The Keys of the Kingdom (film)

1944 film by John M. Stahl

The Keys of the Kingdom

Theatrical film poster

Directed by| John M. Stahl
Written by| Nunnally Johnson
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Based on| The Keys of the Kingdom
1941 novel
by A. J. Cronin
Produced by| Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring| Gregory Peck
Thomas Mitchell
Vincent Price
Rose Stradner
Edmund Gwenn
Benson Fong
Roddy McDowall
Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Si-Lan Chen
Narrated by| Sir Cedric Hardwicke
Cinematography| Arthur C. Miller
Edited by| James B. Clark
Music by| Alfred Newman
Distributed by| 20th Century Fox

Release date

* December 15, 1944 (1944-12-15)

Running time

| 136 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $3 million[1]
Box office| $2.4 million[2]

The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1944 American film based on the 1941 novel The Keys of the Kingdom by A. J. Cronin. The film was adapted by Nunnally Johnson, directed by John M. Stahl, and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It stars Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, and Vincent Price, and tells the story of the trials and tribulations of a Roman Catholic priest who goes to China to evangelise.

## Plot

[edit]

Monsignor Sleeth visits Father Francis Chisholm in his old age at his Scottish parish of Tynecastle in Tweedside.[a] Sleeth reveals that the Bishop thinks that it would be better if Francis retires, as the latter's unorthodox recent teachings have become a distraction. Sleeth retires to his room in the rectory, and finds Father Francis' journal that recounts his story from 1878.

One night during his childhood, an anti-Catholic mob beat Francis' father during a rainstorm. As Francis' mother attempts to lead her husband to safety, they both die in a bridge collapse. Francis's aunt raises him until he leaves for the seminary with his childhood friend, Anselm "Angus" Mealey. Francis studies for about a year, but finds himself still in love with Nora, a girl from his home town. Francis learns that, after he left for the seminary, Nora had a child out of wedlock with another man. Francis goes to see her but arrives just as she dies, giving birth to a daughter, Judy. He returns to the seminary and completes his studies.

Bishop McNabb suggests that Francis volunteer for the missions in China. Francis accepts. In Pai-tan, China, Francis finds that flood have destroyed the mission. He rents a small room in the city and starts to evangelise. However, because he has no money or influence, Francis is chastised by "rice Christians" who only attended to receive free rice.

A young Christian Chinese, Joseph, offers to help rebuild the church for free. He had heard of the return of a missionary and walked five days to reach the village. They create the St Andrews Christian Mission.

Francis receives a shipment of medical supplies from his childhood friend, Dr William (Willie) Tulloch. An old woman comes with her granddaughter and asks that Francis care for the child when she, the old woman, dies. Francis is then summoned to the home of local official, Mr Chia, to cure Chia's only son of an infection. Francis eventually saves the boy. Weeks later, Chia comes to Francis to convert to Christianity. However, Francis rejects him because he would be converting from gratitude rather than true belief. Relieved, Chia donates land and provides labourers to rebuild the mission. Three nuns arrive and set up further Christian provisions.

Two years later, Willie visits from Scotland and creates a makeshift hospital. The mission is destroyed along with much of the town in fires caused by imperial troops battling republican forces. Willie is fatally shot and dies in Francis' care. The imperial general demands most of the mission's food and funds or the troops will destroy the mission. A republican army officer and Francis come up with a plan. They approach the imperial camp pretending to be carrying food and money. The bundle is explosives. The republican officer places it next to the main offending cannon. Francis throws a torch and ignites it. The cannon is destroyed as are 32 troops. Francis is injured and has a limp from thereon.

Later, Angus arrives as part of a review of missionary sites. He reveals that Bishop McNabb is dead. The Church cannot pay for rebuilding the mission, and Francis has the lowest of all in conversion rates. Angus tells Francis to focus on converting rich Chinese and to improve his clothes and accommodation to impress the locals. However, Francis refuses.

Ten years later, Francis is keeping bees and making wax and honey. A new church has been built. A rival American mission has been opened in Pai-tan - a Protestant mission run by the Methodist Church under Rev Fiske and his wife.

Years later, Francis reaches retirement age and two young priests come to replace him. Francis plans to look after Judy's son, Andrew, when he returns to Scotland. On his final day, the townspeople line the street as Francis drives through in an open top car. Francis blesses the crowd.

Sleeth spends a night reading Francis' journal and eventually decides to not tell that the Bishop anything is amiss at Francis' parish, leaving him free to continue serving his parish, and raising Andrew. They get their fishing rods and head off.

## Cast

[edit]

* Gregory Peck as Father Francis Chisholm
* Thomas Mitchell as Dr. Willie Tulloch
* Vincent Price as Anselm "Angus" Mealey
* Rose Stradner as Reverend Mother Maria-Veronica
* Roddy McDowall as Francis Chisholm, as a boy
* Edmund Gwenn as Reverend Hamish McNabb
* Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Monsignor Sleeth
* Dennis Hoey as Alec Chisholm, Francis' father
* Ruth Nelson as Lisbeth Chisholm, Francis' mother
* Edith Barrett as Aunt Polly Bannon
* Peggy Ann Garner as Nora, as a girl
* Jane Ball[3] as Nora, as an adult
* James Gleason as Rev. Dr. Wilbur Fiske
* Anne Revere as Agnes Fiske
* Benson Fong as Joseph
* Leonard Strong as Mr. Chia
* Philip Ahn as Mr. Pao, envoy for Mr. Chia
* Arthur Shields as Father Tarrant, at Holywell
* Sara Allgood as Sister Martha
* Ruth Ford as Sister Clotilde
* Richard Loo as Major Shen
* H.T. Hsiang as Hossanah Wang
* Si-Lan Chen as Philomena Wang
* Ruth Clifford as Sister Mercy Mary (uncredited)
* Eunice Soo-Hoo as Anna, as a toddler

## Production

[edit]

Alfred Hitchcock liked the novel and hoped to direct it,[4] but opted to direct Lifeboat. Actors considered for the role of Father Chisholm included Spencer Tracy, Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Gene Kelly, and Henry Fonda. Ingrid Bergman was considered for the part of Mother Maria-Veronica, though Rose Stradner, the wife of producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, was cast instead.

## Reception

[edit]

Variety called The Keys of the Kingdom a "cavalcade of a priest's life, played excellently by Gregory Peck."[5] In The Nation in 1945, critic James Agee declared, "While I was watching The Keys of the Kingdom ... I liked it quite well for its sincerity and for what then seemed its reasonably clean effort to present a hero whose heroism is moral. As I think it over, much of the sincerity and of the ethics seems beefy, over-comfortable, love-your-fellow-mannish, and in general rather uninteresting."[6] Critic Leslie Halliwell stated, "Studio-made missionary melodrama, a big hit for its new star but otherwise an undistinguished piece of work with a shuffling pace and not much by way of climax."[7] Pauline Kael was unimpressed: "Hollywood at its most virtuous. This ... is like an ad for piety. How did Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Nunnally Johnson get trapped into writing the script? ... (You couldn't find two writers less suited, by temperament, to inspirational moviemaking.)"[8]

In a 2010 review, film critic Jay Carr wrote:

> Again and again, one is impressed by the depth of talent on studio rosters of the time, in this case 20th Century-Fox. Not just Gwenn, Mitchell, Hardwicke, and Price, but James Gleason, Roddy McDowall (Chisholm as a boy), Peggy Ann Garner, Anne Revere and Benson Fong dot the cast list in this solidly crafted film – measured, stately, patient, never loud or pounding (except when the mission is caught in a war between imperial and nascent republican troops, and Father Chisholm briefly takes up arms!). It would have to be because it's essentially a film about interiority translated into service, a film of cumulative increments...The bottom line is that The Keys of the Kingdom and Peck convince us they're about a man in a cassock spending his life trying to do the right thing.[9]

## Awards and honors

[edit]

The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories:[10]

* Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gregory Peck)
* Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (James Basevi, William S. Darling, Thomas Little, and Frank E. Hughes)
* Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Arthur C. Miller)
* Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (Alfred Newman)

## Music

[edit]

Alfred Newman incorporated Irish and Chinese elements into the score. The theme at the heart of the track, "The Hill of the Brilliant Green Jade", is associated with a Chinese nobleman (Mr. Chia) who befriends Father Chisholm after the latter has saved his son's life. Newman later reused the melody in his Oscar-winning score for the 1955 film Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing. Richard Rodgers lifted the tune for the song "I Have Dreamed" in the 1951 musical The King and I.[11]

## Adaptations to other media

[edit]

The Keys of the Kingdom was adapted as a radio play on the November 19, 1945, episode of Lux Radio Theater, featuring Ronald Colman and Ann Harding. It was also adapted on the August 21, 1946, episode of Academy Award Theater, with Gregory Peck reprising his leading role.

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ This place is fictional.

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1944

## References

[edit]

1. ^ FRED STANLEY HOLLYWOOD (Feb 13, 1944). "HOLLYWOOD SPREADS ITSELF". New York Times. p. X3.
2. ^ Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 p 220
3. ^ "Jane Ball". IMDb.
4. ^ Hopper, Hedda (April 2, 1943). "Looking at Hollywood". Los Angeles Times.
5. ^ "The Keys of the Kingdom" Variety, December 31, 1944
6. ^ Agee, James - Agee on Film Vol.1 © 1958 by The James Agee Trust.
7. ^ Halliwell's Film Guide, 7th Edition 1987 ISBN 0-06-016322-4
8. ^ Kael, Pauline - 5001 Nights at the Movies 1991 ISBN 0-8050-1366-0
9. ^ Carr, Jay. "The Keys of the Kingdom", TCM. February 10, 2010
10. ^ "The Keys of the Kingdom". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
11. ^ "Film Score Click Track".

## External links

[edit]

* The Keys of the Kingdom at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* The Keys of the Kingdom at IMDb
* The Keys of the Kingdom at the TCM Movie Database
* The Keys of the Kingdom film synopsis at Crazy for Cinema
* The Keys of the Kingdom film review at Variety

* v
* t
* e

Works by A. J. Cronin

Novels|

* Hatter's Castle
* Three Loves
* Grand Canary
* Woman of the Earth
* Country Doctor
* The Stars Look Down
* The Citadel
* Vigil in the Night
* Enchanted Snow
* The Valorous Years
* The Keys of the Kingdom
* The Green Years
* Shannon's Way
* The Spanish Gardener
* Beyond This Place
* Escape from Fear
* A Thing of Beauty/Crusader's Tomb
* The Northern Light
* The Native Doctor/An Apple in Eden
* The Judas Tree
* A Song of Sixpence
* A Pocketful of Rye
* The Minstrel Boy/Desmonde
* Lady with Carnations
* Gracie Lindsay

Short stories|

* "Kaleidoscope in "K""
* "The Innkeeper's Wife"

Play|

* Jupiter Laughs

Autobiography|

* Adventures in Two Worlds

Film adaptations|

* Once to Every Woman
* Grand Canary
* The Citadel
* Vigil in the Night
* The Stars Look Down
* Shining Victory
* Hatter's Castle
* The Keys of the Kingdom
* The Green Years
* The Spanish Gardener
* Web of Evidence

Television adaptations|

* Escape From Fear
* Beyond This Place
* Nicholas
* The Citadel (1960 American)
* The Citadel (1960 British)
* Dr. Finlay's Casebook
* The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon
* Memorandum van een dokter
* La Cittadella (1964)
* Novi asistent
* O Jardineiro Espanhol
* E le stelle stanno a guardare
* The Stars Look Down
* Les Années d'illusion
* The Citadel (1983)
* Doctor Finlay
* La Cittadella (2003)

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by John M. Stahl

* The Lincoln Cycle (1917)
* Wives of Men (1918)
* Suspicion (1918)
* Her Code of Honor (1919)
* The Woman Under Oath (1919)
* The Woman in His House (1920)
* Sowing the Wind (1921)
* The Child Thou Gavest Me (1921)
* The Song of Life (1922)
* One Clear Call (1922)
* The Dangerous Age (1923)
* The Wanters (1923)
* Why Men Leave Home (1924)
* Husbands and Lovers (1924)
* Fine Clothes (1925)
* The Gay Deceiver (1926)
* Memory Lane (1926)
* Lovers (1927)
* In Old Kentucky (1927)
* A Lady Surrenders (1930)
* Seed (1931)
* Strictly Dishonorable (1931)
* Back Street (1932)
* Only Yesterday (1933)
* Imitation of Life (1934)
* Magnificent Obsession (1935)
* Parnell (1937)
* Letter of Introduction (1938)
* When Tomorrow Comes (1939)
* Our Wife (1941)
* Immortal Sergeant (1943)
* Holy Matrimony (1943)
* The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
* The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
* Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
* The Foxes of Harrow (1947)
* The Walls of Jericho (1948)
* Father Was a Fullback (1949)
* Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949)

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