L'épreuve du bonheur

This movie is a great representation of the many challenges that a minister faces in his career and it is well written from the wife's prospective. It shows that a minister is made better and stronger by a good wife by his side. The setting is North Georgia and shows the wonderful Georgian countryside. The writing is also very good. I think what makes me like this movie most is the fact that this is the one of maybe two times that Hollywood, pre-nineteen sixty, actually portrays evangelical Christians as not only normal people but honestly devout and truthful to the Bible. It really lifts you up and makes you remember that there are people who do live by the Bible and that makes them better people.

... and then it recently showed up on Turner Classic Movies, and I still find it touching and engaging.

Susan Hayward marries a circuit riding preacher (William Lundigan) and encounters life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. Location photography is a plus. People who like, say, Stars in My Crown would probably like this one, too. It's an episodic film with a little laughter, more than a few tears, and a good picture of the community. You can add this one to the short list of Hollywood films with realistic depictions of the South.

A strong supporting cast helps, including Rory Calhoun as a handsome ne'er-do-well who wants to marry nice girl Barbara Bates. Her father (Gene Lockhart) naturally objects. Alexander Knox has a great supporting role as an atheist who doesn't want his children to attend Sunday school. I could wish that Ruth Donnelly got to show more of her comic skill as one of the women in the congregation. Lynn Bari has the enjoyable role of a rich woman with designs on the pastor.

Henry King was a good match for this material. There are some particularly nice moments, including the two girls tunelessly singing a hymn at the welcoming party for the preacher's wife.

Gene Lockhart's character was a pompous jerk but the rest of the folks were the kind you'd want to know for real. The minister was portrayed not as some impossibly pious paragon but a real human being of faith who wanted to care for his congregation body and spirit. Susan Hayward's morphing from spoiled city girl to strong supportive country wife was funny, touching and enjoyable to watch. This is a religious film that's never phony and can be enjoyed by anyone, believers or not.

I had seen this movie 30 years ago with my Grandad in rural middle Tennessee and have searched for it any times since. However, I could not remember the name of it. I found it yesterday on TBN and it was all I had remembered it to be. The story as well as the scenery was first class. Many of the homes were still like that in Middle Tn when I first seen the movie. Based on the scenery, the story, and what my relatives told me of rural life in the early 20th century this appears like a pretty accurate portrayal. While life was simpler it was not without tragedy.

Well worth seeing.

Simple, easy-to-take evocation of a 19th century rural religious life in Georgia, "I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" is one of director Henry King's profoundest and most personal works. I just saw it for the first time. A friend recommended it to me a while back, told me it's a timeless experience I would never forget. My expectations were further aroused when I found out the director had been Henry King, one of the most underrated American directors of his time.

The screenwriter is Lamar Trotti, who used to collaborate with John Ford, and who previously worked with director King in films "In Old Chicago"(1937), "Alexander's Ragtime Band"(1938) and "Captain From Castile"(1947).

Filled with lush, resplendent scenery of Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains & gorgeously photographed in Technicolor, "I'd Climb…" is the uplifting story of a dedicated, scrupulous preacher William Thompson (William Lundigan) and his marriage to a charismatic city girl Mary Elizabeth (Susan Hayward). They settle in a small peaceful town populated by simple town folk trying to live, survive happily and peacefully.

Hayward and Lundigan are outstanding throughout, and give some of their most moving performances. Narrated by Elizabeth, the story flows nicely through several moments of tenderness. The preacher heals the community, providing hope and support in time of a fever epidemic, and transforms an atheistic neighbor into accepting the community's uncomplicated way of life.

Nothing of significance happens; it is a film of hope and harmony, a sense of time and place, beautifully realized.

William Lundigan and Susan Hayward starred in this 1951 film regarding the trials and tribulations of a preacher and his wife.

The scenery was truly beautiful in the part of Georgia where the film was made.

Alexander Knox, so memorable in 1944's Wilson, steals the film in another wonderful performance as the dirt farmer, a non-believer, whose child drowns accidentally while under Hayward and Lundigan's care. That scene in itself will just tug at your heart.

A film of the human spirit beautifully realized by Lundigan and Hayward.