Directed by:
King VidorCinematography:
Harold RossonCast:
Brian Donlevy, Ann Richards, Walter Abel, John Qualen, Stephen McNally, Mary McLeod, Rudolf Myzet, Charles Irwin, Kay Medford, Paul Porcasi, Frank Faylen (more)Plots(1)
Director King Vidor intended An American Romance as the third entry in his "War, Wheat and Steel" trilogy (the War had been covered in The Big Parade, while Wheat was dispensed with in Our Daily Bread). Two years in production, the film cost nearly $3 million-little of which actually shows up on screen due to heavy post-production editing and rearranging of scenes. Brian Donlevy stars as immigrant laborer Steve Dangon, who becomes convinced early on that the only way he'll get anywhere in life is to accumulate huge sums of money. He takes a job in a midwestern steel mill, calculatedly working his way up the ladder from foreman to owner of an auto manufacturing firm. Though he regards himself as a "man of the people", Dangon resists the efforts of his workers to form a union.--even when his son Teddy (Horace McNally) is won over to the workers' point of view. A bitter three-month strike forces Dangon's board of directors to give in to the workers' wishes Disillusioned, Dangon retires from his business, but returns to work determined to switch over to the manufacture of airplanes when WW2 creates a demand for defense products. The "documentary" aspects of the story are far more compelling that the dramatic passages, with Donlevy's performance vacillating from strong to so-so. Minus any real star names (the leading lady is MGM contractee Ann Richards, a graduate of short subjects), An American Romance flopped at the box office, and Vidor in later years tended to dismiss the film as a misfire, severly damaged by studio tampering. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Brian Donlevy
Ireland
Best movies:
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Union Pacific (1939)
Birth of the Blues (1941)
Ann Richards
Australia
Best movies:
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Random Harvest (1942)
Walter Abel
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
Holiday Inn (1942)
John Qualen
Canada
Best movies:
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Casablanca (1942)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Stephen McNally
USA
Best movies:
Johnny Belinda (1948)
Winchester '73 (1950)
Keeper of the Flame (1942)
Mary McLeod
Canada
Best movies:
Keeper of the Flame (1942)
Bataan (1943)
A Guy Named Joe (1943)
Rudolf Myzet
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
This Land Is Mine (1943)
Jánošík (1921)
Charles Irwin
Ireland
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Kay Medford
USA
Best movies:
Random Harvest (1942)
Funny Girl (1968)
A Face in the Crowd (1957)
Paul Porcasi
Italy
Best movies:
Casablanca (1942)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Frank Faylen
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Ernie Adams
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Rhapsody in Blue (1945)
Charles Ray
USA
Best movies:
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Robin Hood (1922)
Ladies Should Listen (1934)
Mitchell Lewis
USA
Best movies:
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
The Stratton Story (1949)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Eddy Waller
USA
Best movies:
Woman on the Run (1950)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Boom Town (1940)
Byron Foulger
USA
Best movies:
Song of Love (1947)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
William H. O'Brien
Australia
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Mysterious Lady (1928)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Earle Hodgins
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
East of Eden (1955)
Dale Van Sickel
USA
Best movies:
North by Northwest (1959)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Edmund Breon
UK
Best movies:
Gaslight (1944)
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
Juve Against Fantomas (1913)