Our Town
About Our Town
The Stage Manager takes Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, from 1901 to 1913, house by house. George Gibbs and Emily Webb grow up next door, court, and marry. In childbirth Emily dreams she has died. She goes back to her twelfth birthday, sees how little of the day anyone noticed, and wakes. The death was the dream. She stays with George.
Cast & crew
More about Our Town
Sol Lesser produced Thornton Wilder's 1938 play for United Artists. Harry Chandlee, Frank Craven, and Wilder wrote the script. Sam Wood directed. Unlike the bare stage, the film uses sets. Lesser and Wilder also changed the third act: Emily's death becomes a dream she wakes from. Wilder wrote Lesser that on screen the characters are too concrete, and that it would be cruel for her to die.
Themes
Background
Wilder's play opened in 1938 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This film followed in May 1940.
Making
Bert Glennon photographed the picture. Sherman Todd edited. The National Board of Review placed it fourth on its 1940 ten-best list and gave acting awards to Martha Scott and William Holden.
Look
Bert Glennon shot the Grover's Corners streets and kitchens as real rooms, not the play's empty stage.
Music
Aaron Copland wrote the score, then drew a concert suite from about ten minutes of it.
Preservation
The copyright lapsed in 1968 when it was not renewed. The film is in the public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Martha Scott had played Emily on Broadway. Frank Craven, who created the Stage Manager on stage, plays him again and shares the screenplay credit.
- Fay Bainter is Mrs. Gibbs. Beulah Bondi is Mrs. Webb. Thomas Mitchell is Dr. Gibbs. Guy Kibbee is Mr. Webb.
- Aaron Copland took about ten minutes of the score and made a suite, dedicated to Leonard Bernstein.
- Lux Radio Theatre broadcast the film version, with the dream ending, on May 6, 1940.
- The copyright was not renewed. The first term ended in 1968.
- Charles Trowbridge plays the minister. Spencer Charters plays Constable Warren.
Awards
- National Board of Review Top Ten Films (4th place)
- National Board of Review Best Acting (Martha Scott)
- National Board of Review Best Acting (William Holden)
Scenes
- The Stage Manager points out the Gibbs and Webb houses.
- George and Emily talk across the yards before the wedding.
- In the dream, Emily asks to go back to her twelfth birthday.
- She wakes, and the death has not happened.
Influenced by
- Thornton Wilder's 1938 play Our Town
Also available
- Internet Archive (Our_Town)
