THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT [1953 / 2022] [EUREKA! Entertainment] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Another Triumphant Film Directed by John Ford!
The notoriously difficult to please John Ford regarded ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ as his favourite film. Based on material from Irvin S. Cobb’s “Judge Priest” short stories, and John Ford had previously directed the 1934 film ‘Judge Priest’ starring Will Rogers, but was unsatisfied with the handling of the film by 20th Century Fox – specifically their decision to cut a vital scene depicting the main character condemning an attempted lynching. Two decades later he chose to revisit the material for REPUBLIC FILMS, and the result was yet another masterpiece from the great director.
Set in 1905 Kentucky, Judge William Pittman Priest [Charles Winninger] is fighting for re-election against a Yankee prosecutor Horace K. Maydew [Milburn Stone]. Despite the Judge William Pittman Priest’s popularity, his generosity and sense of justice may cost him the election.
‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ almost shared a similar fate as Judge William Pittman Priest, with ten minutes of footage being removed by REPUBLIC FILMS. Fortunately, the original uncut master was not destroyed, and has now been fully restored and makes its UK debut on Blu-ray as part of the Masters of Cinema series.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1953 Cannes Film Festival: Nominated: Grand Prize of the Festival for John Ford. 1954 BAFTA Awards: Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best Film from any Source [USA].
FILM FACT No.2: The film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. Herbert J. Yates, the head of Republic Pictures, had about ten minutes cut from the film against Ford's wishes. According to film historian Joseph McBride, the full 100-minute version which did play theatrically overseas and was rediscovered when REPUBLIC FILMS inadvertently used it as a master for the 1990 videotape release. This full version is also available from Olive Films as a high-definition Region A/1 Blu-ray release.
Cast: Charles Winninger, Arleen Whelan, John Russell, Stepin Fetchit, Russell Simpson, Ludwig Stössel, Francis Ford, Paul Hurst, Mitchell Lewis, Grant Withers, Milburn Stone, Dorothy Jordan, Elzie Emanuel, Henry O'Neill, Slim Pickens, James Kirkwood, Ernest Whitman, Trevor Bardette, Eve March, Hal Baylor, Jane Darwell, Ken Williams, Clarence Muse, Mae Marsh, Myrtle Anderson (uncredited), Walter Bacon (uncredited), Arthur Berkeley (uncredited), Danny Borzage (uncredited), Rudy Bowman (uncredited), Jess Cavin (uncredited), Jane Crowley (uncredited), Willa Pearl Curtis (uncredited), Mimi Doyle (uncredited), Tex Driscoll (uncredited), Slim Gaut (uncredited), Sam Harris (uncredited), Al Haskell (uncredited), Chuck Hayward (uncredited), Shep Houghton (uncredited), James Jackson (uncredited), Michael Jeffers (uncredited), Dick Johnstone (uncredited), Jack Kenny (uncredited), Philip Kieffer (uncredited), Anne Kunde (uncredited), Jack Low (uncredited), Cliff Lyons (uncredited), Cactus Mack (uncredited), Wilbur Mack (uncredited), Louis Mason (uncredited), Merrill McCormick (uncredited), Mathew McCue (uncredited), Frank McLure (uncredited), Jack Mower (uncredited), Frank O'Connor (uncredited), James O'Hara (uncredited), Jack Pennick (uncredited), Jack Perrin (uncredited), Barry Regan (uncredited), Joe Rickson (uncredited), Almira Sessions (uncredited), Allen D. Sewall (uncredited), Mickey Simpson (uncredited), Leslie Sketchley (uncredited), Elizabeth Slifer (uncredited), Cap Somers (uncredited), Blackjack Ward (uncredited), Bennie Washington (uncredited) and Patrick Wayne (uncredited)
Director: John Ford
Producers: John Ford (uncredited) and Merian C. Cooper (uncredited)
Screenplay: Laurence Stallings (screenplay) and Irvin S. Cobb (short stories "The Sun Shines Bright," "The Mob from Massac" and "The Lord Provides")
Composer: Victor Young
Costume Designer: Adele Palmer
Cinematography: Archibald Job Stout, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 101 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Republic Pictures / Paramount Pictures / EUREKA! Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ [1953] is a film set in an idyllic, post-reconstruction Kentucky in the good old USA, and is director John Ford’s adaptation of three Irvin S Cobb short stories centred around one Judge William Pittman Priest [Charles Winninger]. The film is orientated around Judge William Pittman Priest’s upcoming re-election bid, in which the town now seems far more enraptured with the slick progressive democrat candidate. While Judge William Pittman Priest wishes to be re-elected, he will not turn his back on his good-natured manner to get ahead in the polls. Throughout the film’s well-mannered 100 minutes, Judge William Pittman Priest finds himself pitted against a heap of small-town social conundrums which, dependant on his decisions, could have him booted out of office for good.
‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ is a film set in an idyllic, post-reconstruction Kentucky, and John Ford’s adaptation of three Irvin S Cobb short stories centred around one Judge William Pittman Priest and is orientated around Judge William Pittman Priest’s upcoming re-election bid, in which the town now seems far more enraptured with the slick progressive democrat candidate. While Judge William Pittman Priest wishes to be re-elected, he will not turn his back on his good-natured manner to get ahead in the polls. Throughout the film’s well-mannered 100 minutes, Judge William Pittman Priest finds himself pitted against a heap of small-town social conundrums which, dependant on his decisions, could have him booted out of office for good.
Once the characters are established and Judge William Pittman Priest sets about his doing his duty, ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ becomes a different animal. One that highlights a lost vision of how one could see politics or politicians for that matter. A young black boy is a target for an attempted lynching. An act of violence that Judge William Pittman Priest looks to sway. One of the film’s most potent images stems from these scenes. A calm yet defiant Judge William Pittman Priest standing opposite a mob determined to commit a deluded sense of justice. Judge William Pittman Priest’s condemning of the mob’s behaviour and his incessant demand for fairness to any person no matter their creed, class or colour is enough to bring out the inner Atticus Finch from the film ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ [1960].
It is rather interesting that this film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ predates the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ The scene made even more poignant for two reasons. The studio REPUBLIC FILMS originally cut the scene against John Ford’s wishes and in turn butchers a point in which the narrative is trying to place across. The second, more unsettling aspect is the infamous, real-life lynching of Emmett Till, which occurs two years after this film is made. The scene was re-discovered inadvertently in the 1990’s and is now reinstated, but its original disappearance is a small reminder of how easily studios can snuff out what they deem undesirable, all the while art still manages to be imitated by real life.
Arguably the film’s most compelling scene involves a funeral procession for a character whose occupation is largely mocked and looked down upon. It’s a sequence shot with such simple elegance that the film’s uneven pacing, racial stereotypes and overt earnestness almost fades away. The strength of John Ford’s intentions helps pull through the film’s more laboured aspects. Perhaps the idealism that rings throughout the film may feel a little cloying to the modern eye. And the film doesn’t hold the same splendour of John Ford’s more celebrated masterworks. However, a film that still manages on more than one occasion to utilise its craft to spit in the face of intolerance is still something to be welcomed.
John Ford's notorious sentimentality is in danger of becoming cloying at times, but he just about manages to rein it in at key moments. The film says as much about Hollywood's take on American social attitudes in the mid 1950’s as it does about the same in the Deep South at the turn of the century, which isn't in itself a bad thing. I suppose it's even possible that one day films like this will be shown in classrooms to demonstrate the gigantic positive strides that have been made in the cause of racial equality in the latter half of the 20th Century. Better that than they wilfully ignored in the name of political correctness.
THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT MUSIC TRACK LIST
MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME (uncredited) (Music by Stephen Foster) (Arranged by Jester Hairston)
SWEET GENEVIEVE (uncredited) (Music by Henry Tucker)
DIXIE (uncredited) (Written by Daniel Decatur Emmett)
SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT (uncredited) (Written by Wallis Willis) (Arranged by Jester Hairston)
DEEP RIVER (uncredited) (Traditional) (Arranged by Jester Hairston)
TENTING ON THE OLD CAMP GROUND (uncredited) (Traditional) (Written by Walter Kittredge)
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA (uncredited) (Traditional) (Written by Henry Clay Work)
HAIL, HAIL, THE GANG’S ALL HERE (uncredited) (Music by Theodore Morse and Arthur Sullivan)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Republic Pictures, Paramount Pictures and EUREKA! Entertainment presents us the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ with a wonderful Black-and-White 1080p image and is of course is viewed with a standard 1.37:1 aspect ratio. This is one of the most luminously beautiful looking black-and-white high definition presentations of a vintage film I have ever seen, all the more remarkable in that it wasn't from an especially big studio, was never very popular and is a fairly unusual choice to make it to this format. Are there problems? Yes, all expected: occasional minor damage in the form of little specks and flecks, and some very moderate contrast fluctuations. But if you either overlook or just flat out ignore these very transitory problems, what's here is often beautifully detailed, with wonderfully gradated grey scale, deep, rich blacks and bright, vivid whites. The overall image is appealingly clear and precise, though grain is fairly heavy throughout this transfer.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Republic Pictures, Paramount Pictures and EUREKA! Entertainment brings us the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ with just one standard 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience and has some quite noticeable distortion in the mid and upper ranges and especially with the opening credits music, but it continues in spurts throughout the film, at times just slightly hobbling the dialogue and some of the on screen music performances. That said, the vast bulk of the dialogue is clear and easy to hear, and while fidelity here definitely has some issues, those approaching the film with appropriate expectations shouldn't be too shocked with what you hear with this particular sound mix.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary by Joseph McBride [Audio only] [2022] [1080p] [1.37:1] [101:05] With this featurette, we get to hear this new audio commentary by Film Historian Joseph McBride and author of “Searching for John Ford” about director John Ford and especially it is a deeply insightful and impeccably documented narrative, and the epic tribute that John Ford merits as the director of films such as ‘Stagecoach,’ The Grapes of Wrath’ and ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.’ As the film starts Joseph McBride introduces himself and informs us he has written two books on the director John Ford and is here to talk about the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ and says that John Ford was a very private person and put all his efforts into the films he directed, and John Ford once informed Hedda Hopper [American gossip columnist] that he did not want people to know that he was illiterate. People have asked John Ford what his favourite film is and would give several different answers to each person who asked the question, but most the film he shouts out his favourite film is ‘Arrowsmith’ [1931] which is the only film he was fired from. Sometimes John Ford would stray from commenting on his favourite films and some of them were ‘How Green Was My Valley’ and ‘Wagon Master,’ but one of the other favourite film was ‘The Quiet Man’ that starred John Wayne and John Ford would say that he loved to watch this film now and again and of course the film went onto win awards. On top of all that John Ford would move around to different film studios to spread his wings and gain more professionalism, and we hear that John Wayne had a lot of influence on John Ford to help his career. John Ford also says that he likes to make a big movie that is a success, so that he can then direct a small film project that he was very keen to direct, especially a film about race relations. When we see Judge Priest [Charles Winninger] in the bedroom with his black servant, but then the film was first released in America that whole sequence in the bedroom was edited out, but when the film was shown in Europe the whole 101 minute film was released, and it got rave reviews in England and Europe. When we get to chapter 2 we get to see the courtroom scene and Joseph McBride says this scene is very bizarre with a mixture of satire and comedy and also all kind of other stuff going on, but feels it was really wonderful scene. But the young black man that has been falsely accused of a crime against a white woman, starts playing his banjo to a Yankee tune and the whole courtroom is shocked, as it is the wrong type of music he is playing and the whole courtroom is shocked and insulted, but all of sudden he is stopped from carrying on playing his banjo, but instead they ask him to play the tune “Dixie” and of course it is smile all round in the courtroom, and Joseph McBride says it sort of satirizes the Southern backward attitude in race relations, and also says the black characters are satirising the white characters and they don’t know it or understand it and that is the key element throughout the movie. Joseph McBride says the film title and the brilliant screenplay by Laurence Stalling and the title of the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ is from the words “The Sun Shines Bright and the Lord provides” and the title is from the famous song by Stephen C. Foster “My Old Kentucky Home Goodnight” where it says “Oh, the sun shines bright, On my old Kentucky home, 'Tis summer, The old folks are gay…” We are also informed that Stephen C. Foster wrote more than 200 songs, including “Oh! Susanna,” “Hard Times Come Again No More,” “Camptown Races,” “Old Folks at Home" (“Swanee River”), “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” “Old Black Joe” and “Beautiful Dreamer” and many of his compositions remain popular today. Joseph McBride says that Laurence Stallings was also famous for being a prolific play writer for the novel “What Price Glory?” that was about the First World War and was followed up by the 1926 silent film ‘What Price Glory?’ and Joseph McBride says that John Ford directed the 1952 film ‘What Price Glory?’ which was a bit of a box office failure. Joseph McBride says that Laurence Stallings was involved with the screenplay for the massive hit film ‘The Big Parade’ that was directed by King Vidor in 1925. When we get to chapter 3 Joseph McBride says the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ was during the Hollywood “Blacklist” was an entertainment industry blacklist put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War, in Hollywood and elsewhere. Actors, screenwriters, directors, musicians, and other American entertainment professionals were barred from work by the studios and were a very bitter period in American history with lots of rival factions and denunciations of your enemies etc., and John Ford was trying to show Judge Priest that he was a man of great tolerance. At chapter 4, Joseph McBride informs us that he did an audio recording of an interview with director John Ford and we get to hear a sound bite of that recording and we are not informed when it was recorded and Joseph McBride says John Ford was the most difficult person to interview in Hollywood. Joseph McBride also explains how the longer 101 minutes version of the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ got released and it inadvertently released by Republic Pictures in 1990 when Leonard Maltin to the Master print off the shelf after some investigation and found it to be John Ford’s Director’s Cut. When we get to chapter 6, Joseph McBride talks about the great lynching mob marching into town and we are seeing the sheer terror reactions of the black actors of what they think is about to happen and the mystery of the scene they are reacting to and the terror we see in the black actors faces. But then we see Judge Priest standing up against the lynch mob all on his own and it was a tremendous statement on behalf of director John Ford and he wanted to show the lynch mob because of that period in time in some parts of America where a lot of white people were 100% intolerant against black people, because John Ford had just come back from Europe after the end of World War Two and he witness the tolerance of the Europeans towards the black population, and that is why John Ford wanted to direct the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT.’ When we get to chapter 9, we get to view the insane Election Parade for Judge Priest and the sleazy politician Horace K. Maydew and of course we get to see the pivotal point in the film where we get to hear the result of the vote which is on a knife edge and of course you will have find out for sure who is the amazing outright winner by viewing this Blu-ray release. As we come to the end of this Joseph McBride audio commentary, Joseph McBride signs off and says thank you for listening to me talking about the great director John Ford film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT,’ and he hopes you enjoyed it.
Special Feature: One Hero: Video Essay by Tag Gallagher [Audio only] [2022] [1080p] [1.37:1] [11:22] With this featurette, we get to hear an audio commentary from Tag Gallagher who is the author of “John Ford: Himself and His Movies,” and does an in-depth audio commentary about the film director John Ford and his film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT.’ Tag Gallagher talks about the post-reconstruction of a small town in Kentucky in the good old USA, where the Confederates versus the Yankees, and the film consists of the main two dozen characters who live in that town and director Joh Ford wants us to get to know these Hicksville characters intimately with each stage entrances and with their gestures we get to find out about each of these main characters as we get to watch the movie. But most of all of course they are typical stereotypical characters and not normally what you might encounter in your general life. Like in a painting, the characters emotions get to saturate the frame, and each character throughout the movie blossom and Tag Gallagher says you cannot judge the book by the cover and the black character that is supposed to be the simpleton, turns out later in the film you will see that this type of character will not this type of character, but Tag Gallagher also says that all the black characters in the film are not the same type of naïve black character that was being hunted down by the white lynch mob. Tag Gallagher says that in any John Ford movie, it is all about the community and what happens when an outsider enters the community. Tag Gallagher talks about the actress Dorothy Jordan who plays the dying character Lucy Lee’s mother, who has also played a mother character in the film ‘The Searchers’ and has been a star in 24 pictures, before she eventually gave up acting in 1933 and married Merian C. Cooper who was an American filmmaker, actor, and producer, as well as a former aviator who served as an officer in the United States Air Force and Polish Air Force. In film, his most famous work was the 1933 movie ‘King Kong,’ and he is credited as co-inventor of the Cinerama film projection process and was of course with the movie ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ as a producer Merian C. Cooper (uncredited). For some unknown boring monotonous reason Tag Gallagher, when we get to see a burning lamp in the houses of the characters in that town in the film, Tag Gallagher just keeps on mentioning it and stating the bloody obvious and doesn’t help with this voice, as he tends to talk very soft and quiet and I had to crank the sound up to hear his boring monotonous voice and to understand what he is talking about. Tag Gallagher also talks about the composition of each scene in the movie; well to me this is an absolutely pointless exercise, talk about stating the blinding obvious. To sum up about this particular featurette, I found it an absolute pointless exercise and this featurette should have never ever been included with the Blu-ray release.
PLUS: FIRST PRESSING ONLY: A beautiful collector’s 40 page booklet featuring a reprint of THE LORD PROVIDES by the collection of Old Judge Priest [1915]. A HOUSE UNITED Community Relations in ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ by James Oliver. THE DODDERING RELICS OF LOST CAUSE on John Ford’s ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ an essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum. VIEWING NOTES. Blu-ray Credits.
BONUS: Reversible printed Blu-ray cover featuring Black-and-White scene from the film ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT.’
Finally, ‘THE SUN SHINES BRIGHT’ it is said to be considered John Ford’s most favourite film of all the films he has made. It is a lovely film to watch. Archie Stout one of fords favourite cameraman, shot it. The last scene where Judge William Pittman Priest is seen in the doorway echoes the last scene in the ‘Searchers’ film. It is a film about loyalty, honour and redemption. But there are scenes where the black people of the town are shown to be childlike, and in awe of their white leaders. This marks the film as a product of a time long past. Some of the scenes of the black people are demeaning. But overall, Judge William Pittman Priest sense of honour, his fairness to all, and his sense of decency looms over the film. John Ford makes Judge William Pittman Priest played by Charles Winninger in his best role, a heroic figure. But a figure that is isolated even in a crowd. A former bugler he is left to carry on the codes of honour and fairness that the old south thought it contained. People vote for him, return him to office year after year, yet he goes into his home alone. He is man out of his time. A man of the community but set apart from it by his strict adherence to his code. Some of the acting in the film is over acting. But the last fifteen minutes are really lovely to watch. Arguably the film’s most compelling scene involves a funeral procession for a character whose occupation is largely mocked and looked down upon. It’s a sequence shot with such simple elegance that the film’s uneven pacing, racial stereotypes and overt earnestness almost fades away. The strength of John Ford’s intentions helps pull through the film’s more laboured aspects. Perhaps the idealism that rings throughout the film may feel a little cloying to the modern eye. And the film doesn’t hold the same splendour of John Ford’s more celebrated masterworks. However, a film that still manages on more than one occasion to utilise its craft to spit in the face of intolerance is still something to be welcomed. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
