| The Road Back | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:%22The_Road_Back%22_(1937).jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | James Whale |
| Screenplay by | Charles Kenyon R. C. Sherriff |
| Based on | The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque |
| Produced by | Edmund Grainger Charles R. Rogers |
| Starring | John King Richard Cromwell Slim Summerville Andy Devine Noah Beery Jr. |
| Cinematography | John J. Mescall George Robinson |
| Edited by | Ted J. Kent Charles Maynard |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $955,000[1] |
The Road Back is a 1937 American historical drama war film directed by James Whale, starring John King, Richard Cromwell, and Slim Summerville with a supporting cast featuring Andy Devine, Louise Fazenda, Noah Beery Jr., Lionel Atwill, Spring Byington, Al Shean, and an uncredited Dwight Frye. The screenplay is by Charles Kenyon and R. C. Sherriff from the 1931 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.[2] Combining a strong anti-war message with prescient warnings about the rising dangers of the dictatorship of Nazi Germany, it was intended to be a powerful and controversial picture, and Universal entrusted it to their finest director, James Whale.[3]
The novel on which the film is based was banned by Nazi Germany. When the film was made, Universal Pictures was threatened with a boycott of all their films by the German government unless the anti-Nazi sentiments in the script were watered down. Carl Laemmle and his son, Carl Laemmle, Jr., the former heads of Universal, had recently been ousted by a corporate takeover. The new studio heads, fearing financial loss, caved in to Nazi pressure and the film was partially reshot with another director, and the remainder extensively re-edited, leaving it a pale shadow of Whale's original intentions. To the director's further displeasure, writer Charles Kenyon was ordered to interject the script with comedy scenes between Andy Devine and Slim Summerville, which Whale found unsuitable.[4] Disgusted with the studio's cowardice under its new management, Whale left Universal after completing Wives Under Suspicion, an unsuccessful remake of his own The Kiss Before the Mirror. He returned two years later to direct Green Hell, but never made another film for Universal after that.[3]
- ^ Dick, Bernard K. (2015). City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 106–107. ISBN 9780813158891.
- ^ "The Road Back". BFI. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012.
- ^ a b "The Road Back (1937) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast - AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "The Road Back (1937) - Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.