silverscreen888 Review of All the Brothers Were Valiant

All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953)

Vivid and Unusual; a Tale of Honor, a Romantic Triangle, an Adventure

[7/10 · 17 August 2005]

This is one of my favorite stories as a writer, and it has been for fifty years. MGM had many contract players still on its roster in the early 1950s, among them its most used leading men Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger. To pair with them, as a woman loved by both, studio executives decided to use Ann Blyth, their lovely dark-haired all purpose singing and dramatic star and Betta St. John, along with many fine supporting actors such as Lewis Stone, Kurt Kasznar, Keenan Wynn, Michael Pate, John Lupton, Leo Gordon, Frank DeKova, Peter Whitney, and James Whitmore. This is an adventure that might have been played as an explicit-idea-level drama, since it has many dramatic elements. But it is also a complex, dialogue-rich film with exotic locales and actions, the strong music of Miklos Rosza and a story-line second to none. The Nathan Ross is a sturdy whaling ship from a proud New Bedford Massachusetts family's line of such ships. The men who go to sea in such frail vessels hunt the world's largest mammals with harpoons hurled from longboats; they risk dangers from wild islanders, pirates and inimical ships in foreign service; but sometimes the greatest danger comes from their own failings, passions and obsessions. "All the Brothers Were Valiant" was directed by action expert Richard Thorpe from a script by Harry Brown based on a Ben Ames Williams novel. The story-line was first revealed in a movie magazine in the year of release, along with "Shane" and several other soon-to-be-released films, which is when I first read of it. The production itself was filmed in color and I find it to be beautifully mounted. Cinematography was provided by George Folsey with art direction by Randall Duell and Cedric Gibbons and set decorations by Hugh Hunt and Edwin B. Willis. The vivid costumes were the work of Walter Plunkett. Douglas Shearer as usual at MGM was the sound engineer, and this must have been one of his most difficult assignments. The story-line, remake of a silent 1920s film, begins with an exciting flashback. The year is 1857. Mark Shore (Granger) has been reported lost at sea. What really happened is he had contracted a fever and had been drinking. He ended up on an island where a beautiful native girl (St. John) nursed him, and told him of a fabulous fortune in untouched black pearls. They are chased by furious natives, and he somehow escapes. In the meanwhile, his brother, Joel Shore (Taylor) has been appointed captain of the Nathan Ross. He has also married lovely Priscilla (Blyth) who had been fonder of the more dashing Mark all along. He takes her with her on the three-year-long whaling voyage as his bride, as captains frequently did in those days. And after adventures such as a whale hunt and storms, Mark finds his way back aboard ship. he claims the captaincy; Taylor tells him that he is captain of the Nathan Ross and offers to make him mate. Once aboard, Mark then starts angling to excite the men about the possibility of going back for the fortune in pearls, which lie in only 12 feet of water, just waiting to be harvested. What happens hereafter is the fomenting of a mutiny, which at the last Granger refuses to allow to run its course, He and Taylor battle the ship's mutineers and at the last, in keeping with a strange tradition which is practiced at the end of each day when the captain of the ship writes his "log" or journal report, he is able to say of Mark as well as himself, "all the brothers were valiant". This is a complex and interesting tale, I suggest, and one filled with fascinating minor characters and dramatic interplay among the persons and crewmen involved.. Granger is very good as Mark, and Blyth is unusually good for a young actress as the woman they both desire. Taylor is stalwart and capable as the serious-minded brother also. Many of the supporting actors are outstanding, as they must play honest seamen and obsessed mutineers or disappointed loyalists as well. Also aboard or involved were in addition to those already named John Doucette, Robert Burton, James Bell, Stanley Andrews, Tyler McVey, Mitchell Lewis, Henry Rowland and Jonathan Kott among others. I recommend this story as a fine and strongly-plotted adventure; its theme is honor, and its production values both I find to be very high indeed.