Tonight's movie was "Brigham Young" (1940), starring Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell, through whose name I discovered the film in a database search. As you will infer from the title, it is a story of the Mormon leader, and in fact it briefly encompasses the story of church founder Joseph Smith as well. Really it is the saga of the Mormon exodus from Illinois in the 1840s, and it plays like an epic Western. You don't have to be Mormon, or even religious at all to enjoy the film, as it is a gripping story of survival against very difficult circumstances.
I know little about Mormonism, but I know the basics about Joseph Smith and his beliefs. I knew he was murdered by a mob, but I didn't know why. About Brigham Young I knew nothing except that he became the leader of the Mormon church and that a famous university is named after him.
The movie details everything a non-Mormon would need to know, including how Young came to become a Mormon himself, which is shown in flashback. The first half hour actually deals with the last stand of Smith (played eloquently by Vincent Price) and his parishioners in Illinois. The townspeople in Nauvoo (a real town), who are Christians themselves, nevertheless fear and hate Smith for his claim to be a prophet. They also detest the at-the-time Mormon practices of multiple marriage, which - because of the potential pregnancies that could ensue - causes them to worry that they will eventually be outpopulated in their own town.
History, and the movie, show what their reaction was, and it was savage. The townspeople of Nauvoo burned the Mormon settlement to the ground, shot Joseph Smith, then chased after the wagons with torches in hand as the Mormon people fled in the night with only the possessions they could carry.
Say what you will about Mormons, and I don't think most folks have a beef with them nowdays, but as they began they were a persecuted people. The movie shows them only wanting to live in peace. It also depicts Joseph Smith's philosophy of shared goods and community property, and early form of socialism, and as we have seen on the world stage, these ideas work best when implemented among small nations or groups. Smith did not believe in capitalism or the accruing of personal wealth, and Brigham Young carried on this policy after taking over the flock, adding on a few of his own beliefs such as his stand against tobacco and other intoxicants such as coffee and alcohol. The film shows us all of this in due course.
But it's really the story of their epic struggle to find a new place to settle after fleeing Illinois. As an aside, I ask you to imagine an America before police departments, when an angry mob of townspeople could murder or displace anyone they didn't like. There was such a time, and it wasn't all that long ago, less than 200 years.
Once the Mormons were out in the frontier, their battle was against nature. They faced frozen winters with no food. Many in the wagon train died of starvation and disease. The movie shows that the Indians in Iowa helped them out, and the two peoples became great friends forever after. The script is still ultimately about the leadership of Brigham Young, though, and it turns out that he will have to face a reckoning for his own deceptions, which have left his followers in dire straits. Young will need a miracle to get himself, and his people, out of their predicament, and he just might get one.....
As I say, you don't need to be Mormon to enjoy the picture. It is quite a tale, and I think it's part of How The West Was Won, as the Mormons were pioneers who helped to settle the Utah territory which was pure desert, like a moonscape. Who would have had the balls to settle there?
Well at any rate. I give "Brigham Young" Two Strong Thumbs Up. Unlike some biopics, this one doesn't get bogged down in historical details but instead concentrates on the hardships faced by the people as they cross the country.
Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell (who was only 17 at the time), make up one of the best looking pioneer couples ever to grace the screen, though both are earnest in their roles. I am a big fan of both actors, and especially Miss Darnell, who lived a short and tragic life.
So there you have it, a Mormon epic that you wouldn't have expected but that comes highly recommended to you by your expert reviewer. Dean Jagger plays Brigham Young, and you can't miss long tall John Carradine as his gun toting sidekick. /////
Today was my last day off, but I had a nice hike at Whitney Canyon and even saw some deer. Check out my photo on FB, posted earlier.
That's all for now. See you tomorrow morn, with tons of love in the meantime.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment