Plymouth Adventure (1952)

[darrenburnfan]

Although not a British film, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s beautifully made Technicolor historical epic Plymouth Adventure (1952), recently restored and released on DVD by Warner Archive, holds a special place in the list of the earliest films I was taken to see as a child. My father took me to see it when I was six years old at the now long gone Alexandra cinema in Edgeley, Stockport, in 1953. I remember being mightily impressed by this colourful depiction of the Pilgrims journey from Plymouth to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620, due no doubt in no small measure to Miklos Rozsa’s wonderful score…truly spectacular in scenes such as the Mayflower setting sail from England and haunting and romantic in the film’s quieter moments. In fact, this was probably my first exposure to his music and I’ve loved it ever since.

The tragic death scene of young William Button (Tommy Ivo), the only passenger to perish on the eventful journey, accompanied by Rozsa’s sorrowful music, is one of the earliest tear-jerking scenes I can remember seeing in a film. I remember it upset me then and even today, nearly fifty-eight years later, I still get very upset when I watch it. The spectacular storm sequence won the film an Academy Award for Special Effects and there’s no doubt that a lot of the actors get very wet indeed during the course of it.

Although Warner Archive for some reason will not post their DVDs to addresses outside of the United States, the DVD is available online from amazon.com; Deep Discount; Movies Unlimited and eBay. The DVD also contains the film’s original theatrical trailer and the whole package is worth getting. Picture and sound quality are as good as they can be for a film that is getting on for sixty years old and I highly recommend this DVD.



The Mayflower sets sail.



The Mayflower at sea.



William Brewster (Barry Jones) and William Bradford (Leo Genn)



Captain Christopher Jones (Spencer Tracy) lays the law down to his passengers.



The spectacular storm sequence won the film an Oscar for Special Effects.



Dorothy Bradford (Gene Tierney) and Spencer Tracy.



The tragic death scene of William Button (Tommy Ivo) still upsets me.



The signing of The Mayflower Compact in the New World.



Spencer Tracy and Barry Jones at Plymouth Rock.

[popeye]

I've not seen this but would like to!, could you tell me where it's available from by any chance? thanks, ian

Sorry forget that, Amazon!! i should read properly

[darrenburnfan]

I'm sure you'll be impressed with it, Ian. They haven't got the talent to make films like this any more. Here is the link to the DVD on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Plymouth-Adven...3899178&sr=1-1

[didi-5]

Oh ... it's Warner Archive. I can't play it then as I only have DVD recorders and the laptop and these discs won't play on either

You'd think a Spencer Tracy film was enough to get a proper release but then same thing happened to Mannequin and that was him AND Joan Crawford.

[darrenburnfan]

That's strange, didi-5, as I have two Hewlett Packard Laptops and Warner Archive discs play perfectly on mine (that's how I was able to capture the above frames from the disc), as well as my two different DVD players. I agree that this film should have a proper DVD release.

[didi-5]

That's good news if true darren. I haven't felt inclined to chance it yet as these DVD-Rs are quite pricey. Although I really like this film.

[darrenburnfan]

If you lived in the United States, they would be much cheaper to get because you could buy them direct from Warners. But amazon tend to put at least $10 on top of the Warner price, which means that if you live outside the US, you can get them, but they are more expensive. Also, it seems that all the Warner Archive releases are Region Free or Region 0, as my Laptops will normally only play Region 2 discs, but have no trouble playing Warner Archive releases.

Here is the trailer that someone has uploaded on YouTube:

[darrenburnfan]

BELOW: I recently received, from a specialist eBay seller in the United States, this vintage 8 x 10 glossy black and white 1952 press still from Plymouth Adventure. Underneath it is a scan of the caption that is on the back of the photograph.

[darrenburnfan]

BELOW: From an incredible fifty-eight years ago! A magazine poster for Plymouth Adventure from the March, 1953, issue of ABC Film Review.

[darrenburnfan]

BELOW: The front; inside back and back cover for the beautifully produced (with wonderfully illustrated booklet) Film Score Monthly release of Miklos Rozsa's original soundtrack score for Plymouth Adventure. The score was one of the first to be recorded in stereophonic sound, but the recordings were long ago transferred to mono and the stereo tapes are believed lost. Even so, this is one hell of a spectacular score. If the film had been made a year later, it could well have been M-G-M's first production in CinemaScope. The still below centre shows a sailor (John Dierkes) giving over romanticised descriptions of the New World to the passengers, including young William Button (Tommy Ivo...centre in hat) who dreams of being the first to see land and of being a king in the New World.

Tommy Ivo as the tragic William Button: "I'm going to be the first to see land. Keep me eye peeled, I will. Then I'll be the first.
It'll be like the Garden of Eden."

[TimR]

Nice work on this thread, darrenburnfan.

I have good memories of this film from when I was a boy. It used to be shown every Thanksgiving weekend.

I know that it has been ridiculed because of the screenplay and the casting of Tracy and Johnson. But I always liked it, and it's good to see it has been given a new release. Gene Tierney was always one of my favorite actresses.

[darrenburnfan]

Thanks, Tim. Yes, I know the love interest between Tracy and Tierney was fictitious, but the rest of the film was as accurate as they were allowed to make it in 1952. In reality, the Pilgrim's voyage was far, far worse than is shown in the film, as they were all continually seasick and also, the Mayflower was a cargo ship, not a passenger ship and it had no facilities for carrying passengers. So the passengers were packed in between decks like sardines, with little room to move. There was absolutely no privacy and they all had to go to the toilet in front of each other with only a few chamber pots between all 102 of them. During the storm, as seen in the film, they were all tossed between one side of the ship and the other as the ship rolled violently. Their clothing got drenched by the seawater during the storm and, as there was no means by which they could dry their clothes, they wore wet clothes for the rest of the voyage. No wonder young William Button got lung fever (pnuemonia) and died. The miracle was that only he and a member of the crew washed overboard during the storm actually died on the voyage. At least half the others died after they made landfall. I've always admired the amazing courage and tenacity of those religious disenters, who braved all that terror because they were persecuted by the king and church in England for the simple act of saying their prayers standing up instead of kneeling. It seems nonsensical by today's standards, but back in those days, they could be hanged for going against the church and state.

[darrenburnfan]

BELOW: This vintage 1952 press photo I received this morning from a specialist eBay seller in the USA is a real collector's item and rarity. In fact, I''ve never come across it before. The caption on the back of the photo reads:

"CITZENS OF THE NEW WORLD: Youngsters representing the thirteen children, who were among the 102 passengers aboard the Mayflower, as presented in the MGM Technicolor picture Plymouth Adventure. The group picture was photographed outside of the school house on the MGM lot where children playing in pictures must attend school a certain number of hours each day during the filming."

I can't put names to all the faces, but Tommy Ivo, who played William Button, is second from the left on the back row.