Ten Gentlemen from West Point

United States

1942

102 Min

Black and White

1.37:1

English

Currently 0.0/5 Stars.
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SCR Ben Hecht, Talbot Jennings, Richard Maibaum, George Seaton, Malvin Wald, Darryl F. Zanuck

CAST George Montgomery, Maureen O'Hara, John Sutton, Laird Cregar, Shepperd Strudwick, Victor Francen, Harry Davenport, Ward Bond, Douglass Dumbrille, Ralph Byrd, Joe Brown Jr., David Bacon, Esther Dale, Richard Derr, Louis Jean Heydt, Stanley Andrews, James Flavin, Edna Mae Jones, Charles Trowbridge, Noble Johnson, Blake Edwards

MUSIC Alfred Newman, David Buttolph, Cyril J. Mockridge

Synopsis

Among those who are fighting to have Congress re-establish the military academy at West Point in the beginning of the nineteenth century is a young Washington socialite, Carolyn Bainbridge. Congress resolves to revive the Academy on a one-year trial basis. Major Sam Carter, a martinet who doesn’t believe a college can produce real fighting men, is made the Commandant, and determines to make soldiers – or failures – out of the small band of cadets, by enforcing stringent disciplinary action. Among the cadets are Howard Shelton, Carolyn’s fiancée, and Dawson, a Kentucky frontiersman. There is bad blood between the two from the start, and matters are worsened when Dawson falls in love with Carolyn. Many of the cadets resign, under the discouraging conditions and grueling punishment that is part of Carter’s plan to make the school hard and the exercises difficult, and the number of cadets left is down to ten… —IMDb

Director

Henry Hathaway

The archetypal studio professional, Hathaway began working in films before the industry had settled in Hollywood. During his 40-year career he directed over 60 features (including Paramount’s first Technicolor picture, “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” 1936), became a pioneer of location shooting, and developed a reputation as a technically accomplished, reliable entertainer. He later bemoaned the familiar and unjust tag of “genial hack” which he had earned, he said, because of his reluctance to indulge in personal promotion. Certainly, though, the director of such fine and craftsmanlike action films like “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” (1935), “Souls at Sea” (1937) and “Spawn of the North” (1938), as well as the atypical but hauntingly surreal love story “Peter Ibbetson” (1935), deserves more critical respect.

Hathaway began his career in San Diego, as a child actor in one-reelers directed by Allan Dwan, before moving to Hollywood with his actress mother. Both worked for T.H… read more

The archetypal studio professional, Hathaway began working in films before the industry had settled in Hollywood. During his 40-year career he directed over 60 features (including Paramount’s first Technicolor picture, “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” 1936), became a pioneer of location shooting, and developed a reputation as a technically accomplished, reliable entertainer. He later bemoaned the familiar and unjust tag of “genial hack” which he had earned, he said, because of his reluctance to indulge in personal promotion. Certainly, though, the director of such fine and craftsmanlike action films like “The Lives of a Bengal Lancer” (1935), “Souls at Sea” (1937) and “Spawn of the North” (1938), as well as the atypical but hauntingly surreal love story “Peter Ibbetson” (1935), deserves more critical respect.

Hathaway began his career in San Diego, as a child actor in one-reelers directed by Allan Dwan, before moving to Hollywood with his actress mother. Both worked for T.H. Ince, and then for Universal, where Hathaway returned after World War I. His first shot at directing came at Paramount in the early 1930s, where he remade eight “Zane Grey” stories that had been shot as silent films, often using footage from the originals. All but one of these starred Randolph Scott, and Hathaway went on to direct Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Mae West before moving in 1940 to 20th Century-Fox, where he worked almost exclusively for the next 20 years.

Hathaway’s “The House on 92nd Street” (1945) marked the beginning of the semi-documentary filmmaking style popular in Hollywood after World War II, a style he continued with in “Call Northside 777” (1948). His later film noirs “Kiss of Death” (1947) and “Niagara” (1953), meanwhile, had a stylized flair which showed his versatility in adapting with the times while essentially reinforcing his talent for “tough” entertainment. Like John Ford, Hathaway continued to deliver professionally through Hollywood’s decline, even helming John Wayne’s Oscar-winning performance in “True Grit” (1969). —TCM.com

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