A Man to Remember *** (1938, Anne Shirley, Edward Ellis, Lee Bowman) – Classic Movie Review 10,478

Director Garson Kanin’s 1938 RKO Radio Pictures black and white drama A Man to Remember stars Anne Shirley, Edward Ellis and Lee Bowman. It is the flashback-told biography of a selfless town doctor, Doctor John Abbott (Edward Ellis), a single parent who settles in the town of Westport with his son Dick, also adopting unwanted baby girl Jean Johnson, a story seen through the memories of those at his funeral.

Pleasing and genial, A Man to Remember is rather more sharp than it is sentimental thanks to Dalton Trumbo’s incisive, intelligent screenplay.

A Man to Remember is made cheaply ($118,000) with no big stars in just 15 days by débuting director Kanin – and it is a huge credit to him and the actors that such a project has turned out so well.

Carole Leete plays Jean Johnson age 4 and Anne Shirley plays the grown-up version. Dickie Jones plays Dick Abbott age 8-12 and Lee Bowman plays the grown-up version.

It is a remake of 1933’s One Man’s Journey, based on Katharine Haviland-Taylor’s novel Failure.

Also in the cast are William Henry, Granville Bates, Harlan Briggs, Frank M Thomas, Charles Halton, John Wray, Gilbert Emery, Dickie Jones, Carole Leete, and Joe De Stefani.

The only surviving copy is a 35mm original nitrate print with Dutch subtitles and Dutch credits, preserved by the Netherlands Filmmuseum in 2000. It was shown on TCM in April 2007, on 21 September 2016, in January 2017, and on 25 August 2020.

It was scheduled for 18 days, but Kanin finished it in 15. It was budgeted at $119,000 but cost $118,000. It earned a profit of $146,000 for RKO.

Anne Shirley (1918–1993).

Dawn Evelyeen Paris (previously filming as Dawn O’Day) changed her name to Anne Shirley, the name of the heroine she played in Anne of Green Gables (1934). Anne Shirley retired all too early at the age of 26, after Farewell, My Lovely.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,478

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