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"Kings Row," with Robert Cummings, Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, and Betty Field.

Posted by tinear on September 30, 2020 at 06:05:34:
This is Grand Guignol at its best (or worst): a melodramatic cauldron of crises, emotional train wrecks, and unforeseen and unforeseeable disasters. I found it oddly fascinating and certainly no less "believable" than a zombie film--- and far more entertaining. Think "Great Expectations" meets "Arrowsmith," by way of "Our Town."
A young man (Cummings), orphaned at an early age, aspires to become a doctor and finds a mentor in a mysterious (Claude Rains!) physician who forces his daughter to become a recluse--- much to the chagrin of the interested Cummings. Reagan plays his loyal best friend, a wealthy playboy-type. Hollywood's "oomph girl," Ann Sheridan, portrays the girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
Now, the film is considered interesting because it was the picture that made Reagan a star--- and it's easy to see why. He commands the screen in his scenes. The war intervened and he never again received such stellar reviews.
Bob Cummings was an interesting fellow: he held the first US flying instructor's license ever awarded, plus: "(he) started looking for work in 1930, but was unable to find any roles, forcing him to get a job in a theatrical agency.[5] Seeing that at the time, "three quarters of Broadway plays were from England"[12] and English accents and actors were in demand, Cummings decided to cash in an insurance policy and buy a round trip to Britain.[13]
He was driving a motorbike through the country, picking up the accent and learning about the country. His bike broke down at Harrogate. While waiting for repairs, Cummings came up with a plan. He invented the name "Blade Stanhope Conway" and bribed the janitor of a local theatre to put on the marquee: "Blade Stanhope Conway in Candida". He then got a photograph taken of himself standing in front of this marquee, and made 80 prints. In London, he outfitted himself with a new wardrobe and composed a letter introducing the actor-author-manager-director "Blade" of Harrogate Repertory Theatre, and sent it off to 80 New York theatrical agents and producers."
Cummings' resourcefulness didn't end there: when films veered towards song and dance--- he learned how to do so, professionally. When Westerns came to the front, he taught himself a Texas accent (one director said it was the only believable one in the picture). Same with musicianship. He bragged he could fake anything...
Betty Field was a very successful Broadway actress who at one point was considered too "plain" for films! See how crazy that is...
Ann Sheridan starred in many films, dying at a relatively young age of cancer.