''Many Rivers to Cross'' is a 1955 American
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
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Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
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* Colonial (1920 au ...
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 shot in
CinemaScope directed by
Roy Rowland and starring
Robert Taylor and
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...
.
Plot
Kentucky, the late 18th century: A traveling preacher's coming to town, but Miles Henderson is upset because Cissie Crawford seems reluctant to marry him. She seems more interested in a handsome trapper who has just arrived in the territory, Bushrod Gentry.
Cissie's life is saved by Bushrod after she is attacked by Shawnee tribesmen, but he is a confirmed bachelor who lets her down gently. While traveling on his own, Bushrod is wounded by the Indians and in danger until another woman, Mary Stuart Cherne, saves his life.
Feeling
love at first sight
Love at first sight is a personal experience as well as a common trope in literature: a person or character feels an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger upon first seeing that stranger. Described by p ...
, Mary takes him home to her Scottish-born father, Cadmus, and their Indian servant, Sandak, to heal. Her longtime suitor Luke Radford is unhappy about this interloper.
Bushrod again declines a chance to settle down, whereupon an angry Mary ends up keeping him there against his will. With her four brothers keeping a gun on him, Bushrod is forced to marry Mary.
He punches a justice of the peace and gets 30 days in jail. Another trapper, Esau Hamilton, has a sick child whose life Bushrod ends up saving. He slips away and intends to be on his own again, but Bushrod comes across Indians who are trying to scalp Mary. He saves her life this time, then accepts his fate as a man in love...
Cast
*
Robert Taylor as Bushrod Gentry
*
Eleanor Parker
Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...
as Mary Stuart Cherne
*''with''
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British boxer-turned-Hollywood actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made sev ...
as Cadmus Cherne
*
Jeff Richards as Fremont
*
Russ Tamblyn
Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...
as Shields
*
James Arness
James Arness (born James King Aurness; May 26, 1923 – June 3, 2011) was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon for 20 years in the CBS television series ''Gunsmoke''. Arness has the distinction of having played the ...
as Esau Hamilton
*
Alan Hale, Jr. as Luke Radford
*
John Hudson
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
as Hugh
*
Rhys Williams as Lige Blake
*
Josephine Hutchinson
Josephine Hutchinson (October 12, 1903 – June 4, 1998) was an American actress. She acted in several theater plays and films.
Early years
Hutchinson was born in Seattle, Washington. Her mother, Leona Roberts, was an actress best known for ...
as Mrs. Cherne
*
Sig Ruman
Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains i ...
as Spectacle man
*
Rosemary DeCamp
Rosemary Shirley DeCamp (November 14, 1910 – February 20, 2001) was an American radio, film, and television actress.
Life and career
Early life
Rosemary Shirley DeCamp was born in Prescott, Yavapai, Arizona on November 14, 1910 to William ...
as Lucy Hamilton
*
Russell Johnson
Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924 – January 16, 2014) was an American actor. He played Professor Roy Hinkley in ''Gilligan's Island'' and Marshal Gib Scott in '' Black Saddle''.
Early life
Johnson was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, o ...
as Banks
*
Ralph Moody
Ralph Moody (September 10, 1917 – June 9, 2004) was an American stock car racer. He eventually became a team co-owner of Holman Moody.
Background
He built his first Model T Ford race car in 1935, and ran it on nights and weekends. He served ...
as Sandak
*
Abel Fernandez
Abel Gonzalez Fernandez (July 14, 1930 – May 3, 2016) was an American actor who played in movies from 1953 to 2002. He was best known for his role as Federal Agent William "Bill" Youngfellow on the 1959–1963 ABC Television series ''The Unto ...
as Slangoh
Opening dedication
"We respectfully dedicate our story
to the frontier women of America
who helped their men settle the
Kentucky wilderness. They were
gallant and courageous, and without
their aggressive cooperation – few of
us would be around to see this picture."
Production
MGM bought the rights to a story by Steve Frazee published in ''Argosy'' magazine. Jack Cummings was assigned to produce.
Janet Leigh
Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...
was originally intended to be the female lead.
Reception
According to MGM records the film earned $2,084,000 in the US and Canada and $1,748,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $533,000.
See also
*
List of American films of 1955
A list of American films released in 1955.
The United Artists film '' Marty'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1955.
A–B
C–D
E–H
I–L
M–R
S–Z
See also
* 1955 in the United States
External links
1955 filmsat ...
References
External links
*
{{Roy Rowland
1955 films
1955 Western (genre) films
American Western (genre) films
Films directed by Roy Rowland
Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge
Films set in Kentucky
Films set in the 1790s
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
CinemaScope films
Films with screenplays by Harry Brown (writer)
1950s English-language films
1950s American films