A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945)

Perhaps it was the war winding down, but something triggered a sudden urge at the time to look back at the nuclear family of the early 20th century in classic accounts across mediums (stage, print, film) and across the financial spectrum.  The rich ‘Days’ of LIFE WITH FATHER/’48 (the film fine, if not the phenomenon it was on stage); the upper middle-class 'Smiths' of MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS/’44; the lower middle-class 'Hansons' from I REMEMBER MAMA/’48, and most surprising of all, the tenement poor 'Nolans' in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN.  The book an instant best-selling classic* (4 millions copies by 1950) given no top-tier stars in a cast of 20th/Fox contract leading players under stage director Elia Kazan helming his first feature.  And everyone does themselves proud with this tough-minded, emotionally overwhelming finely etched studio production.  Kazan knew he’d been given a gift with fading leading man James Dunn as an alcoholic ‘singing waiter’ father.*  Nothing before or after prepared anyone for his effectiveness, from his no more than adequate singing (perfect for the role) to the startling intimacy & blistering honesty of his scenes with eldest daughter Peggy Ann Garner.  As the two sisters (three in the novel), Dorothy McGuire as the prematurely hardened young mother & Joan Blondell’s life-affirming irresponsibility as Aunt Sissy live up to the roles of a lifetime.  Same for the studio tech work.  What a contrast to Kazan’s dismaying sophomore effort at M-G-M (THE SEA OF GRASS/’47).  The film, in style & story, something of an outlier in Kazan’s output.  In spite of his prominence, less than twenty films over four decades, and truly productive a mere fifteen years.

READ ALL ABOUT IT:  *Somewhere along the line, Betty Smith’s near autobiographical novel got categorized (more like ghettoized) as a YA/girl-oriented novel.  And while that’s not entirely untrue, it seriously undersells the book and its impact.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY:  *While Dunn is every bit as good as Kazan thought (a career rejuvenating Supporting Oscar®), his character a decade younger in the book, dying at 34.  Dunn 44 and showing every year and then some.  Why no one has picked this up for an extended remake (more than half the book goes missing, including Sissy’s hilarious ‘adoption’ and all sorts of Manhattan jobs for teenaged Francie) is a mystery. 

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  See just how right Kazan was about THE SEA OF GRASS.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-sea-of-grass-1947.html   OR:  Use our Search Engine (upper left-hand corner on the Main Site/Web-page) for Write-Ups on most of the films mentioned in this post . . . and just about anything else!