''Brigham Young'' (also known as ''Brigham Young – Frontiersman'') is a 1940 American
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
film starring
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James'', ' ...
,
Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in ...
and
Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949).
Early life
Dean Jeffrie ...
that describes
Young
Young may refer to:
* Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents
* Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood
Music
* The Young, an American roc ...
's
succession to the
presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...
after founder
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
was
assassinated in 1844. The supporting cast features
Brian Donlevy
Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are '' Beau Geste'' (19 ...
,
Jane Darwell
Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...
,
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...
,
Mary Astor
Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...
,
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
and
Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...
.
Plot
The story begins in frontier-town
Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844. It follows the main body of the church as they are forced to leave Illinois, choosing to settle temporarily in
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
and then to travel by wagon train to the
Great Basin. Much of the story's plot revolves around two of the group, Jonathan Kent and Zina Webb.
Cast
*
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James'', ' ...
as Jonathan Kent
*
Linda Darnell
Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in ...
as Zina Webb – The Outsider
*
Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949).
Early life
Dean Jeffrie ...
as
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...
*
Brian Donlevy
Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are '' Beau Geste'' (19 ...
as Angus Duncan
*
Jane Darwell
Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...
as Eliza Kent
*
John Carradine
John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...
as
Porter Rockwell
Orrin Porter Rockwell (June 28, 1813 or June 25, 1815 – June 9, 1878) was a figure of the Wild West period of American history. A lawman in the Utah Territory, he was nicknamed ''Old Port'' and ''The Destroying Angel of Mormondom''.
Rockwell se ...
*
Mary Astor
Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...
as
Mary Ann Young
*
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
as
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...
*
Jean Rogers
Jean Rogers (born Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren, March 25, 1916 – February 24, 1991) was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for ...
as Clara Young
*
Ann E. Todd
Ann E. Todd (born Ann Todd Phillips, later Ann Basart or Ann Phillips Basart; August 26, 1931 – February 7, 2020) was an American child actress. As an adult, she became a music reference librarian at University of California, Berkeley.
Earl ...
as Mary Kent
*
Willard Robertson
Willard Robertson (January 1, 1886 – April 5, 1948) was an American actor and writer. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1924 and 1948. He was born in Runnels, Texas, and died in Hollywood, California.
Biography
Robertson first ...
as
Heber Kimball
*
Moroni Olsen
Moroni Olsen (June 27, 1889November 22, 1954) was an American actor.
Life and career
Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Latter-day Saint parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha ( Hoverholst) Olsen, who named him after the Moroni found in the ...
as
Doc Richards
*
Marc Lawrence as Prosecutor
*
Stanley Andrews
Stanley Andrews (born Stanley Martin Andrzejewski; August 28, 1891 – June 23, 1969) was an American actor perhaps best known as the voice of Daddy Warbucks on the radio program ''Little Orphan Annie'' and later as "The Old Ranger", the first ...
as
Hyrum Smith
Hyrum Smith (February 9, 1800 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the older brother of the movement's founder, J ...
*
Dickie Jones
Richard Percy Jones (February 25, 1927 – July 7, 2014), known as Dick Jones or Dickie Jones, was an American actor and singer who achieved success as a child performer and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns. In 1938, he played Artimer ...
as Henry Kent
*
Selmer Jackson as Caleb Kent
*
Arthur Aylesworth as Jim Bridger
*
Chief John Big Tree
Chief John Big Tree (born Isaac Johnny John, June 2, 1877 – July 6, 1967) was a member of the Seneca Nation and an actor who appeared in 59 films between 1915 and 1950. He was born in Buffalo, New York and died in Onondaga Indian Reserva ...
as Big Elk
*
Claire Du Brey
Claire Du Brey (born Clara Violet Dubreyvich, August 31, 1892 – August 1, 1993) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films between 1916 and 1959. Her name is sometimes rendered as Claire Du Bray or as Claire Dubrey.
Ear ...
as
Emma Smith
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon (July 10, 1804 – April 30, 1879) was an American homesteader, the official wife of Joseph Smith, and a prominent leader in the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement, both during Smith's lifetime and afterward as ...
*
Tully Marshall
Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...
as Judge
* Dick Rich as 1st Mob Leader
*
Edwin Maxwell as 2nd Mob Leader
*
George Melford
George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...
as
John Taylor
*
Russell Simpson as U.S. Army Major
*
Tom London
Tom London (born Leonard T. Clapman; August 24, 1889 – December 5, 1963) was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to ''The Guinness Book of Movie Records'', London is credited with appearing in the most films in ...
as Raider (uncredited)
*
Charles Middleton as Mob Member (uncredited)
Production
Parts of the film were shot in
Lone Pine, California
Lone Pine is a census-designated place (CDP) in Inyo County, California, United States. Lone Pine is located south-southeast of Independence, at an elevation of . The population was 2,035 at the 2010 census, up from 1,655 at the 2000 census. T ...
, in the plains west of
Parowan Gap, and in
Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt ...
for the seagull scenes. The
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
sequences were filmed in California, while the trek across Nebraska and Wyoming was shot in southern Utah.
Reception
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
and Henry Medved included ''Brigham Young'' in their 1984 book describing film financial failures, ''
The Hollywood Hall of Shame'', stating "Twentieth Century-Fox tried to emphasize its star power and to downplay the religious elements (eventually re-titling it ''Brigham Young, Frontiersman''), but the picture still failed, even in Utah."
[Medved & Medved, '' The Hollywood Hall of Shame'' (1984), p. 205]
See also
*
List of American films of 1940
A list of American films released in 1940. American film production was concentrated in Hollywood and was dominated by the eight Major film studios MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, RKO, Columbia, Universal and United Artists. Othe ...
*
George D. Pyper
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Brigham Young Souvenir Program Reprint MSS SC 388; 20th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigham Young (Film)
1940 films
1940 romantic drama films
1940 Western (genre) films
1940s biographical films
20th Century Fox films
American Western (genre) films
American biographical films
American black-and-white films
American romantic drama films
Biographical films about politicians
Young, Brigham
Cultural depictions of Brigham Young
Cultural depictions of Joseph Smith
1940s English-language films
Films about Mormonism
Films about the California Gold Rush
Films directed by Henry Hathaway
Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Films scored by Alfred Newman
Films set in 1844
Films set in Illinois
Films set in Iowa
Films set in Utah
Films set in the 1840s
Films set in the 19th century
Films shot in California
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films shot in Utah
Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti
1940s American films