Exclusive“Let Freedom Ring” (1939): First Musical Western

My country, tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims' pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring. Our Father's God, to thee, Father of liberty, to thee we sing. Long may our land be bright, with freedom's holy light. Protect us by thy might, great God our King. Alright, give me the deed to your property or I'll let you have it. Where else but here are you the master? Wait, what are you doing? Of your own little world. Stop! Where else but here do hearts beat fast? Hold on, hold on, what are you doing? Why are you singing? Well, why are you holding me up? Because this is a western. Well, it's also a musical. A musical western? That'll never work. Sometimes, lifting your voice in song is the only way to let freedom ring. I'm Rebecca Brannan. I'm Tiffany Brannan. Welcome to Real Thoughts on Cinema. There's a generally accepted idea of what westerns are like and what elements they usually include. These stereotypical elements include the barroom brawl, the Indian invasion, and the shootout at high noon. I'm someone, and I'm sure there are many others as well, who I really like the mood and sort of the aesthetic of westerns, but I'm not really a shoot-em-up kind of girl generally. That's why it's really interesting when you can discover some westerns from the golden era of Hollywood that were a little different. Most notably some of the earlier ones. Yes. 1939 was sort of the year that the western came back after originally really being a silent film. I think a great example of this in one of my favorite westerns is Let Freedom Ring from 1939. It's a fascinating and very dramatic story of the old west in which the small town of Clover City is brought disaster by the arrival of the railroad because it brings along this Wall Street financier, Jim Knox, who will stop at nothing to wrest the land away from the farmers and settlers there in order to continue the railroad. Enter Steve Logan, a young man from the west who has gone to study law at Harvard and has just returned, and his family is hoping that he will come in as a hero and help them fight Jim Knox. But they're horrified to see that he seems to want to join forces with the man. What they don't know is that he wants them to think that so that in secret he can actually battle Jim Knox in every way he can, through a newspaper and even through posing as a bandit at one point. But the hardest thing is to keep his secret from his sweetheart who had such faith in him to do the right thing. But he knows that unless she hates him, Jim Knox won't believe he's on his side. This is an MGM film. It was produced by Irving Rupp, directed by Jack Conway, and it stars some big names if you're familiar with this era of Hollywood. The leading man is Nelson Eddy, a great singer. The leading lady is Virginia Bruce, also a very good singer, who's a less well-known actress. But in the supporting cast, we have names like Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold, as well as H.B. Warner. The three sort of genres I would say that this film falls into would be Western, musical, and even sort of a, not a political drama, but a very patriotic message, as you can tell from the title. Right. So you really have to consider it in all three categories. Right. The setting, Clover City, does it say what state it is? It's supposed to be Nevada. All right, Nevada. We can recognize a lot of the location footage from around here in California. Yes, I think the opening montage, the show of the railroad being moved, that's not from 1939. It's definitely earlier. It may even be from a silent film. And you can see that that was filmed in Arizona because there's a rock formation that I recognize. Right. But then in the location footage they did, it's pretty obviously California. An interesting side note is one of the most famous Westerns, of course, is the movie Tombstone, which features the real historical character of Doc Holliday. Yes. And HB Warner's character in this movie, I believe, was inspired by that character because he runs the gambling house, Ned Rutledge is his name, and he seems to be dying of tuberculosis or consumption or something like that. But he's very quick on the draw. Yes, he is. And like you said, it doesn't have a lot of the Western stereotypes, but it has enough to make it an honest to goodness Western. Definitely. You've got your saloon, a few fights happen there. The definite fight between right and wrong, corrupt officials. We have a corrupt sheriff and a corrupt judge as well as a corrupt newspaper man. So the idea of one bad guy controlling a whole town, that's pretty Western. Yes, that's very standard. We have some beat him to the draw moments. Like you said, there's a stagecoach is attacked by a bandit at one point, although he's actually a good guy bandit. It's a story set in the West, and it mentions in the opening how it's about how the West was won for freedom a second time. Right, after the initial settling of it. And in the musical genre, it's definitely not what we consider a musical now in the sense of modern movie musicals, which are more like Broadway shows. It's not like that. No, there's no bursting into song, song and dance numbers. It's all in context. It's not like a flashy, big MGM technical production. And it's very high class music because of the talent involved, namely Nelson Eddy, who was an operatically trained baritone. Although Virginia Bruce was also a classically trained singer, she really doesn't sing that much to the very end. But when they do sing together, it's beautiful. If you know a little bit more about Nelson Eddy, his biggest claim to fame was the eight movies he made with Judette MacDonald, which were more like operettas. Many of them were music by Zygmunt Romberg or Victor Herbert. They often had grand historic settings. And some of them, not all of them, are a bit more what we think of a musical as now. Yes. There's more music and it's less just, all right, he's going to get up at the piano now, sing a song. It's very much part of the plot that he is singing. But I love this movie because he gets to be a dramatic actor first on his own with a much less important leading lady. Right. So instead of just being the romantic partner to the bigger movie star, Judette MacDonald, in this one he really stands on his own feet now in his fourth year of Hollywood because he made his film debut in 1935. And you can see how good he was as an actor. Absolutely. And what a good dramatic screen presence he had, as well as his amazing voice, which the song collection is an eclectic group of songs. It definitely is, yes. There are some historic pieces, like you have When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, of course, Be It Ever So Humble, There's No Place Like Home, My Country, Tis of Thee, which gives us the title, Let Freedom Ring. But there were a couple of compositions written for this, too. Right. There's the love song, which he sings, and then it's sort of like a gospel spiritual kind of song called Dusty Road, which I consider sort of the high point of the film when he sings that song. Yes, that's so beautiful. It was written by Otis Renee, and it's just such a thrilling song the way he sings it. Yes. And, of course, another inspiring song he sings that was written for this is Where Else But Here. Yes. It's like a call to action to the other men. Right. They're all foreigners, all these immigrants who have been brought as workers on the railroad, and they're just giving them free food and drinks so that they'll vote for this corrupt judge to be elected again. And this is the moment, the first time he kind of lets down his guard that he is actually this freedom fighter and that he gets up in front of Mulligan, who is Jim Knox's right-hand man, really. He sings this really patriotic song when he's calling, yes, calling to action, exactly, saying what's so wonderful about America, that you have the freedom to do anything you want here, that you're your own man. And then he displays his amazing talent for accents. When he speaks to three of the different men, there's an Italian man, a German man, and a Russian, and is with a very realistic accent and sort of a specific line for each of them. And it's both humorous and inspiring, which is very delicate balance, which we really see struck so well in so many great classic movies. And, of course, the third category, patriotic. Right. I would say if Frank Capra made a Western or Frank Capra made a musical or a musical Western, this would be that movie. It's so much like Frank Capra films. Now, I think Frank Capra is one of the few directors from the golden era of Hollywood whose name is probably recognizable to a lot of people who aren't real old movie fans. Now, It's a Wonderful Life, he directed that really famous Christmas movie. Which does feature Lionel Barrymore in a similar David and Goliath situation. Other than that, one of his most famous would probably be You Can't Take It With You. Yes. And right around this time, in 1938, he made You Can't Take It With You. In 1939, he made Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Right. And this movie features many of the same actors from both those. For one thing, Edward Arnold plays the villain in both those movies. Yes. He's very much the same character as Jim Knox as he is Jim Taylor in Mr. Smith. He's a man who has a lot of money and thinks that he can buy the government. Yes. But it's so much like You Can't Take It With You because we have Edward Arnold as the villain, Lionel Barrymore as the stubborn but lovable father who won't give up his land. Yes. It's like he won't give up his house. And H.B. Warner is a sort of decrepit man who has been destroyed. And then Nelson Eddy takes over the role of sort of what Jimmy Stewart does. But he has Lionel Barrymore's son instead of being Edward Arnold's son, which is Jimmy Stewart's character. And Virginia Bruce, although she is not related to Lionel Barrymore's character, is almost a daughter to him because he knows she's going to marry his son someday. She's similar to the Gene Arthur character in both those movies. Yes. It's really amazing to see how much this is like many of Frank Capra's films. And it's kind of hard to believe he didn't make it. Because it's just as inspiring. But one thing that I love about this movie is the depiction of the immigrants. Yes. Because it's a very, I want to say it's still a very relatable topic. Definitely. Ellis Island in the past and the idea of the fact that America is a melting pot. And people come from all over the world to the United States. And that's what the United States is. But that you can be your own man and also be something new. An American. It doesn't make you any less what you were. But it's adding something. This is one of those movies that has so many great quotes from it. Yes, it does. Some movies have more than others. And this one, especially patriotic ones, always do. But on that theme you were discussing, there's a great moment when he says to his friend Mackerel, Steve, that is, Nelson's character. Well, of course, Mackerel is saying, you can't make Americans out of his ignorant riffraff. And he says, that's the great thing about America. A man's as good as he thinks he is. All he has to do is think. And it's a very simple statement, but that's so true. That you just have to respect yourself. And that's what he really does. He shows these men that they need to respect themselves. And say, I'm an American because I've come here and I am doing my part for society. So they came through the proper channels, I assume. And so they really have, if they really take the country to their hearts, then the country will do the same for them. And they can, like you said, still keep their heritage, which is very strong, but become something new. And that's what he reflects in that song, when he's singing, he's saying, Oh, you like one thing, you like another. You can still enjoy your heritage. You can have your spaghetti if you're Italian. You can have your beer if you're German. You can have your borscht and your vodka if you're Russian. You can still enjoy the freedom to worship, to celebrate, to live with your culture, as well as being part of American culture. Right. And understanding the principles for which America stands. As well as honoring your own heritage. It's generally a pretty serious film, but there are a lot of light, fun moments. I think the two characters who really lighten it up, well, maybe three. There are kind of three comical characters. The main one is, the mackerel is Nelson Reddy's sidekick. And he's played by Charles Butterworth, who was a silent film comedian. And you see him in early 1930s movies. There's a bit of a Buster Keaton quality about him. Yes, he was in some pre-code films with Jeanette MacDonald. And in this one, he's his piano-playing friend, who says, Oh, I'll try to punch me, and you can't knock me out. So he's a really funny character. He has a lot of one-liners. But he turns out to be a hero as well, because he's the only one that Steve lets into his confidence. That's right. So he's his right-hand man through the battle. Yes. And of course, there's Mulligan, Chris Mulligan. He's played by Victor McLoughlin, who always played Irish characters for some reason, even though he was Scottish, and he didn't do a particularly good Irish accent. Yes, that's one criticism of this movie. It's like, the accent, it's just not there. But he's so funny as this big, oafish Irishman, who's the right-hand man of Jim Knox, and who brings the railroad out. And he just loves Steve, because he loves his voice. And he's like, Oh, sing me an Irish song. And he's his drinking buddy, and he has no idea that he's the man behind this newspaper that's slandering him. Right. And he's just so dumb. So Steve wants to get through to him to realize, Jim Knox is evil. You aren't. You just don't know better. You're not being loyal to yourself, to Ireland, to America, to anybody. You just want a free drink. It's wonderful to see how Steve is fighting so hard to transform him. He doesn't want to fight him. He wants to bring him over to the right side. Yeah, he doesn't give up on him. And of course, the third comical character is the corrupt newspaper man. And he has a sort of funny southern accent. And he's protesting every step of the way. I refuse to be a party to your father's skullduggery, sir. Yes, because Steve and the macro actually steal his newspaper. Yes. Meaning they go in, and they steal the printing press, and they take it up to the mountains and hide it away in a cave. And they bring him along, of course, because they have to. And the theme of the newspaper is so strong in this movie. Again, there's a bit of capper in that. And Mr. Smith goes to Washington. There's that very strong part about the boys getting out the newspaper. But it's such a wonderful message. And it always relates to me, because we're both working for the Epoch Times. When they speak about all it takes is one good newspaper. And Steve makes a really strong point about that. Another great line. How important the freedom of the press is. And that even when it seems like everything's controlled by this evil man, they're able to get it away and start printing the truth. And it makes those men think. Men who can barely read English. Some of them can't at all. And just to hear these words, they're inspired. And it makes them question things that they never even thought to question. And to acknowledge that they have rights, too. And they've got to stand up and fight. Back to the point. All you have to do is think. So the newspaper is making them think. Yes, that's a very important part of the story. One of the best elements about any Western is that it has a great historic setting. Usually around the Civil War era. This is like the 1850s, 60s. And you see that in the costumes, which are very beautiful. Particularly Virginia Bruce's. Because she's the main female character. My outfit is inspired by a dress which she wears in the saloon at one point. And it really reflects the style of the era with the long, full skirt. The plaid feels very much like the West. But the interesting combination of sleeves which she notably has in one dress. My outfit is based on Maggie's first costume. Which she wears when she's looking at the building of the railroad. It's black with shorter sleeves. Sort of a leg of mutton style sleeve. A long black skirt. And a little bandana type scarf around her neck. As well as her hair in a snood with a little bow. I think often times, or there's an impression at least. That the leading lady in a Western would be like the school mom. Or the damsel in distress or something like that. And I think this character is very unusual. Maggie. Or maybe not unusual. But I think she really breaks that stereotype. Or if you had that impression. Because she's a very strong character. While still of course being very feminine. She sort of runs the saloon for lack of a better term. She's really in charge of the restaurant part of it. But she refers to her father once. So he probably started it and then she's taken over. Making the food and serving people. But she isn't afraid to stand up to Jim Knox. Who is ardently pursuing her romantically. Not at all. And she stands up to Steve too. Even though she loves him. She tells him when she thinks he's doing the wrong thing. And she smacks him in the face one time. So she's a very important character to the plot. And very strong. So he's not just her love interest. But she's not just his love interest either. I think their relationship is really wonderful. It takes them a long time to get together. Because most of the time they're at odds. But when they come back together in the final moments. You're so glad to see them come together. When she realizes he was on the right side all along. He just had to keep her in the dark. What's great about this movie. And I think a reason why it could be very enjoyable to people. Who aren't big classic film fans. Is that it's quite short. It's under an hour and a half. Right. So it introduces you to all three genres. You're western. You're musical. You're patriotic film. But it's a small approachable dose of each of those. Right. It could be a lot to jump into a two plus hour western. In black and white. It could be a lot to have a full Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy movie. That's a lot of singing. And Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a really intense patriotic film. Yes. This one always. It delves into the deep topics. But it doesn't stay there too long. It touches on them. It moves really quickly. It's got a great blend of humor, action, romance, drama. There's a really intense fist fight. So if you like a little action. That's the most action in this. There's some good fires. So there's plenty of action. It's very fast paced. So I think it's really relatable. And something interesting to note is I know that a lot of people have an impression that acting from the golden era is very different from how it is now. That it's very stagy and theatrical. And I think Nelson Eddy is a very special performer because it's always very real. I can tell that. I just get the impression. You can tell whenever he's portraying an emotion on screen. Somewhere or other he made himself actually feel that. You can see he wears his heart on his sleeve. So he's a very special person to watch act because of that. Because it just feels so real. I, at least, having studied a lot of his performances, I can see sometimes I can tell he's really feeling it even more in this scene. And it's just really an amazing thing to watch. Also, I really love seeing the rapport with Virginia Bruce. Because he and Jenna McDonald are very special on screen chemistry. But you get the feeling that they really like each other. You can tell that there's a real bond there. Yes, it's lovely. This film is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video and on some other streaming services. But it's also available to purchase on DVD from Amazon for a very reasonable price. As we mentioned, Let Freedom Ring never delves too deeply into the dark or uncomfortable topics. But they weren't afraid to delve into such topics in classic films. Join us next time as we talk about an intense classic drama based on a real-life tragedy which sparked the first media circus. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.