Plymouth Adventure

source: Plymouth Adventure

A HUGE MGM blockbuster about the Pilgrims voyage from Europe to America. Along the way they have to deal with illness, infidelity, scarce food and water and each other. It's all overseen by Spencer Tracy as a tough old sea captain. MGM spared no expense with this one. The film is shot in breath-taking color with great costumes and an exact replica of the Mayflower. Also there's an exciting sequence where they battle through a fierce storm at sea (this film won a well-deserved Oscar for Special Effects). But, aside from that, nothing much happens. There's a love triangle story that was so obvious it was annoying. Also we have some great actors here giving there worst performances. Tracy looks depressed and old; Gene Tierney looks great but the poor woman has nothing to work with; Van Johnson just walks through his role. This was understandably a public and critical failure and lost over a million dollars. A real snoozer.

PERHAPS WITH AN eye looking back at the success of historical novels having been brought to the screen the form of highly $ucce$$ful films at the Box Office, MGM took this story of the Pilgrioms' flight to the New World and gave it a whirl. Their reasoning was sound; for, after all, hadn't there been both critical acclaim and popular acceptance of the story of the French & Indian Wars in NORTHWEST PASSAGE* (MGM, 1940)? IN MUCH THE same manner, this PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE took some top stars from the MGM stable; adding some new ones and even borrowed Miss Gene Tierney from 20th Century-Fox, just for good measure. Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson headed up the fine cast; which also included Leo Genn, Dawn Adams, Lloyd Bridges and Welshman, Rhys Williams. AS WITH MANY a "Sure thing-Can't miss" project, it sort of fell short of its expected mark. While providing an interesting (and obviously embellished) version of the trials and tribulations of this outlawed religious sect, it left us just a little bored at times. RELYING ON STRONG characterizations, the story gave us a great contrast in personalities. The protagonists ranged from the cynical and world weary Captain Jones (Spence), skipper of the Mayflower, to the fine and virtuous-such as portrayed by Miss Tierney and Mr. Genn, to the totally unscrupulous merchant (Rhys Williams)and the insubordinate and mutinous first mate (Lloyd Bridges). True to the characterization by one William Henry Longfellow, the character of military man, Miles Standish, is relegated to that of comic relief. IN SOME WAYS the movie has the look of a History Channel docudrama, what with the costuming and the sets often seeming to take on more importance than the story line. Indeed, much of the scene location imagery looks very much like it could be used as illustrations for junior high school level history books. Even the selection of the level of color being used seems to be a level or two below that of the previously mentioned NORTHWEST PASSAGE. HAVING BEEN RELEASED for the Thanksgiving Holiday in 1952, PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE certainly must have been well received; even to the extent of being in the mode of those films that were endorsed by educators as being recommended for the whole family. Which makes us wonder if this was at least the partial motivation in making the movie. You know, it was sort of MGM's contribution to the National Image. the popular myth; knda like "Ma's Apple Pie". (Oh, excuse us, please. We meant "Pumpkin Pie!" We almost forgot about which Holiday we were celebrating!) NOTE: * The full title included a subtitle. It was and remains in today's prints: "NORTHWEST PASSAGE: BOOK I, ROGERS' RANGERS."

(There are Spoilers) Recreation of the Pilgrims dangerous voyage to the new world, America, on the good ship Mayflower in the summer and fall of 1620 AD. Put in charge of the Mayflower by England's Virginia Company's Mrs. Weston, Rhys Williams, is that old salt and pragmatic Capt. Chris Jones, Spencer Tracy, who's only in it for the money and nothing else. It's when Weston gives Jones, under the table, an added bonus of 200 English pounds to steer the Mayflower to the north and uninhabited-by the white man- Cape Cod region of New England that he decides to trick his passengers and crew, all 102 of them, into thinking that he was taking them some 500 miles south to Jamestown Virginia that already had an established English colony. The greedy and criminal minded Mr. Weston was trying to pull a fast one on his employer by buying up all the worthless stock of the almost defunct England's New England Company and cash it in when a colony is established on it's territory with him being the only stock holder. As things turned out, as history shows up, the trip north made it possible for the future establishment, in 1776, of the United States of America! The dangerous voyage across the almost uncharted Atlantic Ocean had the Mayflower and its passengers and crew face dangers and horrors far worse then they ever dreamed of in their wildest nightmares. Capt. Jones while keeping the ship together and his man, who were on the verge of mutiny, in line soon gets the hots, in her being one of the few women on board, for the very religious pretty and saintly Dorothy Bradford, Jene Tierney, who's husband William, Leo Genn, was also one of the ship's passengers. This sinful and forbidden romance, with Capt. Jones doing most of the romancing, between Capt. Jones and Mrs. Bradford is the most interesting part of the movie even though in real life it never really happened. Dorothy later feeling that she cheated on her husband, by just allowing the slobbering Capt. Jones to kiss her, and broke her marriage vowels ended up drowning herself. The depressed and guilt-ridden Dorothy offed herself just as the Mayflower finally reached land after it's more then three month sail across the wind and storm swept Atlantic Ocean. It's Dorothy Bradford's tragic death that woke the narrow minded and people hating, on the Mayflower, Capt. Jones up to the humanity that he always either denied or kept from himself. No longer the cynical and Godless person that he once was the "Captain" decided to stay with the Pilgrim settlers, whom half of them were to died because of illness and starvation, throughout the harsh and bitter winter of 1620-1621 until spring, and the spring harvest, arrived. Now a new man with love and understanding in his heart for his fellow human beings Capt. Jones in an act of honesty and forgiveness,for himself, finally confessed to Dorothy's husband William that in fact he did try to break up, by him being the other man, their marriage! But in the end it was Dorothy in her eternal love for William, feeling that she was giving in to Capt. Jones' advances would rather kill herself, that too a mortal sin, then betray her husband! Beautiful ocean scenery with a very convincing Mid-Atlantic Ocean storm as well as amazing spacial effect-for 1952-adds to the movie's great acting and historical content. Still it was the fictitious relationship between Capt. Jones and Dorothy Bradford that overshadowed all the true events that were depicted in the film "Plymouth Advanture".

Short on adventure and long on talkiness, this 1952 big-budget release from MGM sinks faster than you can say "Mayflower." Yes, one of the most famous of famous ships is the main character, and it's only slightly more wooden than the cast that climbs aboard and ventures to the new world. That cast is led by perennial grump Spencer Tracy, who commands the ship and hates all the passengers, until their goody-goodness and preaching about God and opportunity makes him see the error of his ways. Leo Genn gives the film's best performance as the passenger with the best oratorical skills. He also happens to be married to Gene Tierney, who's given absolutely nothing to do until she gets to commit suicide, probably to escape from the boredom of the film, in a plot twist that makes absolutely no sense since nothing was done by the screenplay up to that point to establish it. Speaking of the screenplay, the writers must have been paid by the word, because this particular group of passengers talk a LOT about all the things that aren't interesting, while few of the things that would be interesting about a story like this never happen. The film got the lavish Technicolor treatment from MGM and a sea storm garnered it an Oscar for Best Special Effects, but even if the pilgrims themselves were not dead on arrival, the movie certainly is. Grade: C-

I had never heard of this flick and tuned to it (thank you, Turner Classic Movies) primarily because of the presence of the great Spencer Tracy and one of my favorite character actors, Van Johnson, whose acting skills I find vastly underrated. I was not disappointed, and I was surprised to read the many disparaging comments here. I cannot speak for historical accuracy but I found the story gripping and the script very well written. Tracy reminds us again of the reason he is regarded as one the greatest actors of his generation. No doubt that the love interest between him and Bradford's wife is probably apocryphal, and was inserted to fulfill Hollywood's requirement for a romantic angle, but so what? Leaving that aside the movie is a pretty engrossing depiction of the trials and travails of the Pilgrims, although the conditions on their actual voyage were probably a lot grimmer than Hollywood could politely depict in those days. All in all a very worthwhile effort and well worth seeing.

Spencer Tracey must have hated this movie. He sure played the part as if he hated it, and I can hardly blame him. His captain is an angry man who hates all his passengers except Gene Tierney, whom he seduces away from her husband. This may be realistic, though it's difficlut to tell. Would a Puritan woman have been so repressed that she goes for a rough man like the captain instead of her equally repressed husband? So she makes everyone thorougly miserable by killing herself. I can't remember whether this is before or after the passengers throw a party for the captain, who made no secret of the fact that he'd really rather they'd all drowned. All except Gene Tierney, of course. I wonder whether Spencer Tracey was as angry as the captain or as bored as the audience. We all have different tastes. I don't think suicide is in the least romantic, but an awful lot of people do.

An already aged-looking SPENCER TRACY is Captain Jones of the Mayflower in this MGM visualization of what the crossing to the New World may have been like on an overcrowded ship full of hopeful, determined passengers and crew. But neither he nor GENE TIERNEY (as Mrs. Bradford) seem at home in roles that are never really fleshed out by the script. Nevertheless, Tierney gets plenty of wistful close-ups as she gazes toward the horizon (or Tracy), but little of substance to do. Neither does VAN JOHNSON get more than a brief supporting role as John Alden. LEO GENN gets more material as Tierney's stuffed shirt husband but little can be said of the other passengers except for LLOYD BRIDGES who struts around as a bronzed, blue-eyed pirate with taking ways. He at least livens up the scene whenever he's around. The main trouble is the lack of strong drama in the script. Most of the passengers are a dull lot. Added to that, the lack of real chemistry between Tracy and Tierney makes it difficult to believe their love could be deep enough for her to care about this rude and cynical man completely lacking any sort of refinement in his nature. The big storm scene is well realized and staged for maximum effect, but only serves to remind us how dull the other sections of the film are. Summing up: A very uneven drama about an historical event that celebrated the birth of the New World. Should have been so much better.

This is the story of how the English pilgrims journeyed over the treacherous Atlantic waters, to form their colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts. These were the "seeds" that grew into The United States of America. Helming the famous "Mayflower" ship of colonists is grouchy Spencer Tracy (as Christopher Jones). Mr. Tracy doesn't let his passengers know they are headed for New England, instead of Virginia. But, in the end, the local "savages" are more friendly up North, we are told... How these adventurers survived the hellish conditions is revealed to be due to Tracy's forbidden love for the wife of passenger pilgrim Leo Genn, a Godly-clean and good-looking Gene Tierney (as Dorothy Bradford). Tracy gets drunk and tries to have "his way" with her, but she apparently isn't prone to rape fantasies. They continue to make "goo-goo eyes" at each other, though. Meanwhile, carpenter Van Johnson (as John Alden) ogles pretty Dawn Addams (as Priscilla Mullins)... Here is a prime example of a film that would seem to have everything going for it - but the story floats like a stone. Tracy and Mr. Johnson saw their 1951 "Quigley Box Office Star" positions plummet from #10 (Tracy) and #24 (Johnson), after setting sail. Director Clarence Brown retired. If you do hang around until they reach land, you'll see Mr. Brown and photographer William Daniels create a gorgeous location. Lloyd Bridges (as Coppin) is one who doesn't look like a fish out of water. **** Plymouth Adventure (11/14/52) Clarence Brown ~ Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson, Lloyd Bridges

In doing a review of Plymouth Adventure we should start out by saying this is most definitely not a docudrama about the Pilgrims. This is a film adaption of a novel by Ernest Gebler in which the author threw some things in there that never happened or are the subject of much speculation. Gene Tierney's character of Dorothy Bradford did in fact drown under unknown circumstances, but there is no reason to think it was suicide as opposed to an accident and her yearnings for Captain William Jones of the Mayflower is just part of the Gebler's fertile imagination. He was certainly imaginative enough giving a little scandalous romance into the Puritan community. Plymouth Adventure is a nice tribute to those brave and hearty souls who set forth into an unknown land in which half of them died the first winter, but those who survived creating an American national tradition in the Thanksgiving Holiday. And a black day for turkeys everywhere. Lately the religious right has latched on to the Pilgrims in their efforts to prove America is a Christian nation. Of course once they got here they ran what became the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a theocracy. Still they were an intrepid lot and their courage is beyond question. Spencer Tracy gives a fine performance as the rugged and cynical sea captain of the Mayflower, the chartered ship which takes the Pilgrims from Southampton to an unknown world. I think Tracy drew a lot from some of the characters in Eugene O'Neill's plays in his portrayal of Jones. He has a moment in which he says that people have disappointed him, but the sea never let him down. Could have come from any of O'Neill's works. An Oscar for Best Special Effects went to Plymouth Adventure showing some of the travails at sea the Mayflower went through. Back in its day MGM had a huge water tank that was used for all the sea sagas filmed there. Occasionally other studios rented it out, the facility was that good. Tracy has been there before when he was in Captains Courageous in spirit so to speak. Players like Van Johnson, Lowell Gilmore, Dawn Addams, Noel Drayton, Barry Jones, Kathleen Lockhart play some of the Pilgrim names come down from historical legend. Leo Genn is William Bradford, author of the Mayflower Compact which is cited interminably now by fundamentalist TV reverends as proof of our Christian heritage. Genn who rivaled Ronald Colman as possessor of the most beautiful speaking voice in the English speaking world would be a pleasure to listen to reading the Erie County phone book. My favorite in this is young Tommy Ivo who played William Button the only voyager on the Mayflower to die at sea. His death scene is a heart string tugging experience. Not the real story of the Mayflower voyage, Plymouth Adventure is still good entertainment and a stirring tribute to those who formalized the giving of thanks and the reasons they had to be thankful.