Deux femmes

"Pilgrimage" is a phenomenon.First of all ,the subject is not,as the audience is expecting at the beginning of the movie,the story of two lovers but it focuses on the boy's mother ,Mrs Jessop,wonderfully portrayed by Henrietta Crosman.It's very rare that the star of a movie is a middle age woman ,particularly in a John Ford work,even if women often play a prominent part in his films (his last effort was "seven women") Mrs Jessop is a hateful over possessive selfish mom:"I'd rather see my boy dead than with that woman";her hatred knows no bounds when she enlists her son in the army (WW1 time) "whereas other mothers try to hide their son's age".

John Ford wanted the viewer to side with his pitiful heroine only in the last part .His film is never melodramatic because the tragic scenes alternate with prosaic ones (the shooting range in France is telling).And I dare you not to cry when the mom lays withered flowers on the grave and when she meets again her grandson .The cemetery scene is in direct contrast to the ceremony under L'Arc De Triomphe Sur La Tombe Du Soldat Inconnu:between the two moments,Mrs Jessop has become a mother.At last.

Pilgrimage (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Hard hitting drama from John Ford about an overbearing mother (Henrietta Crosman) who can't stand to see her son (Norman Foster) with a farm girl (Heather Angel) because she wants him to stand with her his entire life. When the mother learns that her son has the girl pregnant, she puts him in the draft for WW1 where he is eventually killed. The mother still doesn't accept his son's girlfriend or their kids but when she goes to France to visit her son's grave she meets a young couple who are in the same boat as her dead son. This isn't one of Ford's greatest films but I might go on the record as saying it's his greatest directing jobs. It's rather amazing at what Ford is able to do with this film because it's so strong on so many levels when you'd think these levels wouldn't work together. Henrietta Crosman's character is one of the most evil bitches to ever show up in any film. Her self centered ways and the ways she abuses the young woman after her son is killed made my blood boil with hatred. I really, really hated her character and wished the very worst for her. I knew there would be some sort of redemption but I thought it would be impossible for me to give it to her yet Ford works the film in such a way that the message of forgiveness comes across very strong. SOme might balk at the ending but it worked perfectly well for me. Ford handles the redemption very well and it's terrific how he's able to get it while earlier in the film creating a hated character. The supporting cast is very good but the show clearly belongs to Crosman who delivers a brilliant performance. This isn't one of the director's better known films but hopefully its recent DVD release will change that.

The only other time that I recall John Ford doing a film where women are the protagonists is his last film of Seven Women. Pilgrimage which is set in pastoral rural America is far more a film that could be typical of John Ford even if the men aren't at the center.

Before Darryl Zanuck took over Fox films and merged it with 20th Century Pictures to form what it is today, Fox Films was known as the red state studio. In the early sound era, it's major stars were Will Rogers and Janet Gaynor and a rustic film like Pilgrimage was very typical product for Fox even if Rogers and Gaynor don't appear.

Veteran stage actress Henrietta Crosman stars in Pilgrimage, a rather hard bitten farm woman who lives only for her son Norman Foster. She thinks Foster is slumming when he courts Marian Nixon although God only knows why, Nixon and father Charley Grapewin aren't living any better than Crosman and Foster are. Still she does what she can to break them which includes going to the local draft board and saying she doesn't need an exemption for her son. Foster is off to France where he's killed in the Argonne, but he leaves behind an unmarried and pregnant Nixon who has Crosman's grandchild.

If such a story were to happen today Crosman would be in some kind of group grief counseling. Her guilt overcomes her grief however and she becomes harder and meaner than ever. It's only when she goes to France on a Pilgrimage with other Gold Star mothers that she's finally able to come to terms with her loss. And something else happens over there that speeds up the healing process.

Three other women should also be recognized, Heather Angel as a young woman whom Crosman befriends in France along with Maurice Murphy, future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper who is Murphy's society mother and Crosman's fellow rural rustic Lucille LaVerne who scandalizes all of the ship by smoking her corncob pipe.

I'm surprised that Janet Gaynor wasn't in this film, it was definitely her kind of material. She could have either played Nixon or Angel's part though the role would have had to have been built up.

The cinematography shows an idealized rural America almost like a moving landscape painting that John Ford always so painstakingly worked on to get that rural paradise effect.

Although dated somewhat in technique, Pilgrimage is a universal story and actually could be done for more modern wars like Vietnam or the two actions in Iraq. And Ford does a lot better with this women's picture than he did with Seven Women.

It's one of those clingy, possessive mother stories which were popular back then. Watching this, all I could think about was which Laurel and Hardy picture that line came from. It was actually THE FIXER UPPERS and I wish I'd watched that instead of this mushy vat of treacle.

Henrietta Crosman plays a kind of female Scrooge but she's just so horrible and humourless that no amount of seeing the light can redeem her to the viewer. That's the problem with this film - it's acted well, it's directed well but the lead character is just so unpleasant you can't empathise with her. You wish that she'd gone off to the Great War and got blown up instead.

What's difficult for us twenty first century cynics to grasp is that sentimentality, especially concerning the love between a mother and her son was different back then. It wasn't something to be sneered at, it was completely normal for it to be more explicit than it is now. You only have to think of Al Jolson singing to his mammy with tears in his eyes in THE JAZZ SINGER to appreciate that the mother-son thing was a lot stronger then.

In the context of history this has merit. As a motion picture, it's a good example highlighting John Ford's skill. The first half is typical pre-code stuff - you think you're in for a treat but its second half plummets downhill as it focuses on the growing remorse of Mrs Jessop. Her character just isn't likeable enough to command your sympathy and since it's obvious what's going to happen the ultimate viewing experience, especially after such a promising first half is disappointment.

PILGRIMAGE (Fox Films, 1933), directed by John Ford, is an early but memorable sentimental story featuring Henrietta Crosman in a very rare leading role. Not quite a retelling of the Pilgrims voyaging to America on the Mayflower in 1620 as one might be made to believe, but a drama about an elderly woman with a hold on her son's life, only to live to regret it.

Opening title: "The Jessop Home, Three Cedars, Arkansas." Hannah Jessop (Henrietta Crosman) is a widowed farm woman who works hard in both her daily chores and the upbringing of her young adult son, Jim (Norman Foster). However, Jim is unhappy with his life and wants to leave his existence to enlist in the Army as his friends are doing during the World War. Hannah refuses at first, but agrees to let him go to battle rather than having Jim leaving home to marry Mary Saunders (Marion Nixon), a farm girl living just over the fence with her drunkard father (Charley Grapewin). Having told Mary, "I'd rather see Jim dead than married to you," Hannah signs a waver with permission for him to go. She also disinherits Jim for leaving her to be with Mary. Before he's to leave with the other soldiers by train, Jim is told by Mary that she's pregnant. In spite of the news to his superior, Jim is denied temporary leave to marry her. During a stormy night, Hannah awakens from her sleep calling out Jim's name the very moment he is killed in battle, also the very night Mary gives birth to his son. Ten years pass and Hannah still holds a grudge against Mary, even to a point of avoiding any contact with her grandson, Jimmy (Jay Ward), who takes a liking to his late father's dog, Susie. Mayor Elmer Briggs (Francis Ford) and others in his committee select Hannah to go on a pilgrimage to France along with other "Gold Star Mothers" to visit the graves of their military sons. While in France, Hannah refuses to go to the cemetery until she encounters a troubled youth named Gary Worth (Maurice Murphy), drunk, confused and wanting to jump off a bridge to suicide. After taking him to his apartment, Hannah learns the young man is going through the same issues with his domineering mother (Hedda Hopper) over the love of a girl named Suzanne (Heather Angel), the same situation that occurred years before between her and her son, thus, seeing herself for the first time to whom she really was as seen through the eyes of little Jim.

PILGRIMAGE is a good film, a very good film that has been underrated and forgotten throughout the years. In spite the fact that it's directed by four-time Academy Award winning John Ford, possibly one of the reasons for it never to be selected as one of Ford's top ten best films is due to the fact of having any top marquee names as Marie Dressler, for example. Granted, had PILGRIMAGE been filmed only a few years later, it probably would have featured, for example, Janet Gaynor as Mary; May Robson as Hannah; and Henry Fonda as Jim. Other capable actresses as Louise Dresser or Marjorie Rambeau might have handled the role just as well, but Henrietta Crosman, a theater actress with limited movie roles dating back to the silent film era, was chosen to carry the entire 96 minutes, and she does it quite well. Aside from her strong performance, her scene walking through the cemetery in France to visit her son's grave is both heartfelt and noteworthy. Others featured in the cast are Robert Warwick (Major Albertson); Betty Blythe (Janet Prescott); Louise Carter (Mrs. Rogers, the other mother who shares the cabin with Hannah); and Jack Pennick (The Sergeant). Lucille LaVerne, best known for playing old hags dating back in the silent movie days of D.W. Griffith, nearly steals it with her small performance as Mrs. Hatfield, another Gold Star mother of three deceased sons who not only befriends Hannah, but causes raised eyebrows by smoking a pipe in public. She and Crosman have lighter moments together to an otherwise dramatic story where they show how good there are at a shooting gallery. Marion Nixon and Jay Ward are equally unforgettable as both mother and son longing to connect with Hannah.

A worthwhile story that has had limited television broadcasts throughout the years: WFSB, Channel 3, Hartford, Connecticut (1974); WNET, Channel 13, New York City (1992); and cable channels as BRAVO (1987-88); American Movie Classics (August 1999 as part of its John Ford tribute); Fox Movie Channel and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 10, 2007). Aside from availability on DVD with John Ford's BORN RECKLESS (Fox, 1933) on the flip-side, PILGRIMAGE remains very much an obscure film that needs to be observed and studied, not for the directorial style of John Ford, but for the best movie performance ever given by the long forgotten Henrietta Crosman. (****)