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''The Sun Shines Bright'' is a 1953 American
Comedy-Drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
Western film directed by
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
, based on material taken from a series of
Irvin S. Cobb Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (June 23, 1876 – March 11, 1944) was an American author, humorist, editor and columnist from Paducah, Kentucky, who relocated to New York in 1904, living there for the remainder of his life. He wrote for the ''New York Worl ...
"Judge Priest" short stories featured in ''
The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'' in the 1910s, specifically "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Mob from Massac", and "The Lord Provides". Ford had adapted some of the same material in 1934 in his film '' Judge Priest''. That film originally had a scene depicting an attempted lynching of Poindexter (and Priest’s condemnation of the act), but it was cut 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 Disn ...
. The omission was one of the reasons Ford loosely reshaped the Cobb stories two decades later as ''The Sun Shines Bright'' for
Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Corporation (currently held under Melange Pictures, LLC) was an American motion picture production-distribution corporation in operation from 1935 to 1967, that was based in Los Angeles. It had studio facilities in Studio City a ...
, this time including Judge Priest's defusing of the mob determined to lynch a young black character named Woodford. In both films, Stepin Fetchit plays the part of Judge Priest's assistant, Poindexter. Ford often cited ''The Sun Shines Bright'' as his favorite among all his films, and in later years, it was championed by critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum and
Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the '' Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a ...
, who called it "a masterpiece".


Plot

In post-reconstruction United States,
black sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...
Ashby Corwin returns to his native
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
on a steamboat. He encounters young Lucy Lee, ward of Dr. Lake, and is struck by her beauty. In court, Judge Billy Priest, who is a candidate for reelection to his post, adjudicates a number of cases, including finding a job for "Uncle Plez" Woodford's idle nephew, U. S. Grant Woodford. Ashby learns that while old General Fairfield is said to be the grandfather of Lucy, he denies it. On the street, after Lucy is the subject of insults by Buck Ramsey about her true heritage, Ashby gets into a whip fight with Buck before the judge comes by and puts a stop to it. Lucy eventually discovers who her real mother is: a prostitute recently returned to town. Meanwhile, the daughter of Rufe Ramsuer is assaulted and young Woodford is blamed and arrested, causing racial tensions to rise and a large lynch mob to form. Violence seems imminent until Judge Priest confronts the mob at the jailhouse and defuses the confrontation with an eloquent and brilliant argument. Later, Rufe's daughter points to Buck as being her true attacker. It is election day. Those in the lynch mob realize that Judge Priest has saved them from themselves, and they vote for him en masse, producing a tie with the other candidate, Horace K. Maydew (played by Milburn Stone). It is pointed out to the judge that he hasn't yet remembered to cast a ballot himself, so he wins reelection by a single vote: his own.


Cast

*
Charles Winninger Charles J. Winninger (May 26, 1884 – January 27, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals. Life and career Winninger was born in Athens, Wisconsin, the son of Rosalia (Grassler) and Franz Winninger ...
as Judge William Pittman Priest *
Arleen Whelan Arleen Whelan (September 1, 1916 – April 7, 1993) was an American film actress. Early years Whelan was a native of Salt Lake City, Utah. Before she became an actress, she worked in Southern California as a manicurist, contributing her ea ...
as Lucy Lee Lake * John Russell as Ashby Corwin * Stepin Fetchit as Jeff Poindexter * Russell Simpson as Dr. Lewt Lake * Ludwig Stössel as Herman Felsburg (as Ludwig Stossel) * Francis Ford as Feeney (Old Backwoodsman) *
Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, b ...
as Army Sgt. Jimmy Bagby * Mitchell Lewis as Sheriff Andy Redcliffe * Grant Withers as Buck Ramsey *
Milburn Stone Hugh Milburn Stone (July 5, 1904 – June 12, 1980) was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" (Dr. Galen Adams) on the CBS Western series '' Gunsmoke''. Early life Stone was born in Burrton, Kansas, to Herbert Stone and the for ...
as Horace K. Maydew * Dorothy Jordan as Lucy Lee's mother * Elzie Emanuel as U.S. Grant 'You Ess' Woodford *
Henry O'Neill Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s. Early years He was born in Orange, New Jersey. Caree ...
as Joe D. Habersham * Slim Pickens as Sterling, Lanky Backwoodsman * James Kirkwood as General Fairfield * Ernest Whitman as Pleasant 'Uncle Plez' Woodford *
Trevor Bardette Trevor Bardette (born Terva Gaston Hubbard; November 19, 1902 – November 28, 1977) was an American film and television actor. Among many other roles in his long and prolific career, Bardette appeared in several episodes of '' Adventures of S ...
as Rufe Ramseur * Eve March as Mallie Cramp *
Hal Baylor Hal Harvey Fieberling (born Hal David Britton); December 10, 1918 – January 15, 1998 known professionally as Hal Baylor, was an American actor, probably best known for his role as Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski in the film ''Sands of Iwo Jima''. In 1 ...
as Rufe Ramseur Jr. * Jane Darwell as Mrs. Aurora Ratchitt * Ken Williams as Maydew's Henchman *
Clarence Muse Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a film, 1929's ''Hearts in Dixie''. He acted for ...
as Uncle Zack *
Mae Marsh Mae Marsh (born Mary Wayne Marsh; November 9, 1894U.S. Census records for 1900, El Paso, Texas, Sheet No. 6 – February 13, 1968) was an American film actress with a career spanning over 50 years. Early life Mae Marsh was born Mary Wayne M ...
as G.A.R. Woman at the Ball


Release

The film was entered into the
1953 Cannes Film Festival The 6th Cannes Film Festival was held from 15 to 29 April 1953. The Grand Prix of the Festival went to ''The Wages of Fear'' by Henri-Georges Clouzot. The festival opened with ''Horizons sans fin'' by Jean Dréville. During the opening ceremony ...
. Herbert J. Yates, the head of Republic Pictures, had about ten minutes cut from the film against Ford's wishes. According to film historian Joseph McBride, the full 100-minute version (which did play theatrically overseas) was rediscovered when Republic inadvertently used it as a master for the 1990 videotape release. This full version is currently available from Olive Films as a high-definition Blu-ray release.


See also

*
John Ford filmography John Ford (1894–1973) was an American film director whose career spanned from 1913 to 1971. During this time he directed more than 140 films however nearly all of his silent films are lost. Born in Maine, Ford entered the filmmaking industry sho ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Shines Bright, The 1953 films 1950s historical comedy-drama films American Western (genre) films 1953 Western (genre) films American black-and-white films Remakes of American films American historical comedy-drama films Films about elections Films based on short fiction Films directed by John Ford Films scored by Victor Young Films set in Kentucky Films set in the 1890s Republic Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films