Three Faces West
Encyclopedia
Three Faces West is a 1940 film
starring John Wayne
, Sigrid Gurie
and Charles Coburn
. An unusual film, with a political agenda that seems to be part pro New Deal, it is part anti-fascist and part pro good old American community values. It sometimes comes across a more conservative answer to The Grapes of Wrath
.
end up in becoming the much-needed physician and nurse in a small North Dakota
farm town. The local town located in the area known as the Dust Bowl
and is being hard hit by the drought and dust storms. The local farmers and townspeople want to try to save their farms and the town by adopting newer farming methods, but are eventually convinced by the Department of Agriculture, and the continuing dust storms to pack up the whole town and move en masse to an undeveloped portion of Oregon, where a new dam will create a water supply for them to build a new farming community.
In a modern-day version of an old wagon train
, the town moves to Oregon under John Phillip's leadership, not without differences of opinion and friction among the followers. The doctor and his daughter take a detour to San Francisco when they learn that the daughter's fiance was not killed by the Nazis in Austria, but has escaped and come to America. It turns out that the fiance has embraced fascism, which sends the doctor and his daughter back to rejoin the transplanted town in Oregon, where the daughter marries Phillips.
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Sigrid Gurie
Sigrid Gurie
Sigrid Gurie was a Norwegian American motion picture actress from the late 1930s to early 1940s.- Early life :...
and Charles Coburn
Charles Coburn
Charles Douville Coburn was an American film and theater actor.-Biography:Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs,...
. An unusual film, with a political agenda that seems to be part pro New Deal, it is part anti-fascist and part pro good old American community values. It sometimes comes across a more conservative answer to The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
.
Plot
Two refugees, a medical doctor and his 20-something-year-old daughter arrive in the USA from Nazi-annexed AustriaAnschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
end up in becoming the much-needed physician and nurse in a small North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
farm town. The local town located in the area known as the Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
and is being hard hit by the drought and dust storms. The local farmers and townspeople want to try to save their farms and the town by adopting newer farming methods, but are eventually convinced by the Department of Agriculture, and the continuing dust storms to pack up the whole town and move en masse to an undeveloped portion of Oregon, where a new dam will create a water supply for them to build a new farming community.
In a modern-day version of an old wagon train
Wagon train
A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In the American West, individuals traveling across the plains in covered wagons banded together for mutual assistance, as is reflected in numerous films and television programs about the region, such as Audie Murphy's Tumbleweed and Ward Bond...
, the town moves to Oregon under John Phillip's leadership, not without differences of opinion and friction among the followers. The doctor and his daughter take a detour to San Francisco when they learn that the daughter's fiance was not killed by the Nazis in Austria, but has escaped and come to America. It turns out that the fiance has embraced fascism, which sends the doctor and his daughter back to rejoin the transplanted town in Oregon, where the daughter marries Phillips.
Cast
- John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
as John Phillips - Sigrid GurieSigrid GurieSigrid Gurie was a Norwegian American motion picture actress from the late 1930s to early 1940s.- Early life :...
as Leni 'Lenchen' Braun - Charles CoburnCharles CoburnCharles Douville Coburn was an American film and theater actor.-Biography:Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs,...
as Dr. Karl Braun - Spencer ChartersSpencer ChartersSpencer Charters was an American film actor. He appeared in over 220 films between 1920 and 1943.He was born in Duncannon, Pennsylvania, and died in Hollywood, California by suicide, from a mix of sleeping pills and carbon monoxide poisoning.His first stage work soon after leaving school was a...
as Dr. 'Nunk' Atterbury - Helen MacKellar as Mrs. Welles
- Roland VarnoRoland VarnoRoland Varno was a character actor from Utrecht, Netherlands. He appeared in dozens of films in the 1930s and 1940s including the Return of the Vampire, My Name is Juila Ross, Gunga Din, Three Faces West, Women in Bondage, Three's a Crowd, Flight to Nowhere and Scared to Death.Varno also appeared...
as Dr. Eric Von Scherer - Sonny BuppSonny BuppSonny Bupp was an American child film actor and businessman.Born as Moyer MacClaren Bupp in New York City, "Sonny" Bupp appeared in over 60 films during his career, including two Our Gang comedies, 1935's Our Gang Follies of 1936 and 1938's Men in Fright.He appeared in Citizen Kane and was the...
as Billy Welles - Wade BotelerWade BotelerWade Boteler was an American film actor. He appeared in over 430 films between 1919 and 1943.He was born in Santa Ana, California, and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...
as Mr. Harris, Department of Agriculture Official - Trevor BardetteTrevor BardetteTrevor Bardette was an American film actor.He made over 172 movies and seventy-two TV appearances in his career. Bardette appeared in several memorable episodes in Adventures of Superman. In the 1951 show, The Human Bomb, he played the sinister title character...
as Clem Higgins - Russell SimpsonRussell Simpson (actor)Russell McCaskill Simpson was an American character actor.Born in San Francisco, California, Simpson is best known for his work in the films of John Ford and, in particular, for his portrayal of Pa Joad in The Grapes of Wrath in 1940.Simpson reportedly prospected for gold in Alaska in his youth,...
as Minister - Charles WaldronCharles WaldronCharles Waldron , sometimes credited as Charles Waldron Sr., Chas. Waldron Sr., Charles D. Waldron or Mr. Waldron, was an American film and theatre actor.-Film:...
as Dr. William Thorpe - Wendell NilesWendell NilesWendell Niles was one of the great announcers of the American golden age of radio. He was an announcer on such shows as The Bob Hope Show, The Burns & Allen Show, The Milton Berle Show and The Chase and Sanborn Hour ...
as Man-on-the-Street Radio Announcer
External links
- Three Faces West article at Movie Morlocks (a Turner Classic Movies web site)