Word: zanuck
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Brigham Young-Frontiersman (20th Century-Fox) continues the biographical meanderings of Plutarchian Producer Darryl Francis Zanuck with a two-hour treatise on the two most critical years in the history of the Mormon Church. Beginning with a cruelly realistic, play-by-play account of the persecution of the Latter-Day Saints in Illinois, Producer Zanuck moves his Mormons across the western plains through a succession of bouts with cold and starvation; plants them by the Great Salt Lake for an arduous, hungry winter, a pitched battle with crickets, a final miraculous victory assisted by a flock of sea gulls which...
...welcher when it comes to touching tender spots, Zanuck tempted Mormon wrath by showing Brigham with four of his 27 wives. For publicity purposes the studio released several still pictures showing Young surrounded by a dozen Hollywood beauties representing his marital score at the date of the picture's action. Most conspicuous in the film is Mary Ann (Mary Astor), while frequently present is shapely, silent Clara (Jean Rogers). The two others lurk obscurely in the background...
With the help of Darryl Zanuck's millions and Louis Bromfield's doubtful dramatic talent another grand American screen epic has been born. "Brigham Young--Frontiersman" deals with the Mormon migration to Utah, with hatred and persecution in the good old days. The story is told with much sympathy and technical skill, but bogs down and struggles forward as painfully as the pioneers themselves...
...productions were in the works at eleven studios in preparation for the new cinema season which is heralded each autumn as "Motion Pictures' Greatest Year." Publicity men beat out stories explaining that 1940 would see a swing from heavy drama to relaxing comedy and musicals. At Fox, Darryl Zanuck wound up The Great Profile, in which John Barrymore does a savage satire on his scrambled life. Frank Capra was te diously struggling over his latest comedy, Meet John Doe. Comics Jack Benny and Fred Allen were immortalizing their radio feud on celluloid at the Paramount...
This bit of fluff was Zanuck's choice for Shirley Temple's 22nd feature-length film and final picture for Fox, where she was the nation's No. 1 box-office attraction for four years, an Oscar winner, the corporation's biggest single asset. The opening scenes of Young People, covering her progress from waif to world wonder, permit two shots from her earlier films when her wobbly dancing warmed the hearts of millions. Now & then she rasps out such reminiscent ditties as Young People...