This Above All (film)

Last updated
This Above All
This-above-all-1942.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Anatole Litvak
Written by Eric Knight (novel)
R. C. Sherriff
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring Tyrone Power
Joan Fontaine
Cinematography Arthur Miller
Edited by Walter Thompson
Music by Alfred Newman
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • May 12, 1942 (1942-05-12)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.4 million (US rentals) [1]

This Above All is a 1942 American romance film directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Tyrone Power and Joan Fontaine as a couple from different social classes who fall in love in wartime England. The supporting cast features Thomas Mitchell, Nigel Bruce, and Gladys Cooper. Set in World War II, the film is adapted from Eric Knight's 1941 novel of the same name.

Contents

Plot

On the day that France surrenders to Nazi Germany in 1940, Prudence "Pru" Cathaway (Joan Fontaine) a strong-willed young woman from the upper class, joins the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), the women's organisation of the Royal Air Force, to her family's surprise. Her aunt Iris and uncle Wilbur disapprove since she has chosen to serve as a private rather than as an officer. However, family butler Parsons privately expresses his support.

She goes off to training camp, where she makes friends with fellow WAAF Violet Worthing. As a favor to Violet, Prudence agrees to go on a double date one night; she is paired with Clive Briggs (Tyrone Power), a moody mysterious soldier with a dark secret. He seems to her rather bitter about something and is indifferent, even hostile, to her aristocratic background, but she likes him, and he asks her out again; romance blooms between them.

On a holiday together on the southern coast, Pru twice overhears Clive talking in his sleep. The second time, she wakes him up, but he does not want to talk about it. Then his friend Monty shows up. When the three go to dinner, Pru learns from Monty that Clive is up for a Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions during the Dunkirk evacuation. While Pru is dancing with someone else, Monty pleads with Clive to return with him. He was given a month's sick leave, but that was over two months ago, and he is about to be posted as a deserter.

Finally, Clive tells Pru, indirectly, about his predicament and that he no longer wants to fight for the benefit of an English elite that oppresses and humiliates people of his class. Pru makes an impassioned plea for all the good things that England represents, but when she wakes up the next morning, Clive has gone, leaving her a letter of goodbye.

When a farmer finds Clive sleeping in his barn, he tries to take him to the authorities. Clive gets away after a struggle, but suffers a wrist injury. He goes to a district nurse, Emily Harvey. After attending to his wrist, she lets him go without alerting the police. Later, a one-armed rector, despite hearing that a suspected German spy with an injured wrist is loose, invites Clive in for tea. A talk with him enables Clive to come to a decision: he will give himself up. He telephones Pru and tells her so. They arrange to meet in London and get married first, though.

However, Clive is taken into custody after hanging up. Clive asks the officer in charge to allow him two hours to keep his appointment. A member of the upper class that Clive despises, the officer grants his request, accepting full responsibility for this unusual action. Clive sets out for the meeting place, Charing Cross railway station, in the midst of a German air raid. On the way, however, a man tells him that a kid is trapped in the cellar of a burning building. He and another man rescue the child and another person, but then the building collapses onto him.

When Clive does not show up, Pru goes to her father, a doctor, for help. Dr. Cathaway learns that Clive suffered a head injury and is to be operated on within the hour. Cathaway and two other doctors operate. Afterward, Clive and Pru are married, with Monty and her father in attendance. Clive tells Pru that she was right. They must fight for what she believes in first before they can fight for what he does. The film ends with it left unclear whether Clive recovers or not.

Cast

Reception

Bosley Crowther, critic for The New York Times , described it as "a taut and poignant war film" and "a very moving love story with a sensitive regard for tensile passions against a background of England at war", though he also felt that "The principal weakness of the picture is that it accentuates the original's [novel's] chief fault—that is, it skimps a rationalization of the leading character's profound change of mind. And it also neglects to establish the convictions to which he so stubbornly holds." [2]

Awards

Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright, and Thomas Little won the Oscar for Best Art Direction, Black-and-White. Arthur Miller was nominated for Best Cinematography, Walter A. Thompson for Best Editing, Edmund H. Hansen for Best Sound Recording. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Crossfire</i> (film) 1947 noir drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk

Crossfire is a 1947 American film noir drama film starring Robert Young, Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan which deals with the theme of anti-Semitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the 1945 novel The Brick Foxhole by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks. The film's supporting cast features Gloria Grahame and Sam Levene. The picture received five Oscar nominations, including Ryan for Best Supporting Actor and Gloria Grahame for Best Supporting Actress. It was the first B movie to receive a best picture nomination.

<i>Love Letters</i> (1945 film) 1945 film by William Dieterle

Love Letters is a 1945 American film noir. The screenplay was adapted by Ayn Rand from the novel Pity My Simplicity by Christopher Massie. It was directed by William Dieterle and stars Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards, Cecil Kellaway, Gladys Cooper and Anita Louise. The plot tells the story of a man falling in love with an amnesiac woman with two personalities, who is supposed to have killed his soldier friend.

<i>Autumn Leaves</i> (film) 1956 film by Robert Aldrich

Autumn Leaves is a 1956 American psychological drama film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Joan Crawford in an older woman/younger man tale of mental illness. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jean Rouverol and Hugo Butler, though it was credited to Jack Jevne, since Rouverol and Butler were blacklisted at the time of the film's release.

<i>It Should Happen to You</i> 1954 film by George Cukor

It Should Happen to You is a 1954 American romantic comedy film starring Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford and Jack Lemmon; it was Lemmon's first major film appearance. The film was directed by George Cukor, and partly filmed on location in New York City. Screenwriter Garson Kanin originally intended the script as a vehicle for Danny Kaye, but Kanin's wife, Ruth Gordon, suggested casting Judy Holliday instead. The title was initially A Name for Herself.

<i>Bright Leaf</i> 1950 film by Michael Curtiz

Bright Leaf is a 1950 American Drama Western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Gary Cooper, Lauren Bacall and Patricia Neal. It is adapted from the 1949 novel of the same name by Foster Fitz-Simons. The title comes from the type of tobacco grown in North Carolina after the American Civil War. According to Bright Leaves, a 2003 documentary film by Ross McElwee, the plot is loosely based on the rivalry of tobacco tycoons Washington Duke and John Harvey McElwee, the filmmaker's great-grandfather.

<i>Flamingo Road</i> (film) 1949 film by Michael Curtiz

Flamingo Road is a 1949 American film noir drama directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Sydney Greenstreet and David Brian. The screenplay by Robert Wilder was based on a 1946 play written by Wilder and his wife, Sally, which was based on Robert Wilder's 1942 novel of the same name.

<i>Nobody Lives Forever</i> (film) 1946 film by Jean Negulesco

Nobody Lives Forever is a 1946 American crime film noir directed by Jean Negulesco and based on the novel I Wasn't Born Yesterday by W. R. Burnett. It stars John Garfield and Geraldine Fitzgerald and features Walter Brennan, Faye Emerson, George Coulouris and George Tobias.

<i>Holy Matrimony</i> (1943 film) 1943 film by John M. Stahl

Holy Matrimony is a 1943 comedy film directed by John M. Stahl and released by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was based on the 1908 novel Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett. It stars Monty Woolley and Gracie Fields, with Laird Cregar, Una O'Connor, Alan Mowbray, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore, and George Zucco in supporting roles.

Dr. Cooper Freedman is a fictional character on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice. He is portrayed by actor Paul Adelstein.

<i>Something to Live For</i> (film) 1952 film by George Stevens

Something to Live For is a 1952 American drama film starring Joan Fontaine, Ray Milland, and Teresa Wright, directed by George Stevens, and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by Dwight Taylor was the first to focus on the Alcoholics Anonymous program as a means of overcoming an addiction to liquor.

<i>Father Is a Bachelor</i> 1950 film by Abby Berlin

Father Is a Bachelor is a 1950 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Abby Berlin and Norman Foster. It stars William Holden and Coleen Gray.

Miss Tatlock's Millions is an American screwball comedy film directed by Richard Haydn in 1948.

<i>The Man I Married</i> 1940 American film

The Man I Married is an American 1940 drama film starring Joan Bennett, Francis Lederer, Lloyd Nolan and Anna Sten.

<i>Frenchmans Creek</i> (film) 1944 film by Mitchell Leisen

Frenchman's Creek is a 1944 adventure film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1941 novel of the same name, about an aristocratic English woman who falls in love with a French pirate. The film was released by Paramount Pictures and starred Joan Fontaine, Arturo de Córdova, Basil Rathbone, Cecil Kellaway, and Nigel Bruce. Filmed in Technicolor, it was directed by Mitchell Leisen. The musical score was by Victor Young, who incorporated the main theme of French composer Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune as the love theme for the film.

<i>The Affairs of Susan</i> 1945 film by William A. Seiter

The Affairs of Susan is a 1945 American romantic comedy drama film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Joan Fontaine, Walter Abel, George Brent, Dennis O'Keefe and Don DeFore. It is also known as Chameleon.

<i>Our Very Own</i> (1950 film) 1950 film by David Miller

Our Very Own is a 1950 American drama film directed by David Miller. The screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert focuses on a teenage girl who learns she was adopted as an infant. Ann Blyth, Farley Granger, and Jane Wyatt star in the film.

<i>September Affair</i> 1950 film by William Dieterle

September Affair is a 1950 American romantic drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten, and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.

<i>Diplomatic Courier</i> 1952 American film by Henry Hathaway

Diplomatic Courier is a 1952 American spy film noir directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Tyrone Power, Patricia Neal and Stephen McNally. The nightclub scene in the film features actor Arthur Blake, famous for his female impersonations, impersonating Carmen Miranda, Bette Davis, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The plot was loosely adapted from the 1945 novel Sinister Errand by British writer Peter Cheyney.

<i>Beware of Pity</i> 1946 film

Beware of Pity is a 1946 British romantic drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Lilli Palmer, Albert Lieven and Cedric Hardwicke. It is based on the novel of the same name by Stefan Zweig. A paraplegic young baroness mistakes compassion for love. The film's costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton. It was made by Two Cities Films at Islington Studios. The film was not a great popular success outside the Soviet Union.

References

  1. "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
  2. Bosley Crowther (May 13, 1942). "The Screen". The New York Times.
  3. "The 15th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-14.