Plymouth Adventure

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Plymouth Adventure
PlymouthadventurehsB.jpeg
original film poster
Directed by Clarence Brown
Written by Helen Deutsch
Based onThe Plymouth Adventure
1950 novel
by Ernest Gébler
Produced by Dore Schary
Starring Spencer Tracy
Gene Tierney
Van Johnson
Leo Genn
Cinematography William H. Daniels
Edited by Robert J. Kern
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Production
company
Distributed by Loew's, Inc.
Release date
  • November 14, 1952 (1952-11-14)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3.2 million [1]
Box office$3 million [2] [1]

Plymouth Adventure is a 1952 American Technicolor historical drama film with an ensemble cast starring Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson and Leo Genn, made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, [3] [4] directed by Clarence Brown, and produced by Dore Schary. The screenplay was adapted by Helen Deutsch from the 1950 novel The Voyage of the Mayflower by Ernest Gébler. The supporting cast includes Barry Jones, Dawn Addams, Lloyd Bridges and John Dehner.

Contents

This was veteran director Brown's final film.

Plot

The film tells a fictionalized version of the Pilgrims' voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to North America aboard the Mayflower . During the long sea voyage, Capt. Christopher Jones falls in love with Dorothy Bradford, the wife of William Bradford. The love triangle is resolved in a tragic way at the film's conclusion. Ship's carpenter John Alden — said to be the first person to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620 — catches the eye of Priscilla Mullins, one of the young Pilgrims following William Bradford. Alden ultimately wins Priscilla in another, if subtler, triangle with Miles Standish.

Cast

Production

Schary said at the time "I don't think that historical era has been done properly on screen before because the people were too soft. The pilgrims had to be tough and lusty to accomplish what they did. So that's the kind we cast in the film." [5]

Reception

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,909,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,116,000 elsewhere; but, because of its high cost, ended up incurring a loss of $1,856,000. [1]

Major film reviewers in newspapers and magazines tended to praise the film's production values, while noting to different degrees performances and lapses in historical accuracy. [6]

Awards and honors

The picture won the Oscar for Best Effects. The actual model of the Mayflower ship from the movie is on display at the Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood restaurant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The model was purchased in an auction in the mid-1980s.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Alden</span> Crew member on the Mayflower

John Alden was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. He was hired in Southampton, England as the ship's cooper, responsible for maintaining the ship's barrels. He was a member of the ship's crew and not a settler, yet he decided to remain in Plymouth Colony when the Mayflower returned to England. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plymouth Colony</span> English colonial venture in America (1620–1691)

Plymouth Colony was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of what is now the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore, including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Bradford (governor)</span> English Separatist leader (1590–1657)

William Bradford was an English Puritan Separatist originally from the West Riding of Yorkshire in Northern England. He moved to Leiden in Holland in order to escape persecution from King James I of England, and then emigrated to the Plymouth Colony on the Mayflower in 1620. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact and went on to serve as Governor of the Plymouth Colony intermittently for about 30 years between 1621 and 1657. He served as a commissioner of the United Colonies of New England on multiple occasions and served twice as president. His journal Of Plymouth Plantation covered the years from 1620 to 1646 in Plymouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayflower Society</span> Nonprofit organization

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants — commonly called the Mayflower Society — is a hereditary organization of individuals who have documented their descent from at least one of the 102 passengers who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Society was founded at Plymouth in 1897.

<i>The Courtship of Miles Standish</i> 1858 poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Courtship of Miles Standish is an 1858 narrative poem by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about the early days of Plymouth Colony, the colonial settlement established in America by the Mayflower Pilgrims.

William Brewster (<i>Mayflower</i> passenger) English colonist in North America (1566/67 – 1644)

William Brewster was an English official and Mayflower passenger in 1620. He became senior elder and the leader of Plymouth Colony, by virtue of his education and existing stature with those immigrating from the Netherlands, being a Brownist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priscilla Alden</span> Member of Massachusettss Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims

Priscilla Alden was a noted member of Massachusetts's Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims and the wife of fellow colonist John Alden. They married in 1621 in Plymouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Warren</span> Mayflower passenger (1585–1628)

Richard Warren was one of the passengers on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower and a signer of the Mayflower Compact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Doty</span> Early English colonist in North America

Edward Doty was a passenger on the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower to North America; he was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.

Francis Eaton (<i>Mayflower</i> passenger) Mayflower passenger and New World colonist (1596–1633)

Francis Eaton was born ca. 1596 in Bristol, England, and died in the autumn of 1633 in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He, with his wife and son, were passengers on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower. His signature appears on the Mayflower Compact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Chilton</span> First European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts

Mary Chilton was a Pilgrim and purportedly the first European woman to step ashore at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Peter Browne (<i>Mayflower</i> passenger)

Peter Browne, was a passenger on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower and was a signatory of the Mayflower Compact.

<i>Mayflower: The Pilgrims Adventure</i> 1979 American TV series or program

Mayflower: The Pilgrims' Adventure is a 1979 American made-for-television historical adventure film dramatizing the Pilgrims' voyage from Plymouth, England to Cape Cod in New England aboard the Mayflower in 1620. The film was directed by George Schaefer and stars Anthony Hopkins, Richard Crenna, and Jenny Agutter.

William Mullins (<i>Mayflower</i> passenger)

William Mullins and his family traveled as passengers on the historic 1620 voyage to America on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact. Mullins perished in the pilgrims' first winter in the New World, with his wife and son dying soon after.

Also see: The ships Anne and Little James

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayflower Compact signatories</span>

The Mayflower Compact was an iconic document in the history of America, written and signed aboard the Mayflower on November 11, 1620, while anchored in Provincetown Harbor in Massachusetts. The Compact was originally drafted as an instrument to maintain unity and discipline in Plymouth Colony, but it has become one of the most historic documents in American history. It was published in London in Mourt's Relation in 1622, and the authors had added a preamble to clarify its meaning: "it was thought good there should be an association and agreement, that we should combine together in one body, and to submit to such government and governors as we should by common consent agree to make and choose."

Saints & Strangers is an American drama television two-part miniseries. It tells the story of the Mayflower voyage and chronicles the Pilgrims' first year in America and the first Thanksgiving in 1621. The program aired on the National Geographic Channel and premiered on November 22, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Alden Sr.</span> Plymouth colonist and son of Mayflower immigrants

Capt. Jonathan Alden Sr., the son of Mayflower immigrants, was a military officer and farm owner in Plymouth Colony. The home he built in the late 1600s is now a National Historic Landmark in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953
  3. Variety film review; October 22, 1952, page 6.
  4. Harrison's Reports film review; October 25, 1952, page 170.
  5. Hopper, Hedda (27 July 1952). "MAN WITH A MISSION!: Chief of M-G-M Studio Believes All Men Are Created Equal and Practices What He Preaches! DORE SCHARY". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. c6. ProQuest   178268967.
  6. A bibliography of contemporary reviews, some of them annotated, can be found at Reel American History