Green Grass of Wyoming

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Movie
Original title Green Grass of Wyoming
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1948
length 89 minutes
Rod
Director Louis King
script Martin Berkeley
production Robert Bassler
for 20th Century Fox
music Cyril J. Mockridge
camera Charles G. Clarke
cut Nick DeMaggio
occupation

Green Grass of Wyoming is an American feature film directed by Louis King . The technicolor horse film is an adaptation of the 1946 novel of the same name by Mary O'Hara , which was published in Germany under the book title Green Grass of the Pasture . As the last part of a trilogy, the film builds on the films Flicka (1943) and Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (1945), which were previously produced by 20th Century Fox, and which were also based on works by Mary O'Hara.

action

Carey Greenway lives with her grandfather Beaver on a farm in Wyoming and takes loving care of him. Beaver once won important races with his horses, but is now only a shadow of himself due to an alcohol problem. One night one of his most important horses runs away with the runaway horse Thunderhead . Beaver is outraged and complains to the neighboring McLaughlin couple, who Thunderhead once belonged to, but who have long had no control over the stallion. Father Rob McLaughlin promises to shoot the horse if he next runs into it. His son, the young adult Ken McLaughlin, is against the shooting of Thunderhead because he used to have a close relationship with the horse. Meanwhile, Ken goes on a date with Carey Greenway, which her grandfather doesn’t like to see, as he’s still bad at the McLaughlins because of the horse.

Meanwhile, Ken McLaughlin has brought back a new horse named Crown Jewel from a work trip. His father is skeptical because the horse comes from a dubious dealer and does not initially feel comfortable in the high mountains of Wyoming. Again and again there are conflicts between father and son, as the latter now also wants to have an influence on the company. One morning Crown Jewel disappeared, apparently kidnapped by the wild Thunderhead. The McLaughlin, Beaver and some cowboys are now on the hunt for Thunderhead. You can track down some of the horses he kidnapped, but nothing of him or Crown Jewel is visible. Only later does Ken find the Crown Jewel trapped in a mud hole. He pulls them out, but the lungs crushed by the mud are life-threatening for the horse. Beaver, who has since renounced alcohol and is slowly burying his anger with the McLaughlins, gives Ken some tips that Crown Jewel can use to survive the illness.

The recovered Crown Jewel also pulls the apparently in love Thunderhead back to the vicinity of the McLaughlin court. First, Mr. McLaughlin wants to shoot the stallion, but Ken is able to catch him again with the help of Crown Jewel and make him trusting. Crown Jewel is said to be used as a racehorse in a sweepstake race. The inexperienced Ken is supposed to compete in his first race and receives lessons from the experienced trainer Jake Willis. But grandfather Greenway also wants to make his comeback in the big horse race . Carey is torn between her feelings for Ken and her grandfather.

On the day of the big sweepstake, which consists of three laps, a head-to-head race between the horses of Beaver and Ken quickly emerges. Thunderhead is on the sidelines and powers Crown Jewel with his presence. While Beaver wins the first round, he has to admit defeat to Ken in the second. In the third round, Beaver finally wins after Crown Jewel slackened shortly before the finish for initially inexplicable reasons. Beaver recognizes the reason for this with expert knowledge: Crown Jewel is pregnant by Thunderhead. Beaver is back on track, Ken and Crown Jewel have achieved a respectable success as newcomers to the racetrack and in the end nothing stands in the way of the love between Ken and Carey.

Production background

Mary O'Hara achieved a bestseller success in the 1940s with her horse novel trilogy about the horse Flicka and her offspring Thunderhead. The film adaptation of the first book, Flicka (1943), directed by Harold D. Schuster , was a great success for 20th Century Fox, so with Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (1945) and Green Grass of Wyoming (1947) also the other two novels were filmed, each of which was directed by Louis King . 20th Century Fox invested a total of two million US dollars in the color film Green Grass of Wyoming , which at the time was clearly above average for a Hollywood film. That stake paid off as the film made around $ 2.1 million in box office profits.

In contrast to the first two films, in which the character of Ken is clearly in the center and is still a child or adolescent, the entire cast was replaced in Green Grass of Wyoming : Roddy McDowall no longer played the role of Ken, this left to Robert Arthur , who now plays Ken as a young adult when he enters professional life. Robert Preston and Rita Johnson gave up the roles of Ken's parents to Lloyd Nolan and Geraldine Wall . Instead of James Bell , Burl Ives played the role of Gus, the farmhand of the McLaughlins. Burl Ives was also a popular country singer and can therefore also be heard in the film with the songs The Ballad of Thunderhead , I Married a Wife (I Wish I Were Single Again) and Where, Oh Where Is Dear Little Susie . With the Greenway family, played by Oscar winner Charles Coburn and then-newcomer Peggy Cummins , the film introduces a second important family into the plot.

The Fairfield County Fair Grounds in Lancaster (shown here in 2012) was the location for the final race in the film

Although the film, shot between early June and mid-August 1947, has the state of Wyoming in its title, not a single scene was shot there. The filming took place in various rural locations in Utah (here at the Cedar Breaks National Monument ) as well as in Lancaster , Ohio , where the local racetrack served as the setting for the film finals. The still completely unknown Marilyn Monroe appeared as an extra as a square dancer at the village festival. The costumes were designed by René Hubert , the film structures were designed by Lyle R. Wheeler and Albert Hogsett ; Thomas Little and Stanley Detlie were responsible for the equipment .

The world premiere took place on May 26, 1948 in the location of Lancaster, two days later the film also ran in Los Angeles. The New York premiere was on June 9, 1948.

Awards

Charles G. Clarke received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography in a Color Film .

criticism

The New York Times called the film a "rural drama" ( agriculture play ) and wrote about the audience experience in Green Grass of Wyoming : "Pleasantly colored by a battery of Technicolor cameras from 20th Century Fox, it's the kind of movie that goes in no particular direction, but manages to hold your attention and leave you in a pleasant mood. "

The All Movie Guide wrote that Green Grass of Wyoming offers the same “homemade pleasures” as previous films. The film is probably more interesting for children, but adults can at least enjoy the performances by Charles Coburn and Lloyd Nolan. Peggy Cummins and Robert Arthur would play the young and innocent lovers solidly.

The Movie & Video Guide called the film “an atmospheric story” and the style “common” on the one hand, but “nicely done” on the other.

Leslie Halliwell 's film guide found Green Grass of Wyoming to be "a predictable but good looking family film".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Media History Digital Library Media History Digital Library: Variety (February 1948) . New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company, 1948 ( archive.org [accessed February 7, 2020]).
  2. ^ Media History Digital Library Media History Digital Library: Variety (January 1949) . New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company, 1949 ( archive.org [accessed February 7, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Green Grass of Wyoming (1948) - Soundtrack (at IMDb). Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
  4. ^ Production data from Green Grass of Wyoming in the AFI
  5. ↑ Green Grass of Wyoming (1948) - IMDb. Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
  6. ^ J. Randy Taraborrelli: The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe . Pan Macmillan, 2009, ISBN 978-0-283-07118-8 ( google.de [accessed February 7, 2020]).
  7. ^ Richard Evans: Marilyn: In Words and Pictures . Book Sales, 2017, ISBN 978-0-7858-3535-6 ( google.de [accessed February 7, 2020]).
  8. ↑ Green Grass of Wyoming (1948) - Louis King | Review. Retrieved February 7, 2020 (American English).
  9. ^ Leonard Maltin : Movie & Video Guide, 1996 edition, p. 525
  10. ^ Leslie Halliwell : Halliwell's Film Guide, Seventh Edition, New York 1989, p. 429