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      • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
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      • Incindies (2010)
      • In the Mood For Love (2000)
      • Le Silence De La Mer ('49)
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      • L'Atalante (1934)
      • Let Us Be Gay
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        • Some Like it Hot Intro (Beyond the Bay)
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The Conquerors

Nutshell Review:   The Conquerors (1932)
Director:  William Wellman         
Starring:  Richard Dix, Ann Harding, Edna May Oliver, Guy Kibbee, Julie Haydon
Studio:   Warner Bros
Viewing:     MOD DVD
Plot:  Caroline Ogdon  (Harding) is the daughter of the towns wealthy banker (Walter Walker) & in love with a bank clerk, Roger Standish (Dix).  Her father disapproves of their relationship, so the couple heads west to start a new life.  One the way they are attacked and Roger is shot defending Caroline.  Taken to a small town Roger is saved by a drunken doctor (Kibbee) & nursed by his super tolerant wife (Oliver). While recovering, Roger tries to organize a posse to go after the bandits that robbed the town, who just happen to be the same men that shot him.  Too weak to ride, he nonetheless inspires the men to capture & hang the bandits, the incident giving him the idea to start a bank to protect the townspeople’s money.
The bank is a big success & Roger becomes a leader of the town.  Caroline is the supportive wife & bears Roger twins, a boy and a girl.  As the town also thrives, Roger uses his influence to bring the railroad through town, but as the first train arrives tragedy strikes and the couple’s son is killed.  Roger & Caroline are heartbroken, but pour all their love into their daughter Frances (Haydon), who grows into a beautiful woman.  She is courted and marries a clerk (Donald Cook) in her father’s bank, not met with the same derision as her mother when she courted Roger.  The combination of a bank panic & risky investments by the son in law drives Roger’s bank into dire straits, which triggers the son-in-law’s suicide just as Frances gives birth to a son, Roger Lennox.
Standish is forced to confront a depositor who has lost all his money, giving him a chance to explain (to depression era audiences too) why the banks are important to the country.  Caroline mediates between the two and Roger lets the man go, promising to return all the depositors money, if only granted time.
Lennox grows into a war hero and takes over the bank, leading it to great success during the go-go ‘20’s.  Under the tutelage of his grandfather, Lennox manages the bank in a similar fashion, putting the depositors before his own needs.  When the market crashes in ’29 Lennox’s requests that his $5M trust be put in play to keep the bank solvent, much to the delight of his grandfather.  His final speech sums up the belief in America during the depression when he says, “…we’ll pull through.  All we need is courage!”
​
Thoughts:  The Conquerors was one of 18 pictures that Wellman directed for Warner Bros in a 3 year period from 1931-1933.  In several of the pictures the depression is dealt with head on as it is in The Conquerors, however, the expanse of the timeline in this movie sets it apart.  As if trying to cast the depression in the context of the normal ebb & flow of the economy, The Conquerors has at least 3 “bank runs” over the course of its 50 year story arc.  In each run, it is the American spirit, embodied by Roger Standish/Roger Lennox, that looks failure in the eyes and putting faith in the people and the institutions that make our economy thrive.  In each case he is richly rewarded because he is good, unlike his father in law, who in his unscrupulousness is driven to ruin & suicide.  The conquerors, America, can beat anything, financial ruin, Westward migration even the death of family, so long as we have courage. A heartening message of hope for viewers in 1933.  Warner Bros, under the production guidance of Darryl Zanuck (1931-1933), was known as the studio that dealt most directly with social matters and social message pictures.  The Conquerors fits in some degree in that milieu, although most typically the Warner movies of the era were based in the streets and not in banks and mansions.  The early scenes of Roger & Caroline struggling while Roger recovers from his gunshot wounds, Caroline scrubbing floors are more typical of the Warner environment.
The short episode when Roger is at war, is an interesting reflection of Wellman’s own experiences in World War I, right down to the number of German planes Roger is credited with shooting down.  Wellman, like Roger,  joined the Lafayette Flying Corp, flying for France and earning great distinction in shooting down 3 German planes, while earning the nickname that stuck with him throughout his life, wild Bill.  A small line in the film also echoes Wellman’s experience in the war when Aunt Matilda wonders who will keep the French maidens away from Roger.  Wellman himself was secretly married to a French woman, Renee, who would be killed later in the war.  His marriage to her  was kept secret for most of the rest of his life.
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  • Home
  • Top 10 Lists
    • My Top 10 Favorite Movies
    • Top 10 Heist Movies
    • Top 10 Films from 2001
    • Director Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Film Noir Directors
      • Top 10 Coen Brothers Films
      • Top 10 John Ford Films
      • Top 10 Samuel Fuller Films
      • Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Films
      • Top 10 John Huston Films
      • Top 10 Fritz Lang Films (American)
      • Val Lewton Top 10
      • Top 10 Ernst Lubitsch Films
      • Top 10 Jean-Pierre Melville Films
      • Top 10 Nicholas Ray Films
      • Top 10 Preston Sturges Films
      • Top 10 Robert Siodmak Films
      • Top 10 William Wellman Films
      • Top 10 Billy Wilder Films
    • Actor/Actress Top 10's >
      • Top 10 Joan Blondell Movies
      • Top 10 Clark Gable Movies
      • Top 10 Ava Gardner Films
      • Top 10 Gloria Grahame Films
      • Top 10 Jean Harlow Movies
      • Top 10 Miriam Hopkins Films
      • Top 10 Grace Kelly Films
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      • Top 10 Myrna Loy Films
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      • Top 10 Paul Newman Films
      • Top 10 Robert Ryan Movies
      • Top 10 Norma Shearer Movies
      • Top 10 Barbara Stanwyck Films
    • Top 10 Noir Films (Classic Era)
    • Top 10 Pre-Code Films
    • Top 10 Actresses of the 1930's
  • Reviews
    • Quick Hits: Short Takes on Recent Viewing >
      • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
      • Elevator to the Gallows ('58)
      • Days of Heaven
      • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
      • Incindies (2010)
      • In the Mood For Love (2000)
      • Le Silence De La Mer ('49)
      • Jaws Intro
      • The Princess Bride ('87) Intro
      • Pulp Fiction ('94) Intro
    • The 1910's >
      • The Lubitsch German Silents
    • The 1920's >
      • Wild Orchids ('29)
    • The 1930's >
      • Blonde Crazy
      • Bombshell ('33)
      • The Cheat
      • The Conquerors
      • The Crowd Roars
      • The Divorcee
      • Frank Capra & Barbara Stanwyck: The Evolution of a Romance
      • Heroes for Sale
      • The Invisible Man (1933)
      • L'Atalante (1934)
      • Let Us Be Gay
      • My Man Godfrey
      • No Man of Her Own (1932)
      • Platinum Blonde ('31)
      • Reckless ('35)
      • True Confession ('37)
      • Virtue ('32)
      • The Women
    • The 1940's >
      • The Story of Citizen Kane
      • Criss Cross (1949)
      • Jean Arthur in A Foreign Affair
      • The Maltese Falcon Intro
      • Moonrise (1948)
      • My Gal Sal (1942)
      • Notorious Intro ('46)
      • Overlooked Christmas Movies of the 1940's
      • Pursued (1947)
      • Remember the Night ('40)
      • The Red Shoes (1948)
      • The Set-Up ('49)
      • The Third Man
    • The 1950's >
      • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ('58) Intro
      • A Face in the Crowd (1957)
      • In a Lonely Place
      • Mogambo ('53)
      • Niagara (1953)
      • The Night of The Hunter ('55)
      • Pushover Noir City
      • Rear Window (1954)
      • Red Dust ('32 vs Mogambo ('53)
      • The Searchers ('56)
      • Singin' in the Rain Introduction
      • Some Like It Hot ('59) >
        • Some Like it Hot Intro (Beyond the Bay)
    • The 1960's >
      • Cape Fear ('62)
      • Cool Hand Luke (1967) Intro
      • Dr Strangelove Intro
      • The Hustler ('61) Intro
      • The Misfits ('61)
    • The 1970's >
      • American Graffiti Introduction
      • Chinatown Introduction
      • The Friends of Eddie Coyle ('73)
    • The 1980's >
      • Blood Simple ('84)
      • A Christmas Story Intro
    • 2000's >
      • No Man's Land (2001)
      • Wall-E
      • Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
      • The Top 10 Films I watched in 2020
  • Artists
    • Actors/Actresses >
      • Joan Blondell
      • The Noir Villainy of Dan Duryea
      • Clark Gable Bio
      • Jean Harlow Bio
      • Norma Shearer
    • Directors/Producers >
      • Founders Series: Alice Guy-Blache
      • Hitchcock & Cary Grant
      • William Wellman
    • Books >
      • Book Reviews >
        • Book Review: Clark Gable by D. Bret
      • Pre-Code
      • Actor Bios
      • Film Noir
      • Director Bios
      • Studio Head Bios
      • Hollywood History
    • Studio
  • Resources
    • NOTES >
      • Citizen Kane Notes
      • Singin' in the Rain Notes
    • CMBA Interview/Profile
    • Hollywood History >
      • Production Code
      • Film Noir
  • Video Introductions
    • Video Introductions