Virginia

While "Virginia" was filmed in Technicolor, you'd never believe it if you see the copy floating around on YouTube! It's completely washed out and all the colors look like sepia. I do hope there's a better copy available than this one.

Charlotte Dunterry (Madeliene Carrol) is returning to her ancestral home in Virginia. Why she has a British accent and grew up no where near the South seemed odd. But was even odder was what happened next. When she arrived at the old plantation, she finds that the black people NEVER left the place because they adored their white masters so much. In fact, with no Dunterrys there...they just waited....and waited. Apparently, these folks resented the abolition of slavery...and people watching it today will likely be annoyed or confused by bizarro view of slavery!! Add to that the words used to describe these folks and you have a recipe for a heart attack for the easily offended!

In addition to presenting a ridiculous view of the South, the movie has to do with Charlotte's love life. After all, she has two men who adore her...but since it's a movie, you know something is going to prevent her from getting the right one until the story ends! Will she end up with young Sterling Hayden or Fred MacMurray? This portion of the story is mildly interesting...too bad it's burdened with the crazy pro-slavery theme!

This film not only is a bad history lesson, but it is simply one cliche after another...and quite formulaic. Again and again, I predicted exactly what would happen next because of this. Overall, a poorly written and rather silly picture.

History as written by Hollywood is almost always wrong, to one extent or another. So it is exciting and gratifying to hear a movie character speak the accurate facts about the War Against Southern Independence.

That happens when the "Stoney" character, played by Fred MacMurray, explains to the returned neighbor, "Charlie," played by Madeleine Carroll, that the war was not about slavery. Amazing!

Schools and "news" media continue to parrot the lie to the contrary, never offering any documentation but continuing to spread the lie anyway.

The writers of this movie did a superlative job, not only getting the history right, but skillfully creating characters we viewers can care about, characters who might not be totally admirable but nearly all of whom are likable.

Those writers are Edward H. Griffith and Virginia Van Upp, Van Upp writing the screen play from their story. Griffith is also the director.

Two of my favorite character actors are here, Paul Hurst and Louise Beavers.

Yes, I am partial, but I believe Louise Beavers walks off with the acting honors. She simply steals every scene she is in.

Paul Hurst had a long career, starting in silent films, but this is one of his best roles. It and his character in the John Wayne "The Angel and the Badman" (about five years after this one) show him at his very capable best.

"Stirling" Hayden, as he is billed, is in one of his earliest roles and he is, simply, great. He looks good and is apparently comfortable in front of the camera. It doesn't hurt that his character is so well written.

Two of the other reviews here are by people who have, or had, a direct connection. Their commentary adds immensely to the enjoyment of this movie, which I discovered purely by accident: reading a post on a social medium.

"Virginia" is a charming movie, with story, acting, and general ambience all contributing to create a good motion picture. The only drawback is the terrible and too-old print at YouTube. I do hope there is a better one somewhere.

this is one of very few color pictures made,up to that time,so its interesting if only for that.The cast is great looking,MacMurray and Madeleine Carroll made many movies together,here one also gets a very young Sterling Hayden.This was supposedly shot on location ,which was very uncommon in those days,and it shows in a beautiful horseriding sequence.The story is pure southern flag-waving,the south is represented by the MacMurray character,who is a poor,educated,honest farmer full of ideals about southern tradition.The yankees are a bunch of ignorant,too rich with too much time on their hands folk,who are only interested in a good time.Anyway,if one gets over the flag-waving ,its still a goodlooking picture with some attractive actors.

I saw this film around the age of 7 (1977), shown on late-night TV (my, those were the days when you could REALLY see the classics! TV is not quite as satisfying today....), and my fuzzy memory tells me that it features a quasi-sappy romance between the two main characters. I loved it at the time, and would very much love to see it again, to see just how good (or rotten) my taste-level was (is).

This is a great film - it doesn't matter that the theme somewhat reminds you of another Southern-based film - or that characters are loosely similar to that other film - what matters is that my grandparents were extras in the picture at the very beginning! Grandma & Grandpa Hurt lived in Howardsville, Virginia (and so did my Father's parents, Grandma & Grandpa Peters) and that station was chosen to be the mythical Fairville, Virginia (over another nearby town to that town's chagrin). My Father's grandparents (Peters) are standing behind Fred MacMurray on the station platform as the train arrives in the opening sequence. My grandfather Hurt was off camera behind the same scene! Okay, so my Mother & Father told me this story - over and over again! But because of that story, my interest in film-making was kindled. I've found a copy of the film (on DVD no less!) but I'm still looking for a "clean" copy of the film or a set of 'reels' from a theater. It's a great film for sitting in front of the fireplace with a warm cup of cocoa and watching. (I also have one copy of a photo from my aunt Eleanor that was taken during a break in shooting that has cast and crew in it.)