Parnell (1937)

Director:

John M. Stahl

Writers:

Elsie T. Schauffler (play)
John Van Druten (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

4 June 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The life of Irish politician Charles Stewart Parnell, following from 1880 onward his struggle to free his country from English rule...

Plot Keywords:

Ireland | Aunt | Divorce | Falsely Accused | Forgery

Cast

Clark Gable	...	Charles Stewart Parnell
Myrna Loy	...	Mrs. Katie O'Shea
Edna May Oliver	...	Aunt Ben Wood
Edmund Gwenn	...	Campbell, Parnell's Secretary
Alan Marshal	...	Captain William 'Willie' O'Shea
Donald Crisp	...	Michael Davitt
Billie Burke	...	Miss Clara Wood
Berton Churchill	...	The O'Gorman Mahon
Donald Meek	...	Murphy
Montagu Love	...	William Ewart Gladstone
Byron Russell	...	Timothy Healy
Brandon Tynan	...	John Redmond
Phyllis Coghlan	...	Ellen, Katie's Maid (as Phillis Coghlan)
Neil Fitzgerald	...	Richard Pigott
George Zucco	...	Sir Charles Russell

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #3145)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The original play opened in New York on 11 November 1935.

Quotes:

[while visiting America, Parnell gives some money to a poor family]
Poor man: It's little wonder why they call him the King of Ireland.
Sheriff: The *uncrowned* King.
Poor woman: He'll get his crown in heaven.

Soundtrack:

London Bridge is Falling Down

the perils of miscasting

This 1937 MGM film was, I take it, a major bomb at the time of its initial release. Certainly, this blend of historical drama, tearjerker romance, and fuzzy politics could not have been considered commercial even back then. That probably explains the casting of two of MGM's biggest stars, Clark Gable and Myrna Loy, in roles that they were ill-suited to (to say the least)--an effort to offset the uncommercial nature of the project with star power. Could there have been a more archetypical (is that a word?) American actor than Gable? Here, he doesn't even attempt an Irish accent; he is uncharacteristically ill-at-ease and the scenes toward the end of the film when his character is supposedly in failing health are laughable (Gable never looks less than robust). Loy fares only slightly better--she was a chic and witty actress, but here she goes the teary, noble route with blah results. Only the great character actress Edna May Oliver, with her horsey face and tart manner, manages to make anything of her scenes. MGM would have done better casting, say, Spencer Tracy and Maureen O'Sullivan (both of whom, I think, were under contract to the studio)--at least they would have been more believable in the parts, though the basic problems of the film (lacklustre direction and a screenplay that tells us very little about the titular character and his politics) would have remained.