Bright Victory

Last updated
Bright Victory
Bright Victory poster.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed by Mark Robson
Screenplay by Robert Buckner
Based onLights Out
1945 novel
by Baynard Kendrick
Produced byRobert Buckner
Starring Arthur Kennedy
Peggy Dow
Cinematography William H. Daniels
Edited byRussell F. Schoengarth
Music by Frank Skinner
Color process Black and white
Production
company
Universal International Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • August 1951 (1951-08)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Bright Victory is a 1951 American drama romance war film directed by Mark Robson, and starring Arthur Kennedy and Peggy Dow. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

During World War II, American sergeant Larry Nevins is blinded by a German sniper while fighting in North Africa. He is taken to a Pennsylvania hospital for other blinded soldiers, where he struggles to accept and come to terms with his disability.

Though initially despondent, Larry is taught to orient himself and walk through the grounds and in town by memorization and with use of a cane. He befriends Joe Morgan, another blinded veteran, and Judy, a local bank teller who volunteers by socializing with disabled soldiers.

One day, Larry, unaware that Joe is black, utters a racial slur, causing a rift between Larry and the others. Meanwhile, he progresses well in his recovery, passing a crucial test to see how well he can handle himself on the street. He is cleared for furlough, so Judy takes him to spend a weekend at her sister's nearby cabin, where he goes fishing and is entertained by her family.

From Judy's brother-in-law, Larry learns of a very successful blind lawyer, giving him hope for the future. After dinner, Judy reveals her love for him. Larry tells her that he needs more security and family support and already has a fiancée in his Florida hometown. Somewhat dispirited, he goes home and has a rough time dealing with the racial attitudes of his Southern parents and friends. His fiancée's family is having doubts about his fitness as a son-in-law, and his parents are downcast because of his disability.

Larry is happy to see his fiancée Chris, though he still thinks of Judy. After a bad experience at his homecoming party, he tells Chris the difficulties that they can expect with his disability, and that he wants to relocate rather than be patronized with the menial local job that her successful father has offered him. After some thought, Chris tells Larry that she does not feel strong enough to marry and move far away with him while he struggles to make a new life for both of them.

Returning to the hospital, Larry takes a side trip to Philadelphia and meets the successful blind lawyer played by Frank Wilcox. The lawyer tells him that life is difficult but worth it and that his wife was an invaluable helper to him in his career.

At the train station en route to begin a more advanced rehabilitation course, Larry is unexpectedly reunited with Judy. They joyfully declare their love.

Boarding the train, he hears Joe Morgan's name called. He catches Joe's arm, apologizes for all the hurt he has caused and asks if they can be friends; Joe accepts the apology. They board and sit together as the train pulls out of the station.

Cast

Awards

Bright Victory was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Arthur Kennedy) and Best Sound Recording (Leslie I. Carey). [4] The film was also entered into the 1951 Cannes Film Festival. [5]

Filming locations

Part of the film was made at Valley Forge General Army Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and the town's name is mentioned in the film. Scenes were also shot in downtown Phoenixville, Kimberton, and at Broad Street Station in Philadelphia.

Reception

Robson called it "a very good film" although he admitted "it was a disaster financially." [6]

The Brooklyn Eagle complimented the film as “one of the year’s most important pictures, from several angles. It is important first because it is a finely made, absorbing film ,and second because it deals with a current problem that is everybody’s concern—the blinded war veteran. But it is also terrifically important because Arthur Kennedy, the star, gives a performance in this Universal-International picture that would be outstanding in any year, and will probably hold its place among all competitors for many years to come.” [7]

R. Maurice Moss, then associate executive director of the Urban League, described the film as “a powerful picture in every way….exceedingly well cast….It is excellent also from the standpoint of teaching how to treat those handicapped by blindness—of heart, eye, and soul.” [8]

The Los Angeles Daily News wrote: “The picture’s outstanding feature is the adept performance of Arthur Kennedy as the blinded World War II veteran….’Bright Victory’s’ next most notable quality lies in the realistic treatment of the rehabilitation sequences….Actually, we felt that good performances by most of the cast, plus the…direction, did more to make a success out of ‘Bright Victory’ than the script, which belabored certain obvious problems in too stereotype a manner. An example in this connection was the love affair between Kennedy and Peggy Dow. There never was any doubt about the outcome. Every scene following their meeting seemed to telegraph the course of events. ‘Bright Victory’ also eases in a carefully treated side-plot about the Negro problem, which it solves easily—perhaps too easily. However, James Edwards…handles his chore with proper effect. Miss Dow…is warm and charming. She doesn’t go overboard in the tear-jerking scenes and handles the straight stuff with ability.” [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Kennedy</span> American actor (1914–1990)

John Arthur Kennedy was an American stage and film actor known for his versatility in supporting film roles and his ability to create "an exceptional honesty and naturalness on stage", especially in the original casts of Arthur Miller plays on Broadway. He won the 1949 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Miller's Death of a Salesman. He also won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for the 1955 film Trial, and was a five-time Academy Award nominee.

<i>All My Sons</i> Play by Arthur Miller

All My Sons is a three-act play written in 1946 by Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947, and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan, produced by Kazan and Harold Clurman, and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. It starred Ed Begley, Beth Merrill, Arthur Kennedy, and Karl Malden and won both the Tony Award for Best Author and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play. The play was adapted for films in 1948 and 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Armstrong (actor)</span> American actor (1890–1973)

Robert William Armstrong was an American film and television actor noted for playing Carl Denham in the 1933 version of King Kong by RKO Pictures. He delivered the film's famous final line: "It wasn't the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast."

<i>Words and Music</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Norman Taurog

Words and Music is a 1948 American biographical musical film loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film stars Mickey Rooney as Hart and Tom Drake as Rodgers, along with Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, Ann Sothern and numerous musical stars. It was the second in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway composers; it was preceded by Till the Clouds Roll By and followed by Three Little Words and Deep in My Heart.

<i>The Four Feathers</i> (1939 film) 1939 film by Zoltan Korda

The Four Feathers is a 1939 British Technicolor adventure film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring John Clements, Ralph Richardson, June Duprez, and C. Aubrey Smith. Set during the reign of Queen Victoria, it tells the story of a man accused of cowardice and his efforts to redeem his name. It is widely regarded as the best of the numerous film adaptations of the 1902 novel of the same name by A.E.W. Mason.

<i>Sunday</i> (1997 film) 1997 American film

Sunday is a 1997 independent film directed by Jonathan Nossiter. Set in Queens, a borough of New York City, it is a dark comedy about an unemployed, homeless IBM functionary mistaken by an aging actress for film director Matthew Delacorta. The screenplay is an adaptation by Nossiter and James Lasdun of Lasdun's own short story "Ate, Memos or the Miracle". The two would later collaborate again on Signs and Wonders.

<i>The Four Feathers</i> (2002 film) 2002 film by Shekhar Kapur

The Four Feathers is a 2002 war drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur and starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Djimon Hounsou and Kate Hudson. Set during the British Army's Gordon Relief Expedition in Sudan, well after the formation of Mahdiyya, it tells the story of a young man accused of cowardice. This film, with altered plot events, is the latest in a long line of cinematic adaptations of the 1902 novel The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason. Other versions of the story have been set in the 1890s, with different battle events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaver Cleaver</span> American television fictional character

Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver is the fictional title character in the American television series Leave It to Beaver. Originally played by Jerry Mathers, Beaver is the son of June and Ward Cleaver and the brother of Wally Cleaver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Edwards (actor)</span> American film and television actor (1918–1970)

James Johnson Edwards was an American actor in films and television. His most famous role was as Private Peter Moss in the 1949 film Home of the Brave, in which he portrayed a Black soldier experiencing racial prejudice while serving in the South Pacific during World War II.

<i>The Woman on the Beach</i> 1947 film by Jean Renoir

The Woman on the Beach is a 1947 American film noir directed by Jean Renoir and starring Joan Bennett, Robert Ryan, and Charles Bickford. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film is a love triangle drama about Scott, a conflicted U.S. Coast Guard officer (Ryan), and his pursuit of Peggy, a married woman (Bennett). Peggy is married to Tod, a blind former artist (Bickford).

<i>Goodbye Lover</i> 1998 film by Roland Joffé

Goodbye Lover is a 1998 neo-noir comedy film about a murder plot surrounding an alcoholic advertising agency worker and his adulterous wife. The film was directed by Roland Joffé, and stars Patricia Arquette, Dermot Mulroney, Don Johnson, Ellen DeGeneres and Mary-Louise Parker. The original script was written by Ron Peer; subsequent drafts were written by Robert Pucci, then Buck Henry.

<i>Storm Over the Nile</i> 1955 film by Zoltan Korda, Terence Young

Storm Over the Nile is a 1955 British adventure film adaptation of the 1902 novel The Four Feathers, directed by Terence Young and Zoltan Korda. The film not only extensively used footage of the action scenes from the 1939 film version stretched into CinemaScope, but is a shot-for-shot, almost line-for-line remake of the earlier film, which was also directed by Korda. Several pieces of music by the original composer Miklos Rozsa were also utilized. It featured Anthony Steel, Laurence Harvey, James Robertson Justice, Mary Ure, Ian Carmichael, Michael Hordern and Christopher Lee. The film was shot on location in the Sudan.

The Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award is an American literary prize awarded by the Tulsa Library Trust in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is awarded annually to an "internationally acclaimed" author who has "written a distinguished body of work and made a major contribution to the field of literature and letters".

<i>Judy Berlin</i> 1999 film

Judy Berlin is a 1999 American independent drama film directed by Eric Mendelsohn. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Mendelsohn won the directing prize for Judy Berlin at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. This was Madeline Kahn's final film appearance eleven months before her death on December 3, 1999.

<i>You Never Can Tell</i> (1951 film) 1951 film

You Never Can Tell is 1951 American comedy film directed by Lou Breslow and starring Dick Powell, Peggy Dow and Joyce Holden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peggy Dow</span> American actress (born 1928)

Peggy Dow is an American philanthropist and former actress who had a brief (1949–52) career in Hollywood at Universal Studios starring in films during the Golden Age Era in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Nurse Kelly in Harvey (1950) and Judy Greene in Bright Victory (1951).

<i>Strange Alibi</i> 1941 film

Strange Alibi is a 1941 American film noir directed by D. Ross Lederman, written by Kenneth Gamet, Leslie T. White and Fred Niblo Jr., and starring Arthur Kennedy, Joan Perry, Jonathan Hale, John Ridgely, Florence Bates and Charles Trowbridge. It was released by Warner Bros. on April 19, 1941.

<i>Marshal of Laredo</i> 1945 film by R. G. Springsteen

Marshal of Laredo is a 1945 American Western film directed by R.G. Springsteen in his first feature film starring Wild Bill Elliott in the role of Red Ryder and costarring as Little Beaver, actor (Bobby) Robert Blake. It was the eleventh of twenty-three Red Ryder feature films that would be produced by Republic Pictures. The picture was shot on the studio’s back lot along with outdoor locations at Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, CA, US.

<i>Crooner</i> (film) 1932 film

Crooner is a 1932 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring David Manners along with Ann Dvorak and Ken Murray. It concerns the abrupt rise and fall of a popular crooner, Teddy Taylor.

<i>Nitram</i> 2021 film by Justin Kurzel

Nitram is a 2021 Australian biographical psychological drama film directed by Justin Kurzel from a screenplay by Shaun Grant. The film revolves around the life and behaviors of a mentally distressed young man called "Nitram", and the events leading to his involvement in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania. The film stars Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony LaPaglia.

References

  1. ↑ Liebman, Roy (2017). Broadway Actors in Films, 1894-2015. McFarland. p. 146. ISBN   9780786476855 . Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  2. ↑ Weaver, Tom; Schecter, David; Kiss, Robert J. (2017). Universal Terrors, 1951-1955: Eight Classic Horror and Science Fiction Films. McFarland. p. 184. ISBN   9781476627762 . Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  3. ↑ Armstrong, Richard B.; Armstrong, Mary Willems (2015). Encyclopedia of Film Themes, Settings and Series. McFarland. p. 28. ISBN   9781476612300 . Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  4. ↑ "The 24th Academy Awards (1952) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
  5. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: Bright Victory". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  6. ↑ Higham, Charles (1969). The Celluloid Muse: Hollywood Directors Speak. Angus & Robertson. p. 213. ISBN   978-0207951237.
  7. ↑ Corby, Jane. “Screenings: Brooklyn Eagle, 1 August 1951.
  8. ↑ ”Negro Leaders Praise New Film ‘Bright Victory’.” The Call (Kansas City, MO), 10 August 1951, 8.
  9. ↑ McClay, Howard. “Film Review: ‘Bright Victory’.” Los Angeles Daily News, 1 December 1951, 9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.