Directed by William Wellman in 1947 this is probably the first movie about polling, a subject which caught our attention so much last month. Starring Jimmy Stewart and Jane Wyman, it concerns a pollster, Rip Smith, who discovers a town where public opinion corresponds perfectly with the entire country (has to be in Ohio right). Wyman is the public-minded citizen who falls in love with him. The kick to the movie is that, of course, once they become aware of the reason for his visit, townspeople's opinions begin to change.
11 comments:
Reagan was a Democrat then of course ... Wellman made lots and lots of good movies and it always seems amazing that he could be as likely to be chosen to direct a screwball romance like this one (or even better, NOTHING SACRED) as a tough war movie (BATTLEGROUND).
It certainly is a forgotten movie. I never saw it though the name is familiar. I never cared much for Jane Wyman, frankly, and I'm not really sure why.
Jeff M.
I think there were several actresses of that era that had a hardness that was unappealing to many men. Their faces were so fixed, their short hair unyielding and their acting styles seem to follow.
Yes, it is at least partly her face. (I didn't want to say that but it is true.) Most of the time she looks like she sucked on a lemon just before the camera started rolling.
Jeff M.
Hm. I suspect it's not just because of her attitudes that I always found Wyman more appealing than the second Mrs. Reagan.
MAGIC TOWN triggers only the faintest of bells...I might not even have heard of it, am pretty certain I've never seen it.
Wyman sure did get herself some ugly haircuts for many of the photos on Google images, however. Not so much that they're short (which doesn't put me off...many of her good haircuts are short, too) as they are simply unflattering.
Favorite Jane Wyman story (possibly apocryphal, like most good stories): Someone expressed surprise that Jane and Ronald Reagan were getting divorced. "Yeah," replied Jane, "I just couldn't stand to watch that damn King's Row one more time."
There was a book by Eugene Burdick, published in the mid-1950s, called The Ninth Wave. In this truly forgotten book, a man who today would be termed a political consultant discovers that by nudging people just slightly he can change the outcome of elections. In 1956, the idea that someone could do that was so frightening, at the end if the book (spoiler), the man's friends allow him to drown rather than save him and compromise the election. How times have changed!
I saw this years ago and have wanted to re-watch it. I love Wellman and Stewart.
Did Wyman make Douglas Sirk movies? I think of her being more at home in that genre--the women's picture, I believe they called them, "weepies." Johnny Belinda. The chick flick is a whole different thing these days.
Yes, Magnificent Obsession.
Don't forget "All That Heaven Allows," where prim widow Jane falls for hunky younger gardener Rock Hudson.
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