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The Sun Shines Bright

United States

1953

90 Min
Black and White
1.37:1
English
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
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DIR John Ford

PROD Merian C. Cooper, John Ford

SCR Laurence Stallings, Irvin S. Cobb

DP Archie Stout

CAST Charles Winninger, Arleen Whelan, John Russell

Director

Original

John Ford

Maine-born John Ford (born Sean Aloysius O’Fearna) originally went to Hollywood in the shadow of his older brother, Francis, an actor/writer/director who had worked on Broadway. Originally a laborer, propman’s assistant, and occasional stuntman for his brother, he rose to became an assistant director and supporting actor before turning to directing in 1917. Ford became best known for his Westerns, of which he made dozens through the 1920s, but he didn’t achieve status as a major director until the mid-‘30s, when his films for RKO (The Lost Patrol 1934, The Informer 1935), 20th Century Fox (Young Mr. Lincoln 1939, The Grapes of Wrath 1940), and Walter Wanger (Stagecoach 1939), won over the public, the critics, and earned various Oscars and Academy nominations. His 1940s films included one military-produced documentary co-directed by Ford and cinematographer Gregg Toland, December 7th (1943), which creaks badly today (especially compared with… read more

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rischka

15May13

go billy priest

Jerry Johnson likes this

Picture of Robert Regan

Robert Regan

23Feb13

“In the cinema sophistication wears strange colours, and the most austere judge will admire a piece which to a reading man may appear tearful tosh. Nothing sadder than to watch some devoted film critic trying to explain to a dramatic or a literary critic that to appreciate a film you have to look at it, not just listen to it. Human desperation can go no further.” Dilys Powell, 1953

tomas.roges and 3 others like this

Neil Bahadur, Jerry Johnson, Miguel Ferreira

Picture of ☼

28Jan13

"Rarely has a movie been so inventive—and playful—with montage. Yet each separate shot seems a complete little movie in itself—like Lumière’s one-shot films. And each shot tells: we are not merely shown a storyland, but are led, by means of Ford’s narrative and cinematic textures, into an analysis of the class structures of Fairfield, Kentucky, 1905, its people, their manners and civilization, and, finally, into their collective consciousness." (Tag Gallagher)

Jerry Johnson likes this

Picture of Jerry Johnson

Jerry Johnson

25Aug12

Prostituion, child rape, lynching, alcoholism: these are the sins of our fathers and Ford turns the sun on it.

rischka and 2 others like this

, Falderal

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W184

Daily Briefing. Senses of Cinema 62

By David Hudson on March 20, 2012

Also: Richard Brody on Jerry Lewis, Johnnie To in Udine and more.

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W184

Movie Posters of the Week: "Auto-Remakes"

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There is a terrific series titled ”Auto-Remakes” starting today at Anthology Film Archives in New York. The series, which runs through March

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W184

Democracy in America ("The Sun Shines Bright", Not in Theaters)

By David Phelps on April 8, 2009

Why windows? (Maybe there aren’t that many.) The Sun Shines Bright (1953), like so many John Ford movies, takes place in a

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