All the Brothers Were Valiant *** (1953, Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth) – Classic Movie Review 4654

MGM’s old-fashioned 1953 sea-faring adventure film All the Brothers Were Valiant stars Stewart Granger and Robert Taylor as valiant sailing ship brothers Mark and Joel Shore, working in the fishing business in the South Pacific islands.

Director Richard Thorpe’s 1953 sea-faring adventure saga stars Stewart Granger and Robert Taylor as valiant sailing ship brothers Mark and Joel Shore, working in the fishing business, and is set against a backdrop of the South Pacific islands.

MGM’s old-fashioned, slightly leaky but popular romantic adventure hokum about vengeful whaling boat rivals, fighting over the same woman and a bag of pearls at the bottom of a lagoon, is based on the 1919 novel by Ben Ames Williams (1889-1953).

Ann Blyth and Betta St John play Pris Holt and the ‘Native Girl’, the lovely ladies in their lives. Taylor and Granger make a fine and dashing duo, the film moves along briskly, George J Folsey’s Technicolor photography is lovely, and the production is beautiful, adding up to plenty of fun escapist entertainment.

Harry Brown’s hard-to-believe screenplay, a remake of a 1923 Lon Chaney Sr silent movie All the Brothers Were Valiant and a 1928 Ramon Novarro silent movie Across to Singapore, is the film’s only really shaky element and only real downside.

The score is by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography is by George J Folsey, who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Color Cinematography.

It is a remake of the 1923 American silent sea adventure and romantic drama film All the Brothers Were Valiant starring Lon Chaney Sr. That film is now considered lost, destroyed in the 1965 MGM vault fire. It was remade by MGM as Across to Singapore in 1928 with Ernest Torrance playing Chaney’s role. Ramon Novarro and Joan Crawford also star. One 35mm print of Across to Singapore survived, though some sections are deteriorated. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) screened a version of Across to Singapore with an uncredited piano music score and running time of 85 minutes. Stewart Granger stars in the Chaney role in the 1953 All the Brothers Were Valiant.

It is MGM’s perennial father actor Lewis Stone’s last film. He died at 73 on September 12, 1953.

Also in the cast are Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, Robert Burton, Peter Whitney, John Lupton, Jonathan Cott, Frank DeKova, James Bell, Leo Gordon, Glenn Strange and Michael Pate.

Filming began on location in early 1953 in Jamaica, where Elizabeth Taylor, who had just given birth, was replaced by Ann Blyth.

Granger recalled the film as a ‘crappy melodrama’ though added: ‘I had an OK villain’s part.’

It was a big hit. Costing $1,816,000, it took $4,628,000 at the box office.

The cast are Robert Taylor as Joel Shore Stewart Granger as Mark Shore, Ann Blyth as Priscilla ‘Pris’ Holt, Betta St. John as Native Girl, Keenan Wynn as Silva, James Whitmore as Fetcher, Kurt Kasznar as Quint, Lewis Stone as Captain Holt, Robert Burton as Asa Worthen, Peter Whitney as First Mate James Finch, John Lupton as Third Mate Dick Morrell, Jonathan Cott as Carter, Mitchell Lewis as Cook, James Bell as Aaron Burnham, Leo Gordon as Peter How, Frank DeKova, Glenn Strange and Michael Pate.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4654

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