.gif)
The Keys of the Kingdom (film)
Encyclopedia
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 movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson
, directed by John M. Stahl
and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
. It stars Gregory Peck
, Thomas Mitchell
, Vincent Price
, Rose Stradner, Edmund Gwenn
, Benson Fong
, Roddy McDowall
, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. This is the 136-minute chronicle of a Scottish priest (Peck), who is assigned a mission in China as he is a slant eyed alien himself.
, a Catholic, liked the novel very much and hoped to direct it, but the plans fell through. 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.
in the following categories:
. Richard Rodgers
lifted the tune for the song “I Have Dreamed” in the 1951 musical The King and I
.
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.
1941 in literature
The year 1941 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Frank Herbert marries Flora Parkinson.*F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished work, The Last Tycoon, is edited and published by Edmund Wilson.-New books:...
novel, The Keys of the Kingdom
The Keys of the Kingdom
The Keys of the Kingdom is a 1941 novel by A. J. Cronin. Spanning six decades, it tells the story of Father Francis Chisholm, an unconventional Scottish Catholic priest who struggles to establish a mission in China...
, by A. J. Cronin
A. J. Cronin
Archibald Joseph Cronin was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr...
. The movie was adapted by Nunnally Johnson
Nunnally Johnson
Nunnally Hunter Johnson was an American filmmaker who wrote, produced, and directed motion pictures.Johnson was born in Columbus, Georgia. He began his career as a journalist, writing for the Columbus Enquirer Sun, the Savannah Press, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and the New York Herald Tribune...
, directed by John M. Stahl
John M. Stahl
John Malcolm Stahl was an American film director and producer.Born in New York City, New York, he began working in the city's growing motion picture industry at a young age and directed his first silent film short in 1914. In the early 1920s Stahl signed on with Louis B...
and produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career and is best known as the writer-director of All About Eve , which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. He was brother to screenwriter and drama critic Herman J...
. It stars Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, Thomas Mitchell
Thomas Mitchell (actor)
Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
, Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, Rose Stradner, Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
, Benson Fong
Benson Fong
Benson Fong was a Chinese American character actor.Born in Sacramento, California, Fong was from a mercantile family...
, Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. This is the 136-minute chronicle of a Scottish priest (Peck), who is assigned a mission in China as he is a slant eyed alien himself.
Plot summary
Cast
- Gregory PeckGregory PeckEldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
... Father Francis Chisholm - Thomas MitchellThomas Mitchell (actor)Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
... Dr. Willie Tulloch - Vincent PriceVincent PriceVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
... Anselm "Angus" Mealey - Rose Stradner ... Reverend Mother Maria-Veronica
- Roddy McDowallRoddy McDowallRoderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall was an English actor and photographer. His film roles included Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series...
... Francis Chisholm, as a boy - Edmund GwennEdmund GwennEdmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
... Reverend Hamish MacNabb - Sir Cedric Hardwicke ... Monsignor Sleeth at TweedRiver TweedThe River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is long and flows primarily through the Borders region of Great Britain. It rises on Tweedsmuir at Tweed's Well near where the Clyde, draining northwest, and the Annan draining south also rise. "Annan, Tweed and Clyde rise oot the ae hillside" as the Border saying...
side - Dennis HoeyDennis HoeyDennis Hoey was a British film and stage actor, best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. He played the Master of Harrow in The Foxes of Harrow and appeared in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. After a career as a singer, Hoey moved to acting on the stage in...
... Alec Chisholm, Francis' father - Ruth Nelson ... Lisbeth Chisholm, Francis' mother
- Edith BarrettEdith BarrettEdith Barrett was an American film actress.-Biography:Edith Barrett was a granddaughter of 19th-century American actor Lawrence Barrett. She entered the entertainment industry at age 16 in a staging of Walter Hampden's production of Cyrano de Bergerac. At 19 in 1926 she appeared with Hampden in...
... Aunt Polly Bannon - Peggy Ann GarnerPeggy Ann GarnerPeggy Ann Garner was an American actress.A successful child actor, Garner played her first film role in 1938 and won the Academy Juvenile Award for her work in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn...
... Nora, as a girl - Jane Ball ... Nora, as an adult
- James GleasonJames GleasonJames Austin Gleason was an American actor born in New York City. He was also a playwright and screenwriter.-Career:...
... Rev. Dr. Wilbur Fiske - Anne RevereAnne RevereAnne Revere was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Early life:Born in New York City, Revere was a direct descendant of American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker, and she was raised on the Upper West Side and in Westfield, New Jersey...
... Agnes Fiske - Benson FongBenson FongBenson Fong was a Chinese American character actor.Born in Sacramento, California, Fong was from a mercantile family...
... Joseph - Leonard StrongLeonard Strong (actor)Leonard Clarence Strong Leonard Clarence Strong Leonard Clarence Strong (b. 12 August 1908, Utah - d. 23 January 1980, Glendale, California was a prolific American character actor specialising in playing Asian roles....
... Mr. Chia - Philip Ahn ... Mr. Pao, envoy for Mr. Chia
- Arthur ShieldsArthur ShieldsArthur Shields was an Irish stage and film actor.Born into an Irish Protestant family in Portobello, Dublin, he started acting in the Abbey Theatre when still a young man. He was the younger brother of Oscar-winning actor Barry Fitzgerald. An Irish nationalist, he fought in the Easter Rising of...
... Father Tarrant, at Holywell - Sara AllgoodSara Allgood-Biography:Allgood was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her sister was actress Maire O'Neill.Allgood began her acting career at the Abbey Theatre and was in the opening of the Irish National Theatre Society, appearing in many of their plays all over Britain...
... Sister Martha - Ruth FordRuth Ford (actress)Ruth Ford was an American model and stage and film actress. Her brother was the bohemian surrealist Charles Henri Ford. Their parents managed the Tennessee Hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee.-Life and career:As a model she posed for Harper's, Town and Country and Mademoiselle...
... Sister Clotilde - Richard LooRichard LooRichard Loo was a Chinese American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. A prolific actor, he appeared in over 120 films between 1931 and 1982....
... Major Shen - H.T. Hsiang ... Hossanah Wang
- Si-Lan Chen ... Philomena Wang
- Eunice Soo-Hoo ... Anna, as a toddler
Production
Alfred HitchcockAlfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, a Catholic, liked the novel very much and hoped to direct it, but the plans fell through. Actors considered for the role of Father Chisholm included Spencer Tracy
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, and Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
. Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
was considered for the part of Mother Maria-Veronica, though Rose Stradner, the wife of producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career and is best known as the writer-director of All About Eve , which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. He was brother to screenwriter and drama critic Herman J...
, was cast instead.
Awards
The film was nominated for Academy AwardsAcademy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
in the following categories:
- Best Actor in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Gregory Peck) - Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-WhiteAcademy Award for Best Art DirectionThe Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
(James BaseviJames BaseviJames Basevi was a British born art director and special effects expert....
, William S. DarlingWilliam S. DarlingWilliam S. Darling was a Hungarian-born art director. He was born as Wilhelm Sándorházi. He won three Academy Awards and was nominated for a further four in the category Best Art Direction...
, Thomas LittleThomas LittleThomas Little was a United States set decorator on more than 450 Hollywood movies between 1932 and 1953. He won a total of 6 Oscars for art direction and received 21 nominations in the same category...
, and Frank E. HughesFrank E. HughesFrank E. Hughes was an American set decorator. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for another in the category Best Art Direction.-Selected filmography:Hughes won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction and was nominated for another:Won...
) - Best Cinematography, Black-and-WhiteAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(Arthur C. MillerArthur C. MillerArthur Charles Miller, A.S.C. was an acclaimed American cinematographer.-Early life:Born in Roslyn, New York, Arthur Miller began his career at the age of 13, working as an assistant to filmmaker Fred J. Balshofer...
) - Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy PictureAcademy Award for Original Music ScoreThe Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
(Alfred NewmanAlfred NewmanAlfred Newman was an American composer, arranger, and conductor of music for films.In a career which spanned over forty years, Newman composed music for over two hundred films. He was one of the most respected film score composers of his time, and is today regarded as one of the greatest...
)
Music
Alfred Newman incorporated Irish and Chinese elements into the score. The beautiful theme at the heart of the track, "The Hill of the Brilliant Green Jade", is associated with a Chinese nobleman who befriends Father Chisholm after he 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 ThingLove Is a Many-Splendored Thing (film)
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing is a 1955 American drama-romance film. Set in 1949-50 Hong Kong, it tells the story of a married, but separated, American reporter , who falls in love with a Eurasian doctor originally from China , only to encounter prejudice from her family and from Hong Kong...
. Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
lifted the tune for the song “I Have Dreamed” in the 1951 musical The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
.
Adaptations to Other Media
The Keys of the Kingdom was adapted as a radio play on the November 19, 1945 episode of Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater
Lux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network ; CBS and NBC . Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences...
featuring Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
and Ann Harding
Ann Harding
Ann Harding was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress.-Early years:Born Dorothy Walton Gatley at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, to George G. Gatley and Elizabeth "Bessie" Crabb. The daughter of a career army officer, she traveled often during her early life...
. It was also adapted on the August 21, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater
Academy Award Theater
Academy Award was a CBS radio anthology series which presented 30-minute adaptations of plays, novels or films.Rather than adaptations of Oscar-winning films, as the title implied, the series offered "Hollywood's finest, the great picture plays, the great actors and actresses, techniques and...
with Gregory Peck reprising his leading role.