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All the Brothers Were Valiant is a 1953 Technicolor adventure drama film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), based on the 1919 novel All the Brothers Were Valiant by Ben Ames Williams.

All the Brothers Were Valiant
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Thorpe
Written by	Harry Brown
Based on	All the Brothers Were Valiant 1919 novel by Ben Ames Williams
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Starring	Robert Taylor Stewart Granger Ann Blyth Betta St. John Keenan Wynn James Whitmore
Cinematography	George J. Folsey
Edited by	Ferris Webster
Music by	Miklós Rózsa
Production company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Loew's Inc.[1]
Release date	13 November 1953 (1953-11-13)
Running time	95 minutes 101 minutes (US)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,816,000[2]
Box office	$4,628,000[2]

The 1953 MGM film is a remake of the 1923 silent film that starred Lon Chaney and made by Metro Pictures (a forerunner of MGM), that is now considered lost; as is the 1928 MGM version, Across to Singapore, which starred Ramon Novarro. The 1953 version is directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Harry Brown. The music score is by Miklós Rózsa, the cinematography by George J. Folsey and the art direction is by Randall Duell and Cedric Gibbons.

It stars Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger and Ann Blyth, with Betta St. John, Keenan Wynn, James Whitmore, Kurt Kasznar, Lewis Stone (his final film, released posthumously), John Lupton, and Michael Pate.

Plot

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Seafaring saga of two brothers and the woman they both love. Set against South Pacific islands, this love triangle pits the good brother against the bad as they squabble over a woman and a bag of pearls on the floor of a lagoon; the bad brother redeems himself, however, by helping fend off a mutiny.

Cast

Production

MGM bought the rights to the novel in 1936. Following the success of Captains Courageous, they announced they would make the film with Robert Taylor and Spencer Tracy.[3][4] However, plans were postponed.

In November 1951, the film was reactivated as a vehicle for Taylor and Stewart Granger.[5] Elizabeth Taylor was originally announced for the female lead.[6]

Filming started on location in Jamaica in early 1953 with Granger and Betta St John.[7] While the unit was on location, Elizabeth Taylor, who had just given birth, was replaced by Ann Blyth.[8]

Granger later called the film a "crappy melodrama" and said the studio made him do this instead of the role he really wanted, the lead in Mogambo. He said he had been promised the latter but Dore Schary had reneged and given the role to Clark Gable. Granger enjoyed working with Robert Taylor, saying he "was the easiest person to work with but he had been entirely emasculated by the MGM brass who insisted that he was only a pretty face. He was convinced he wasn't really a good actor and his calm acceptance of this stigma infuriated me. He was such a nice guy, Bob, but he had even more hang-ups than I had."[9]

Lewis Stone died six months after completing filming.[10]

Reception

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Color Cinematography, (George J. Folsey).

Stewart Granger later called the film "bad" but admitted "I had an OK villain's part."[11]

Bosley Crowther in The New York Times panned the film: "What it all boils down to, in essence, is a lot of pseudo-salty South Seas whoop-de-do, put together with little distinction and without going off the studio lot."[12]

Box-office

According to MGM records it made $2,004,000 at the North American box-office and $2,624,000 elsewhere. It recorded a profit of $958,000.[2]

In France, it recorded admissions of 1,909,704.[13]

Proposed follow-up

In July 1953, MGM announced it had optioned another sailing adventure novel by Ben Ames Williams, Black Pawl, which they intended to film as a follow up, also starring Taylor and Granger. It was never made.[14]

References

External links

• All the Brothers Were Valiant at IMDb
• All the Brothers Were Valiant at the TCM Movie Database
• All the Brothers Were Valiant at AllMovie
• All the Brothers Were Valiant at the American Film Institute Catalog

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