Johnny Tremain (1957)

Johnny Tremain is drawn into the Revolutionary War, and becomes a patriot fighting to free the colonies from England. Along the way he learns about life and about himself.

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Thomas W. Blackburn (screenplay), Esther Forbes (book)

Stars:

Hal Stalmaster, Luana Patten, Jeff York

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Hal Stalmaster	...	Johnny Tremain
Luana Patten	...	Priscilla Lapham
Jeff York	...	James Otis
Sebastian Cabot	...	Jonathan Lyte
Richard Beymer	...	Rab Silsbee (as Dick Beymer)
Rusty Lane	...	Samuel Adams
Walter Sande	...	Paul Revere
Whit Bissell	...	Josiah Quincy
Walter Coy	...	Dr. Joseph Warren
Will Wright	...	Ephraim Lapham
Virginia Christine	...	Mrs. Lapham
Ralph Clanton	...	Gen. Gage
Lumsden Hare	...	Adm. Montagu
Gavin Gordon	...	Col. Smith
Geoffrey Toone	...	Maj. Pitcairn

Storyline

In colonial Boston, a young silversmith's apprentice injures his hand, and finds himself befriended by the Sons of Liberty and caught up in events of the American Revolution.

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Plot Keywords:

patriot | merchant | sons of liberty | battle | american revolution | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Family | History | War

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 June 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Johnny Tremain and the Sons of Liberty

Filming Locations:

Rowland V. Lee Ranch - Fallbrook Avenue, Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In August 1957, this film was being shown on a double bill with Funny Face starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn.

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Goofs

When Johnny and Rab sit down to fold the Boston Observer, and after only about 10 seconds of conversation and folding, there is a large stack of already folded newspapers.

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Quotes

Paul Revere: [riding through a town at night] Turn out! Turn out your militia!
Villager: [opens window] What's all the noise down there?
Paul Revere: The Redcoats are coming!

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Johnny Tremain"
Written by George Bruns and Thomas W. Blackburn (as Tom Blackburn)

User Reviews

Love 'Johnny Tremain'

When I was six my Dad took me to a breathtakingly grand old movie palace to see 'Johnny Tremain.' Vivid and fond are my memories of Dad and my memory of the film - and of pestering Dad with endless questions about what the characters were doing in the film...and why they were doing what they were doing. Without hesitation, my WWII veteran Dad whispered to me all the right answers and I've never forgotten them.

I just saw 'Johnny Tremain' again on DVD and from nostalgia - for Dad, for those times richly populated by exemplary WWII vets, for my youth, for the American spirit that has since been besmirched by the lamp-blacking sweep of academia's and media's insistence on blaming-and-shaming-America-first - I wept.

Never had I forgotten the song "The Sons of Liberty" and often, throughout my life, its tune has just popped into my head; and sometimes - I'm unashamed and downright proud to say - with belief and vigor I sing it as lustily as I can manage to. I wish kids and grown-ups could sing it in Burma, in Iran, in Saudi Arabia, in North Korea. Maybe if children there could see 'Johnny Tremain,' and sing "The Sons of Liberty," they wouldn't grow up to be serfs, losers, nihilists, and bitter mass-murderers.

Yah, so Disney simplified the book. From the film, as a wee first-grader, I got the book's stark, simple, central, eternal message in spades: liberty has a price no one dares to decline to stand up to pay, a price which everyone must, when the times require it of us, join hands to pay, one for all and all for one.

"And we are the Sons, yes, we are the Sons, The Sons of Liberty!" And don't you, and everybody else, ever forget it.