The Howards of Virginia (1940)

Director:

Frank Lloyd

Writers:

Sidney Buchman (screenplay)
Elizabeth Page (novel)

Release Date:

19 September 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The Vivid Drama Of A Nation's Birth !

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Cannon | Surveyor | Colony | Marriage Proposal | Loss Of Father

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Matt Howard
Martha Scott	...	Jane Peyton-Howard
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Fleetwood Peyton (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Alan Marshal	...	Roger Peyton
Richard Carlson	...	Thomas Jefferson
Paul Kelly	...	Captain Jabez Allen
Irving Bacon	...	Tom Norton
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Aunt Clarissa (as Elizabeth Risdon)
Anne Revere	...	Mrs. Betsy Norton
Tom Drake	...	James Howard at 16 (as Richard Alden)
Phil Taylor	...	Peyton Howard at 18
Rita Quigley	...	Mary Howard at 17
Libby Taylor	...	Dicey
Richard Gaines	...	Patrick Henry
George Houston	...	George Washington

Also Known As:

The Tree of Liberty (UK)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:Approved (PCA #6472) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Netherlands:AL (2004) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Carter's Grove - 8797 Pocahontas Trail, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

A modern source lists Sam McDaniel in the role of Robert the Butler, but that part was played by Jesse Graves.

Soundtrack:

Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

Not a documentary, but much more realism than Hollywood can capture today

Sad that so many Cary Grant fans had their bubbles burst. It certainly was strange to see him play such a character, but did anyone have any problems with the actors who played the other backwoodsmen? Grant could not have played his dapper persona while being from the Shenandoah Valley, especially in scenes with those crude and embarrassing frontiersmen and women. They must have been extras. I doubt if that kind of acting is taught at UCLA or Princeton.

One reviewer was critical of the director because the irony of Matthew Howard turning into a kind of Fleetwood Peyton was not portrayed. But from early on in the movie, Tom Jefferson and Matt Howard thought it would be grand to develop the 1,000 acres in the Shenandoah Valley into a PLANTATION. That was the American Dream, to achieve success through hard work. Then it meant that the most successful planter had slaves and went to Congress. But Matt Howard didn't want to run at first, and when pressed said he would go if only to improve the roads and bridges and repeal the Stamp Act. He had no thoughts of aristocratic power unlike Fleetwood.

Anyone see John Wayne in The Searchers? Early in the film he wanted to murder his niece Natalie Wood because she was kidnapped and lived with the Redskins. He too was playing a character from an earlier time when there were other mores.

Talk about provincialism! It's thriving even today.

Collectivism versus individualism is being played out today on these movie reviews. Am I being too critical to suggest that those who are most critical of this move are doing so on political rather than on artistic grounds?