| The Sun Shines Bright | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | John Ford |
| Screenplay by | Laurence Stallings |
| Based on | The Sun Shines Bright 1931 short stories in Cosmopolitan Magazine by Irvin S. Cobb 1912 short story The Mob from Massac The Sun Shines Bright "The Lord Provides" in The Saturday Evening Post (1915) |
| Produced by | Merian C. Cooper John Ford |
| Starring | Charles Winninger Arleen Whelan |
| Cinematography | Archie Stout |
| Edited by | Jack Murray |
| Music by | Victor Young |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | U.S. theatrical cut: 92 minutes Director's cut: 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Sun Shines Bright is a 1953 American comedy-drama Western film directed by John Ford, based on material taken from a series of Irvin S. Cobb "Judge Priest" short stories featured in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1910s, specifically "The Sun Shines Bright", "The Mob from Massac", and "The Lord Provides".
Ford had adapted some of the same material in 1934 in his film Judge Priest. That film originally had a scene depicting an attempted lynching of Poindexter (and Priest’s condemnation of the act), but it was cut by 20th Century Fox. The omission was one of the reasons Ford loosely reshaped the Cobb stories two decades later as The Sun Shines Bright for Republic Pictures, this time including Judge Priest's defusing of the mob determined to lynch a young black character named Woodford. In both films, Stepin Fetchit plays the part of Judge Priest's assistant, Poindexter. Ford often cited The Sun Shines Bright as his favorite among all his films, and in later years, it was championed by critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum[1] and Dave Kehr, who called it "a masterpiece".[2][3]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Rosenbaumwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kehr, Dave (October 26, 1985). "Judge Priest". The Chicago Reader.
Will Rogers stars in John Ford's 1934 portrait of life in a small town in the old south, one of the most deeply felt visions of community in the American cinema. Ford's later partial remake, The Sun Shines Bright, is a masterpiece, but the accomplishments of this version are impressive enough.
- ^ "Anthology Film Archives". Archived from the original on December 12, 2010.