This evening's motion picture was entitled "The Vanishing Virginian"(1942), starring Frank Morgan, Kathryn Grayson and Spring Byington. It tells the story of Robert Yancey, a lawyer from Lynchburg, Virginia who served as the town's Commonwealth Attorney for 33 years. The period covered in the film is from 1912-1929. Yancey (played by Morgan, who three years earlier was The Wizard of Oz), is a hearty Southern gentleman with a wife (Byington) and four children. The eldest are daughters Margaret (Natalie Thompson) and Rebecca (Grayson), independent minded young ladies who are influenced by the women's suffrage movement. Margaret has been raised to be an artist but hates art. Her dream is to become a lawyer like her father. Rebecca is a natural born singer, as was Kathryn Grayson in real life, but she wants to paint. "Captain" Yancey, as he is known, just wants to get re-elected. His wife Spring Byington makes him swear this will be his last term.
This is what you would call a slice-of-life movie rather than one with a distinct plot. It's not quite a biopic because Mr. Yancey was not famous enough for that, so you might think of it as a nostalgia picture about the good old days in the great state of Virginia, told via the life of one of it's favorite sons. We are taken through various stages of Yancey's career, such as the time he went against the interests of his own office to influence a jury against condemning a black man to death. He's a fair-minded prosecutor who has no tolerance for prejudice, and while he has black servants at home, they are considered part of the family. The great Louise Beavers plays "Aunt" Emmeline, and an actor named Leigh Whipper plays her husband, "Uncle" Josh". Whipper was a distinguished theatre actor whom I don't believe I've seen before on film, but his role is important in the story, for Uncle Josh and Robert Yancey have been friends since childhood. Uncle Josh takes care of the farm animals and loves Yancey's children as if they were his own. His selflessness will lead to the crescendo of the only major plot point in the film.
There are romances for the sisters. Margaret is courted by an up-and-coming young lawyer (Johnny Mitchell) who she finds dull. Instead she goes out with Mark Daniels, who owns a brand new Stanley Steamer. Rebecca takes up her slack and ends up marrying Mitchell, who loves her singing. Kathryn Grayson, a soprano, had an operatic voice and she sings a couple of solo numbers along the way.
There is also a brief subtheme having to do with Prohibition. This is before it was passed as the 18th Amendment. A politico has come to Lynchburg to urge citizens to push for the bill. Yancey discovers the man is a wealthy trickster, who - at the same time he's rallying for Prohibition - is also going around buying up all the whiskey in Tennessee, so he can sell it on the black market after the Amendment passes. But this is presented as another vignette rather than a plot device.
The story is really just about the lives of the Yanceys, told in episodic fashion. Spring Byington gets a lot of screen time as Rose Yancey, who addresses her husband as "Mr. Yancey" in the formal old Southern way. Byington is another actress whom you've seen in many old movies. She was very good, and here she will exhibit some jealousy when Mr. Yancey's old girlfriend passes through town on a Suffragete junket. Any conflict in the movie is mild, however. "The Vanishing Virginian" is a feel good film (save the one major plot point), and on that score it succeeds. You will wish you had a Time Machine to go back and visit Virginia in the early 1900s, when automobiles were new, and telephones were just coming into homes. I will interject to say that it often blows my mind that I was born only 40 years after radio, for instance, and fifteen years after television, but even more than that, it was only 60 years prior to my birth that electricity came into common use! I am reading a biography about Nikola Tesla, who was truly responsible for putting electricity into the mainstream, and you kind of take it for granted that it's always been around, but it hasn't.
The modern world, as we know it, only began to develop about 140 years ago, and most of the technologies we enjoy today only came into common use no sooner than the turn of the century. That's why nostalgia for that time is so powerful, because it must have been an incredibly exciting time to be alive, but at the same time, you also had a simpler way of living, based on farming and family life. "The Vanishing Virginian" does a beautiful job of capturing the magic of the era. It was directed by the great Frank Borzage, who I forgot to mention was also at the helm of last night's "The Shining Hour". When you have Borzage directing for MGM, it's a can't miss combo.
I give "The Vanishing Virginian" Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. It's a movie of small things rather than earthshaking drama, but it takes you to a wonderful place and time, in the company of good people. I loved it and will look for other films in the same vein. ////
That's all for the moment. Thanks very much for Impeaching, by the way. That was awesome, so again, thanks and great job! Now onward and upward to the voting booth next November. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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