THE WORLD MOVES ON (1934)
Starring: Madeleine Carroll, Franchot Tone, Reginald Denny, Sig Ruman, Louise Dresser, Raul Roulien, Stepin Fetchit, Lumsden Hare, Dudley Digges, Frank Melton, Brenda Fowler, Russell Simpson, Walter McGrail, Marcelle Corday, Charles Bastin, Barry Norton, George Irving, Ferdinand Schumann-Heink, Georgette Rhodes, Claude King, Ivan F. Simpson, Frank Moran
Writer: Reginald Berkeley
Music: Arthur Lange (co-ordinator)
Cinematography: George Schneiderman
Editor: Paul Weatherwax
B&W, 1h 44m. 1.37:1 presentation.
Released on: June 27, 1934 by Fox Film Corporation.
My experience: Ford at Fox DVD box set
The World Moves On is rated fairly low in the John Ford pantheon, and for the life of me I can't quite figure out why. Check that - I do have an idea. Supposedly the studio head at Fox (Darryl F. Zanuck) was annoyed at Ford's predilection for going off the screenplay and shooting whatever he felt - a valid concern for a major studio in the midst of the Great Depression, as celluloid has never been cheap. In a fit of pique, he decided to shoot the screenplay -- and only the screenplay. Then he handed the film off to the studio and left all his footage in their hands, essential telling them to do what they want with it. My theory is that because Ford wasn't a fan of the material and shot his footage without the usual Fordian flair, its value is somehow diminished.
I propose a revision to this general reception of the film. I propose that The World Moves On succeeds -- not because of John Ford, but rather despite him. Zanuck, along with the film's producer Winfield R. Sheehan, took what Ford had given them, and enhanced the film with battle scenes from the 1932 French film Les Croix de Bois (English title: Wooden Crosses), as well as using then-current newsreel footage towards the end of the film. Perhaps it's because I'm a student of 20th century history, but I felt that the usage of the newsreels, as well as the battle scenes, gave it a feeling of timeliness and importance that it otherwise might not have had.
The first fifteen minutes of the film consists of a prologue of sorts, set in 1825 New Orleans. The Girard family is gathered at the estate for the reading of a will by a notary (Russell Simpson) regarding the future of the Girard-Warburton cotton family business. The forward-looking, recently deceased patriarch and his wife (Brenda Fowler) decree that business and family come before everything else in life, and to that end, wish to stake their claim to the four top territories of that time: the United States, Great Britain, France and Prussia. Older brother Carlos (Raul Roulien) gets France, middle brother John (Frank Melton) gets Germany, and youngest brother Richard (Franchot Tone) gets the USA, while business partner Gabriel Warburton (Lumsden Hare) and his pretty young wife (Madeleine Carroll) head back to Manchester, England. An attraction between Richard and Mrs. Warburton develops, helped along by Richard fighting a duel against a man (Walter McGrail) who has insulted the lady's honour. Before anything further can develop, everyone is thrown to the four corners of the earth to propagate the Girard-Warburton family business.
Cut to 1914 and the family is together in New Orleans for one of their every-decade reunions. Charles Girard (George Irving) and his wife (Marcelle Corday) want their son Richard (Franchot Tone, again) to take more of an interest in the business. From Germany comes Baron von Gerhardt (Sig Ruman), whose family has changed their name from Girard to von Gerhardt after being titled. He and Baroness von Gerhardt (Louise Dresser), along with their children Erik (Reginald Denny) and Fritz (Ferdinand Schumann-Heink), join their kin from France, Henri Girard (Raul Roulien, again) and his son, ten-year old Jacques (Charles Bastin, played later as a young man by Barry Norton). From Manchester comes Sir John Warburton (Lumsden Hare, again) and his daughter Mary (Madeleine Carroll, again), along with the factory manager, Mr. Manning (Dudley Digges).
It is assumed by the family that Erik and Mary will eventually wed as a matter of course, but Mary and Richard feel a strong pull towards each other, feeling as if they had some sort of connection in the past. No duels here, but after the whole family takes the trip to France for Fritz's marriage to Jeanne (Georgette Rhodes), World War I breaks out, which is even worse. Richard joins the French Foreign Legion along with Henri, Fritz becomes a U-boat commander, and Erik is an officer in the interrogation unit of the German army. Mary, meanwhile, becomes head of the factory in Manchester. This is interspersed with scenes involving Stepin Fetchit as Dixie, a racist caricature that seems very out of place today. As with many scenes involving black performers back then, his scenes are just dropped in there, to be easily removed from reels going to the Southern USA.
We follow the movements of the family members throughout the war, but the film doesn't stop there. It takes into account the effect the war has on both the family dynamic and society as a whole, leading all the way through the Crash of 1929 and beyond.
Trivia note: this was the first film to be given the Production Code seal of approval -- so of course a scene with Madeleine Carroll and Franchot Tone sitting on a bed smooching surprised me a little bit. Guess they were still getting their bearings at the Hays office early on!
Even though Ford essentially phoned this one in, there are a few nice touches cinematically. There's a shot of Mary looking through a window in Lille, France, after watching Richard join the Foreign Legion. The camera is fixated on her face behind the window, while a reflection of the soldiers marching by parades across the glass. It's essentially an alternative version of a similar image in Four Sons, in which a face is superimposed on a shot of soldiers marching, but no less powerful for it. Another shot towards the end of The World Moves On has a troop of soldiers returning home after the war, as superimposition is used in this case to have a line of double-exposed soldiers marching up the slanted roof of a church, as if off to heaven.
I was originally going to praise Ford for his depiction of the battle scenes, but after finding out that scenes from the aforementioned French film were used, I can't really do that. I can, however, praise the director (Raymond Bernard), cinematographer (Jules Kruger) and editor (Lucienne Grumberg) of Les Croix de Bois. The frenetic, often hand-held camera work and chaotic editing really bring home the reality of war, in a way that so many movies of that time were either unable or unwilling to do. It was, quite frankly, a brilliant choice by Zanuck and Sheehan to interpolate scenes from the French war film into the Hollywood studio film.
As for the newsreel footage at the end: after Mary chastises the men of the family for chasing after war profits, in a very memorable speech, we are shown what is happening in the world today, i.e. 1934. And it is quite chilling. Armies mobilizing, Hitler and Mussolini saluting marching troops passing; from a 21st century lens, knowing that indeed the world would again descend into horrifying chaos by the end of the decade, it's eerily prescient stuff. Zanuck's films often leaned towards the side of pacifism, and his choices here are no different. One of the few things that grates on me (notwithstanding the whole Stepin Fetchit nonsense) is the final shot of the film, in which a shot of Jesus on the cross is front and centre in front of a light source radiating out in all directions. Way too heavy-handed for me.
The acting is solid if not spectacular. But this is one of those films that brings to mind the saying "they had faces then." Look at how Carroll and Tone are lit in their scenes and revel in the joy that is classic Hollywood key lighting. Is it realistic? Hell, no! Does it set the mood? Absolutely. Unlike many people, I don't have any issue with the length of the film. I actually think it could be a bit longer, as it sort of skims through the postwar period. One more thing I'd like to mention is the production design by William S. Darling and costume design by Rita Kaufman. Elegant when need be, decrepit in other places, it again firmly directs the tone and atmosphere of the production.
I suppose I'm one of the few, but I can't find much wrong with The World Moves On. While not one hundred percent a John Ford film, it stands as a high quality, personal epic of the sort that Hollywood truly specialized in during its heyday. Definite recommendation for a lesser-seen gem.
Nine brotherly businessmen out of ten.
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