The Sun Shines Bright

John Ford
USA 1953
94 min
V'04

John Ford regarded <i>The Sun Shines Bright</i> as his favorite film. Laurence Stalllings' screenplay is based on several short stories by Kentucky humorist Irvin S. Cobb, some of which had previously been cinematized in Ford's 1934 Will Rogers vehicle <i>Judge Priest</i>. Charles Winninger stars as Judge William Pittman Priest, whose homely, common-sense approach to his job has endeared himself to most of the residents of his small Kentucky home town, while alienating many of the \"better\" people. Up for election, Judge Priest is challenged by a Yankee upstart who has most of the influential citizens in his pocket. (...) The film retains much of the charm of its predecessor<i> Judge Priest</i>; unfortunately (at least by P.C. standards), <i>The Sun Shines Bright</i> also retains the most questionable aspect of the earlier film: the stereotyped routines of African-American comedian Stepin Fetchit. One hardly knows how to react to the sequence in which the supplicative Fetchit tries to hush up a defiant young black man who is in danger of being lynched (Ford plays this scene for laughs!) While Fetchit's participation will hardly endear the film to modern audiences, it is unfair to write off the rest of <i>The Sun Shines Bright</i>, which otherwise fully lives up to director Ford's affectionate assessment. (Hal Erickson)

I knew The Sun Shines Bright and Wagon Master werent going to be smash hits I did them for my own amusement. And it didnt hurt anybody they didnt make<i> any money, but they always got their initial cost back. </i>The Sun Shines Bright is my favourite picture I love it. And its true to life, it happened. Irvin Cobb got everything he wrote from real life, and thats the best of his <i>«</i>Judge Priest<i>»</i> stories.

John Ford talking with Peter Bogdanovich, 1966

Credits
  • Charles Winninger
  • Arleen Whelan
  • John Russell
  • Stepin Fetchit
  • Russell Simpson
  • Ludwig Stössel
  • Laurence Stallings
  • Archie Stout
  • Howard Wilson
  • T.A. Carman
  • Jack Murray
  • Victor Young
  • Frank Hotaling
  • Adele Palmer
  • «The Sun Shines Bright»
  • «The Mob from Massac» und «The Lord Provides» von Irvin S. Cobb
Argosy Pictures Corporation
Jupiter-Film
35 mm
bw