The Road Back (film)

The Road Back
Directed by	James Whale
Produced by	Edmund Grainger
Written by	Charles Kenyon (screenplay) R. C. Sherriff (screenplay) Erich Maria Remarque (novel)
Starring	John King Richard Cromwell Slim Summerville
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography	John J. Mescall George Robinson
Edited by	Ted J. Kent Charles Maynard
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	June 17, 1937 (1937-06-17)
Running time	97 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Road Back is a 1937 drama film made by Universal Pictures, directed by James Whale. The screenplay is by Charles Kenyon and R. C. Sherriff from the eponymous novel by Erich Maria Remarque. Combining a strong anti-war message with prescient warnings about the dangers of the rising Nazi regime, it was intended to be a powerful and controversial picture, and Universal entrusted it to their finest director, James Whale.

The novel on which the film is based was banned during Nazi rule. 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 German 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. 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.

In the film Gods and Monsters, Whale (played by Ian McKellen) speaks of his hatred of making The Road Back, the film he intended to be the crowning achievement of his career.

Plot

The despair and disillusionment of four men who return to civilian life in Germany after the First World War.

Cast

• Ernst - John King
• Ludwig - Richard Cromwell
• Tjaden - Slim Summerville
• Albert Von Hagen - Maurice Murphy
• Willy - Andy Devine
• Weil - Larry Blake
• Von Hagen - John Emery
• Bethke - Henry Hunter
• Wessling - Noah Beery Jr
• Geisicke - Gene Garrick
• Lucie - Barbara Read
• Ernst's Mother - Spring Byington
• Ernst's Father - Frank Reicher
• Ernst's Sister - Marilyn Harris
• Elsa - Jean Rouverol
• Mayor - Etienne Girardot
• Uncle Rudolph - Charles Halton
• Ernst's Aunt - Laura Hope Crews
• Angelina - Louise Fazenda
• Judge - Robert Warwick
• Defense Attorney - Samuel S. Hinds
• Heinrich - Arthur Hohl
• Bartscher - William B. Davidson
• Prosecutor - Lionel Atwill
• Mr Markheim - Al Shean
• Willy's Mother - Clara Blandick
• Manager - Reginald Barlow
• Principal - Edwin Maxwell
• General - E.E. Clive
• President - Edward Van Sloan
• Street Cleaner - Francis Ford
• Mother - Margaret Seddon
• Storekeeper - Greta Meyer
• Small Man - Dwight Frye

Critical reception

Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times panned the film, calling it "an approximation of the novel; it is touched occasionally with the author's bleak spirit. But most of the time it goes its own Hollywooden-head way, playing up the comedy, melodramatizing rather than dramatizing, reaching at last toward a bafflingly inconclusive conclusion ... It is distressing to watch the mutilation of a great theme." Variety called Whale's direction "excellent" but found the story "an emasculated scenario without a strong finish". Harrison's Reports wrote that given the material, the producers "should have turned out a stirring dramatic account of the difficulties for men, just back from war, in readjusting themselves. Instead of dwelling on these difficulties and arousing the audience's sympathy, the producers saw fit to stress the comedy angle, and to such a point that it weakens the picture's dramatic quality." John Mosher of The New Yorker thought the task of adapting the novel for the screen was a challenging one and gave Whale credit for handling some of the film's "difficulties with tact", but found the comedy element "confusing, almost embarrassing. Also it is definitely not German, and, along with the very American boys of the cast, the essential atmosphere is often bewildering. It's neither German nor anything else - just studio nether world."

Sky Movies wrote, "a somewhat belated sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front, Universal's critically and commercially acclaimed anti-war drama, The Road Back didn't enjoy the same success...The strong statement Whale wanted to make was seen by some reviewers, but this original cut was withdrawn. It's a shame the film hasn't been restored to its former glory as it would be as much a classic as its illustrious predecessor." Leonard Maltin has called it a "heavy-handed sequel...interesting to watch but unsatisfying." However, TV Guide noted, "some of Whale's film does show through...The battle scenes are still powerful, and a special traveling crane was developed to shoot them, a gadget the director was so enamored of that he used it throughout the film."

Box office

Despite the film's negative reviews and production problems, it was one of the top-grossing films of 1936-37.

External links

• The Road Back at IMDb
• The Hollywood Reporter - The Chilling History of How Hollywood Helped Hitler