Our Town (1940 film) (1940)

Original title

Our Town

Directed by

Sam Wood

Genre

drama film, fantasy film, romance film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 30m

Rated

NR

Rating

5.9 of 10 from 38 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This film follows the daily lives and love story of two young neighbors, Emily Webb and George Gibbs, in a small New Hampshire town at the turn of the century. It shows their childhood, growing up, and marriage, then offers a shift to consider what it means to truly appreciate life.

wistfulgentleintimatebittersweetlyricalquietcontemplativenostalgic

What happens

Our Town is a 1940 American drama romance film adaptation of the 1938 play of the same name by Thornton Wilder, starring Martha Scott as Emily Webb, and William Holden as George Gibbs. The cast also included Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee, and Frank Craven. It was adapted by Harry Chandlee, Craven, and Wilder, and directed by Sam Wood. The film was a faithful reproduction of the play except for two significant changes: the film used scenery, whereas the play had not; the events of the third act, which in the play revolve around the death of one of the main characters, were turned into a dream from which she awakens, allowing her to resume a normal life. Producer Sol Lesser worked with Wilder in creating these changes. Wilder wrote Lesser that "Emily should live.... In a movie you see the people so close to that a distant relation is established. In the theater they are halfway abstractions in an allegory; in the movie they are very concrete.... [I]t’s even disproportionately cruel that she die. Let her live...." A radio adaptation of the film on Lux Radio Theater on May 6, 1940, used the altered film ending. The U.S. copyright of the film was not renewed after its first term expired in 1968. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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