Stars in My Crown

This MGM B picture from 1950 stars Joel McCrea, transitioning from romantic leading man to western roles, as a gun-toting preacher ministering to a small Tennessee town not long after the Civil War. Ellen Drew and young Dean Stockwell co-star, along with Alan Hale (his last film), Lewis Stone, James Mitchell, Juano Hernandez and Ed Begley. This core of this modest, episodic film is the struggle between the preacher and a young, idealistic doctor (Mitchell) for the townspeople during an epidemic, ending, of course, with their understanding that they need to work together to save body and soul. This folksy little movie was a favorite of both McCrea andb director Jacques Tourneur, who wanted to direct it so badly he allowed Louis B. Mayer to halve his usual salary to make it - a decision that plagued him through the rest of his career. The film has a charm of its own and a sincerity unusual in nostalgic studio fare of this sort. Of interest, too, are early appearances of Amanda Blake and James Arness (here seen as a gangly lad among Hale's sons), who a half dozen years later would co-star as Miss Kitty and Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke. When old-timers say, They don't make movies like that any more this is the kind of movie they are fondly recalling. Warners remastered the film in 2011 for its Warner Archives series. Though not perfect, it is far better than the torrents available early from videos of TCM airings.