Our Town (1940)

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

Thornton Wilder (play)
Thornton Wilder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 May 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

I don't want to get married.....I'M AFRAID!

Plot:

Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. People grow up, get married...

Plot Keywords:

Uncle | Teenage Girl | Cat | New Hampshire | Birthday

Awards:

Nominated for 6 Oscars.

Cast

William Holden	...	George Gibbs
Martha Scott	...	Emily Webb
Fay Bainter	...	Mrs. Gibbs
Beulah Bondi	...	Mrs. Webb
Thomas Mitchell	...	Dr. Gibbs
Guy Kibbee	...	Mr. Webb
Stuart Erwin	...	Howie Newsome
Frank Craven	...	Mr. Morgan
Doro Merande	...	Mrs. Soames
Philip Wood	...	Simon Stimson
Ruth Tobey	...	Rebecca Gibbs (as Ruth Toby)
Douglas Gardner	...	Wally Webb
Arthur B. Allen	...	Professor Willard (as Arthur Allen)
Charles Trowbridge	...	Dr. Ferguson
Spencer Charters	...	Constable Warren

Runtime:

90 min | 89 min (Hypercube restored version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6071) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Fort Bragg, California, USA

Company:

Sol Lesser Productions

Trivia:

Because the play was performed on nearly a bare stage and the main character dies in the end, the production was delayed several months due to the difficulty in translating it to the screen. Thornton Wilder and producer Sol Lesser worked together closely to modify the play. No changes were made without Wilder's permission.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Studio lights are reflected on the mourners' rain-soaked umbrellas.

Quotes:

Mrs. Julia Hersey Gibbs: It seems to me, once in your life, before you die, you ought to see a country where they don't speak any English and they don't even want to.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Action: Strong Sexual Content (#1.7)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

The Wedding March

Broadway vs. Hollywood

There have been a lot of irate comments posted here about the change in the ending of the play: a character who died on Broadway is almost magically resurrected in the film, and her conversations with the dead are revealed to be a dream.

I, too, was in this play in high school--gosh, wasn't everybody?--and I loved the spareness and the emotion of the original. Mostly, I loved the evocation of early-20th century small town life...a life gone by now, and remembered by fewer and fewer people. The original play--and the countless high school or community theatre revivals--took place on a spare stage, but that was perhaps a little too adventurous for Hollywood in 1940. Instead, the brilliant production designer William Cameron Menzies went to work to evoke the actual details of that small town life, and to my mind he succeeded brilliantly. I remember being stopped in my tracks by the tool the milkman uses to apportion out the milk (cream?) to his customers: a kind of tubular shovel that allowed him to fill up their own containers and still give an equal amount to all. How on earth did Menzies know about such things? Was it his own memories he drew upon?

Some have said that Thornton Wilder might have been horrified by the changes that were wrought in his work. It would be instructive for those people to consult the American Film Institute Catalog for this film. In the notes, the editors remark that no changes were made without Wilder's permission. Further, regarding the fate of Emily, AFI quotes this letter from Wilder to Sam Lesser, the producer, "Emily should live....In a movie you see the people so close 'to' that a different relation is established. In the theatre, they are halfway abstraction in an allegory, in the movie they are very concrete. So, insofar as the play is a generalized allegory, she dies-we die-they die; insofar as it's a concrete happening it's not important that she die; it is disproportionately cruel that she die. Let her live--the idea will have been imparted anyway." I hope that will silence the outrage on Wilder's behalf; he seemed pretty happy with it.

And I was as well. The important thing to me was the mood that was evoked. I, too, thought that some scenes went on too long--the cemetery segment did seem to drag a bit. But the overall effect is so lovely, so moving.

One other thing--for those who feel that both Holden and Scott looked too old for their roles: have you ever looked at a high school yearbook from the 1930s or 1940s? I used to look at my parents' yearbooks all the time. Those teenagers looked ancient. There was no culture of youth, no worship of childishness then the way there is today. Their goal was to grow up as soon as possible, and they worked hard all through their adolescence and teenage years. For me, seeing the baby-face of William Holden, looking almost unrecognizably young, the last thing I thought of was whether he looked too *old* for his part! So, regardless of whether you know the stage play or not, you should check out this film. Especially if you love Americana, such as "Our Vines Have Tender Grapes" or the first "State Fair" (also with Frank Craven!) or "Meet Me in St Louis." "Our Town" will not disappoint.