ID

FBW001096      Fiction

Country / Year

USA, 1942

Original Title

Keeper of the Flame

Directed by

George Cukor

Produced by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) (Loew's, Inc.), Culver City, CA (New York, NY)

Staff

Producer: Victor Saville; Script: Donald Odgen Stewart; Based on: I.A.R. Wylie (based on the novel "Keeper of the flame"); Camera: William Daniels; Special optical effects: Warren Newcombe; Editing: James E. Newcom; Production design: Cedric Gibbons, Lyle R. Wheeler; Set decoration: Edwin B. Willies, Jack D. Moore; Costume design: Adrian (=Adrian Adolph Greenberg); Makeup: Jack Dawn; Music: Bronislaw Kaper

Cast

Tracy Spencer (Steven O'Malley); Katharine Hepburn (Christine Forrest); Richard Whorf (Clive Kerndon); Margaret Wycherly (Clive Kerndon); Donald Meek (Mr. Arbuthnot); Stephen McNally (Freddie Ridges); Audrey Christie (Jane Harding); Frank Craven (Dr. Fielding); Forrest Tucker (Geoffrey Midford); Percy Kilbride (Orion Peabody); Howard da Silva (Jason Rickards); Darryl Hickman (Jeb Rickards); William "Billy" Newell (Piggot); Rex Evans (John); Blanche Yurka (Anna); Mary McLeod (Janet); Clifford Brooke (William); Crauford Kent (Ambassador); Mickey Martin (Messenger Boy); Manart Kippen (Reporter); Donald Gallaher (Reporter); Cliff Danielson (Reporter); Jay Ward (Pete); Rita Quigley (Susan); Sam Harris (Man); Art Howard (Man); Harold Miller (Man); Dick Elliott (Auctioneer); Edward McWade (Lawyer); Irving Lee (Boy Reporter); Diana Douglas (Girl); Gloria Tucker (Girl); Bob Pittard (Tim); Louis Mason (Gardener); Frederick Lindsley (Minister's Voice)

Length

100'

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Abstract

Steven O'Malley, a war correspondent, is assigned to write the life story of Robert V. Forrest, an American patriot who has died in an accident, driving his car through an open bridge. The widow, Christine Forrest, has shut herself up in a great house, but finally she agrees to help O'Malley reconstruct her husband's life. O'Malley begins to feel that all is not right when he overhears a conversation that makes him suspect that she had a hand in her husband's death. He unravels the true nature of the greatly admired deceased man. He was no hero at all and this is evident when O'Malley follows Forrest to a private retreat on the estate, one which reveals the dead man's love for fascism, not democracy. O'Malley accuses her of murdering her spouse, which she denies. But she does admit that she knew that the bridge was out and purposely failed to warn him, preferring to have him die than to go on living and attempting to build a neo-fascist organization. She wishes to preserve the good name of her dead husband and so she sets fire to the retreat, dying in the flames while O'Malley survives to write the true story.

Subject Terms

Anti-Nazi films (US)

Bibliography

- Nash, Ray R. / Ross, Stanley R. / Conelly, Robert B. (Ed.): Motion Picture Guide. Chicago, IL: Cinebooks, 1987