The Stratton Story (1949)
I expected to like but not love this movie, but Jimmy Stewart and June Allison are so likeable and natural together, it ends up being a really enjoyable movie.
It's a baseball movie, for what that's worth. I mean, there are usually a lot of clichés that go with the build up of a rising star in the sport. And a lot of that is here (coaxed by Frank Morgan, who is spry and quite good in this post-Wizard role). And if you like baseball movies this is good enough to keep it going.
But this isn't just a baseball movie, and that's a good thing. It's a romance, a drama, a tragedy. It layers up some deep and moving events without overdramatizing it. (I won't way what happens.) And the baseball part of the movie leads to this other drama really well, as a contrast and a kind of broken-dream tale.
It has to be said that it seems Stewart and Allison might make any story fly. But this one really works, especially as an MGM drama. Sam Wood is director and producer here-and if he's not famous as a director any more, he did have a key role as a Marx Brothers director early on. He certainly shows a deft touch for basic realism even as the extremes seem beyond normal life.
But then, it's Stewart and Allison who pull it off in the end. They made two more movies together (the "Glenn Miller Story" is really good, much better than I expected).
Look for Agnes Moorehead here, and for some decent but straight forward photography by Harold Rossen (of "Wizard of Oz" and "Singin' in the Rain" fame). Mostly, set yourself up for the second half, which is beautifully restrained and searching.
I expected to like but not love this movie, but Jimmy Stewart and June Allison are so likeable and natural together, it ends up being a really enjoyable movie.
It's a baseball movie, for what that's worth. I mean, there are usually a lot of clichés that go with the build up of a rising star in the sport. And a lot of that is here (coaxed by Frank Morgan, who is spry and quite good in this post-Wizard role). And if you like baseball movies this is good enough to keep it going.
But this isn't just a baseball movie, and that's a good thing. It's a romance, a drama, a tragedy. It layers up some deep and moving events without overdramatizing it. (I won't way what happens.) And the baseball part of the movie leads to this other drama really well, as a contrast and a kind of broken-dream tale.
It has to be said that it seems Stewart and Allison might make any story fly. But this one really works, especially as an MGM drama. Sam Wood is director and producer here-and if he's not famous as a director any more, he did have a key role as a Marx Brothers director early on. He certainly shows a deft touch for basic realism even as the extremes seem beyond normal life.
But then, it's Stewart and Allison who pull it off in the end. They made two more movies together (the "Glenn Miller Story" is really good, much better than I expected).
Look for Agnes Moorehead here, and for some decent but straight forward photography by Harold Rossen (of "Wizard of Oz" and "Singin' in the Rain" fame). Mostly, set yourself up for the second half, which is beautifully restrained and searching.