he learns that Dr. Gordon has died, leaving the town with no doctor. Louise reveals that her father amputated Drake's legs unnecessarily, because he hated Drake and thought it was his duty to punish wickedness. Parris at first wishes to withhold the truth from Drake, fearing it will destroy his fragile recovery. He considers confining Louise to a mental institution, even though she is not insane, to prevent the truth from being revealed to Drake and other victims of her father.

When out walking, he sees a woman named Elise sitting where Cassie used to sit, dressed similarly. She has moved into his childhood home, and he becomes close to her and her father. Parris discusses the problem regarding Louise with Elise. She persuades him to treat Drake like any other patient, rather than his best friend. Parris tells Drake what happened. Drake reacts with laughter and defiance, wondering if Dr. Gordon thought he lived in his legs. He summons a renewed will to live instead of the deep clinical depression Parris had feared. Parris is now free to marry Elise, having helped his old friend return to a productive life.[8]

• Twentieth-Century Fox originally sought to buy Bellamann's novel as a vehicle for Henry Fonda.[9] Philip Reed, Rex Downing, and Tyrone Power were considered for the role of Parris.[9] In April 1941 Robert Cummings was mentioned as the leading favorite if Power could not be borrowed.[10] Cummings did a screen test and by May had the role.[11] Cummings was held up filming on a Deanna Durbin film but the filmmakers were willing to postpone for him.[12] In September filming was shut down for a week as Cummings was recalled to do reshoots on the Durbin film.[13]
• Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland and Ginger Rogers were initially considered for the role of Cassandra. Director Sam Wood pushed hard to cast Lupino, saying that she "has a natural something that Cassie should have." Wood believed that de Havilland, who turned down the role, was too mature for the part. Lupino also turned it down, despite Wallis' emphatic arguments, saying that it was "beneath her as an artist."[14]
• Bette Davis wanted the part, but the studio was against it because it was believed that she would dominate the movie, and Davis later suggested Betty Field. Among the other actresses considered for Cassandra were Katharine Hepburn, Adele Longmire, Marsha Hunt, Laraine Day, Susan Peters, Joan Leslie, Gene Tierney and Priscilla Lane.[7][9][14]
• James Stephenson was originally cast as Dr. Tower but died, and was replaced by Claude Rains.[15]
• Before Ronald Reagan was cast in the role, John Garfield was considered for the role of Drake McHugh, as were Dennis Morgan, Eddie Albert, Robert Preston, and Franchot Tone.[7][9] Although Reagan became a star as a result of his performance, he was unable to capitalize on his success because he was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in World War II. He never regained the star status that he had achieved from his performance in the film.[7]

Wolfgang Reinhardt turned down an assignment to produce the film, saying, "As far as plot is concerned, the material in Kings Row is for the most part either censurable or too gruesome and depressing to be used. The hero finding out that his girl has been carrying on incestuous relations with her father...a host of moronic or otherwise mentally diseased characters...people dying from cancer, suicides-these are the principal elements of the story."[9]

Filming started in July 1941 and went until December.[16]

The pivotal scene in which Drake McHugh wakes up to find his legs amputated posed an acting challenge for Reagan, who was supposed to say "Where's the rest of me?" in a convincing fashion. In City of Nets, Otto Friedrich noted that the movie had a formidable array of acting talent, and that the scene in which he saw that his legs were gone was his "one great opportunity." Reagan recalled in his memoir that he had "neither the experience nor talent to fake it," so he carried out exhaustive research, talking to disabled people and doctors, and practicing the line every chance he got.[7]

On the night before the scene was shot he had little sleep, so he looked suitably worn out, and Sam Wood shot the scene without rehearsal. He called out for Randy, which was not in the script, but Ann Sheridan was there and responded. The scene was effective and there was no need for another take.[7]

Parris (Robert Cummings) and Cassandra (Betty Field); their illicit romance disturbed the Hays Office.

A film adaptation of Bellamann's controversial novel, modeled on his home town of Fulton, Missouri, presented significant problems for movie industry censors, who sought to bring the film into conformity with the Hays Code. Screenwriter Casey Robinson believed the project was hopeless because of the Hays Code. Producer Hal B. Wallis said that Robinson felt "I was crazy to have bought so downbeat a property." Wallis urged him to reconsider, and it occurred to Robinson that he could turn this into the story of "an idealistic young doctor challenged by the realities of a cruel and horrifying world."[7]

Joseph Breen, director of the Production Code Authority, which administered the Hays Code, wrote the producers that "To attempt to translate such a story to the screen, even though it be re-written to conform to the provisions of the Production Code is, in our judgment, a very questionable undertaking from the standpoint of the good and welfare of this industry."[6]

Breen objected to "illicit sexual relationships" between characters in the movie "without sufficient compensating moral values", and also objected to "the general suggestion of loose sex...which carries throughout the entire script." Breen also voiced concern about the characterization of Cassandra, who is a victim of incest with her father in the novel, as well as the mercy killing of the grandmother by Parris also depicted in the novel, and "the sadistic characterization of Dr. Gordon."[9]

Dr. Tower (Claude Rains) commits incest with his daughter Cassandra in the novel. Censors forbade that in the film.

Breen said that any screenplay, no matter how well done, would likely bring condemnation of the film industry "from decent people everywhere" because of "the fact that it stems from so thoroughly questionable a novel. He said that the script was being referred to his superior, Will Hays, "for a decision as to the acceptability of any production based upon the novel, Kings Row."[14]

Robinson, Wallis and associate producer David Lewis[14] met with Breen to resolve these issues, with Wallis saying that the film would "illustrate how a doctor could relieve the internal destruction of a stricken community." Breen said that his office would approve the film if all references to incest, nymphomania, euthanasia and homosexuality, which had been suggested in the novel, be removed. All references to nude bathing were to be eliminated and "the suggestion of a sex affair between Randy and Drake will be eliminated entirely." It was agreed that Dr. Tower would know about the affair between Cassandra and Parris, and "that this had something to do with his killing of the girl."[14]

After several drafts were rejected, Robinson was able to satisfy Breen.[6][7]

Bellaman, a professor at Vassar College, was a disciple of Honoré de Balzac, and his novel was in the tradition of Winesburg, Ohio and was a forerunner of the popular 1950s novel Peyton Place.[7]

The film begins with a billboard promoting Kings Row as "A Good Town. A Good Clean Town. A Good Town to Live In and a Good Place to Raise Your Children." In his book City of Nets, author Otto Friedrich says that beneath the tranquil small town exterior was a "roiling inferno of fraud, corruption, treachery, hypocrisy, class warfare, and ill-suppressed sex of all varieties: adultery, sadism, homosexuality, incest."[7]

The film is a eulogy for American small town life in the Victorian era. At one point a character laments at seeing Parris' grandmother getting older: "A whole way of life. A way of gentleness and honor and dignity. These things are going... and they may never come back to this world."[6]

The film's musical score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold was so popular with the public that the Warner Brothers Music Department drafted a form-letter response to queries concerning recordings or sheet music. At the time, film scores for movie dramas were not published or recorded for commercial distribution.[14]

A soundtrack was not commercially available until 1979 when Chalfont Records, with the composer's son George Korngold as producer and an orchestra conducted by Charles Gerhardt, made an early digital recording. Subsequently, the original soundtrack, with the composer conducting, has been released from an optical recording.

Kings Row is considered one of Korngold's more notable compositions. The original orchestral score was requested by the White House for the inauguration of President Reagan. Prolific film composer John Williams drew inspiration from this film's soundtrack for his famous Star Wars opening theme.[17]

Before release of the film, the Los Angeles Daily News reported that Bellaman "heads west to help Erich Wolfgang Korngold on the scoring" of the film, and that Bellaman used to be on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. This led Korngold to send a sarcastic letter to the head of studio publicity at Warner Brothers, writing "seriously, should I really stop working and wait for the arrival of Mr. Bellaman? ... However, if he shouldn't arrive in time to help me, I shall certainly be ready to 'head east'—perhaps I could help him in writing his new book!"[14]

The film was adapted into a 1955 television series, with Jack Kelly (who later portrayed Bart Maverick in Maverick) in Cummings' role and Robert Horton (who subsequently played scout Flint McCullough in Wagon Train) performing Reagan's part. The show appeared as one of three rotating series on the earliest William T. Orr production, Warner Bros. Presents. The other two series were Casablanca (1955 TV series), another TV version of a renowned movie (featuring Charles McGraw in Humphrey Bogart's role), and Cheyenne, starring Clint Walker, a Western later produced by Roy Huggins that went on to its own time slot for several years until it started rotating with Bronco, another Warner Bros. Western. At the conclusion of each episode of Warner Bros. Presents, host Gig Young would interview a different actor from a new Warner Bros. movie about the studio's latest theatrical release. Kings Row ran for seven episodes.

• Ronald Reagan filmography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kings Row (1942 film).

• Kings Row at IMDb
• Kings Row at the TCM Movie Database
• Kings Row at AllMovie
• Kings Row at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Kings Row (1942) at Rotten Tomatoes