The Proud Rebel *** (1958, Alan Ladd, Olivia de Havilland, Dean Jagger, David Ladd) – Classic Movie Review 10,035

Alan Ladd and his 11-year-old son David Ladd star together in director Michael Curtiz’s warm and involving 1958 family film The Proud Rebel about the lives of a father, John Chandler (Alan Ladd), and his mute boy David Chandler (David Ladd) shortly after the end of the American Civil War.

They work for a tough but caring farming woman Linnett Moore (Olivia de Havilland) and dad tries to find a doctor who will cure his lad, who is in speechless trauma after he saw his mother killed in a fire at the family home during the American Civil War.

The Proud Rebel is affectingly played, with David Ladd superb, de Havilland excellent and a better than usual performance from Alan Ladd.

The film is beautifully crafted, with lovely location cinematography and a fine score, and it is all very carefully handled by director Curtiz. Under its tough exterior, it may have a slightly soft centre, but it has an appealingly warm heart.

Joseph Petracca and Lillie Hayward’s screenplay is based on the story The Journal of Linnett Moore by Edward James Grant.

Also in the cast are Dean Jagger, Cecil Kellaway, Henry Hull, John Carradine, Harry Dean Stanton, James Westerfield, Thomas Pittman and Eli Mintz.

The Proud Rebel is directed by Michael Curtiz, runs 102 minutes, is made by Formosa Productions, is released by MGM, is written by Joseph Petracca and Lillie Hayward, based on the story The Journal of Linnett Moore by Edward James Grant, is shot by Ted McCord (Technicolor), is produced by Samuel Goldwyn Jr and is scored by Jerome Moross.

It is shot at Kanab, Utah, and Cedar City, Utah.

David Ladd attended the 65th anniversary screening of his father’s 1953 film Shane at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills and participated in a Q&A after on 26 August 2018. David Ladd plays Little Boy (uncredited) in Shane.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,035

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