''The Eve of St Mark'' is a 1942 play by

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to ...

set during World War II. It later became a 1944 film by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

that featured some of the same actors who repeated their roles in the film. The title is derived from the legend of St. Mark's Eve and the title of an uncompleted 1819 poem by

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

Plot

Quizz West is

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

into the United States Army in late 1940. Quizz and his hometown girlfriend Janet discuss their future plans before he ships off for San Francisco and then the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. When the U.S. enters the war, Quizz and his friends are manning a

coastal artillery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...

gun against overwhelming odds. Quizz communicates with his mother and Janet through dreams in which he asks them whether he and his friends should stay with their gun to sacrifice themselves by covering the withdrawing American troops or leave by boat for a chance of survival.

Play

Maxwell Anderson dedicated the play to his nephew Sgt. Lee Chambers, who was killed in a military accident. When researching the contemporary U.S. Army for the play at

Fort Bragg, North Carolina Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

, Anderson was assigned a representative from the Army's public relations department named

Marion Hargrove Edward Thomas Marion Lawton Hargrove Jr. (October 13, 1919 – August 23, 2003) was an American writer. Early years Hargrove was born in Mount Olive, North Carolina. He worked on the newspaper at his Charlotte, North Carolina, high school and ...

. The two became friends and Anderson based the character of Private Francis Marion on him. Anderson also recommended Hargrove's stories of army life to his publisher. When published as ''

See Here, Private Hargrove ''See Here, Private Hargrove'' (1942) is a book by Marion Hargrove, about his experiences in U.S. Army basic training. Origin The author, a North Carolina native, was a correspondent for ''The Charlotte News'' prior to World War II. After he wa ...

'', Anderson wrote a foreword to the book. The play opened on October 7, 1942, and closed on June 26, 1943 after 307 performances. A London stage version was directed by

Gabriel Pascal Gabriel Pascal (born Gábor Lehel; 4 June 1894 – 6 July 1954) was a Hungarian film producer and director whose best-known films were made in the United Kingdom. Pascal was the first film producer to successfully bring the plays of Georg ...

, with many of the roles played by American servicemen posted in England. One of the soldiers in the play was John Sweet, whom

Michael Powell Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a serie ...

chose for the lead in his ''

A Canterbury Tale ''A Canterbury Tale'' is a 1944 British film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger starring Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played two small roles. For the post-war American ...

''.

Film

After bidding by several Hollywood motion picture companies, 20th Century-Fox obtained the film rights to the play for $300,000. The studio agreed not to release the film before January 1944, when the play was expected to finish. The film was directed by

John M. Stahl John Malcolm Stahl (January 21, 1886 – January 12, 1950) was an American film director and producer. Life and work He was born Jacob Morris Strelitsky in Baku (Azerbaijan) to a Russian Jewish family. When he was a child, his family le ...

with Michael O'Shea,

George Matthews George Matthews may refer to: * George Matthews (soldier) (1726–1798), soldier and signatory of the 1790 Pennsylvania Constitution * George E. Matthews (1855–1911), American publisher of the ''Buffalo Courier-Express'' * George Matthews (music ...

Joann Dolan Jo-Ann Stores, LLC, more commonly known as Jo-Ann (stylized as JOANN), is an American specialty retailer of crafts and fabrics based in Hudson, Ohio. It operates the retail chains ''JOANN Fabrics and Crafts'' and ''Jo-Ann Etc''. The headquarter ...

Joven E. Rola Joven may refer to: Tequila * Joven (tequila), a type of tequila Given names * Joven Clarke (born 1983), Australian former rugby league footballer *Joven Alba, participated in Billiards and snooker at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games *Joven Busta ...

and

Toni Favor Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwegi ...

repeating their original stage roles. It also featured

Anne Baxter Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress, star of Hollywood films, Broadway productions, and television series. She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, and was nominated for an Emmy. A granddaughter of Fra ...

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both ''December Bride'' (1954–1959 ...

and

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 ...

. The film cost $1.4 million to produce. To comply with the

Motion Picture Production Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

, the script was modified to avoid the play's sexual references and language. The film originally included the play's closing scene, but it was overwhelmingly rejected by war-weary test-screening audiences. A new ending was filmed with a more hopeful tone. Screenwriter

George Seaton George Seaton (April 17, 1911 – July 28, 1979) was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director. Life and career Early life Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish des ...

recalled that he was unable to meet with Stahl before or during the filming and was unsatisfied with the end result. Though Seaton's screenplay remained intact, Stahl's areas of emphasis differed from those that Seaton had intended, and Stahl recommended that Seaton become a director himself.p.134 Stempel, Tom ''Framework: A History of Screenwriting in the American Film'' Syracuse University Press, 01/09/2000

Notes

External links

* *
''Life'' magazine review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eve of St. Mark, The 1942 plays Broadway plays Plays by Maxwell Anderson Plays about World War II American plays adapted into films 1944 films 1940s fantasy films 1940s war films American fantasy films American war films Films directed by John M. Stahl American black-and-white films 20th Century Fox films World War II films made in wartime Pacific War films Films set in the Philippines American films based on plays Films scored by Cyril J. Mockridge 1940s English-language films