Um Homem e sua Alma

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.

This movie was being filmed in the mountains of Cleveland, Georgia, at the time I had just finished high school in Atlanta, and one of my co-workers was from that town. I saw it as it was first released the following year, and enjoyed the beautiful mountain scenery as well as fine acting by Susan Hayward, who later married a Georgian and made her home in Carrollton. The author, Cora Harris, was married to a Methodist circuit riding pastor, and had a good understanding of the trials and triumphs of pastors. I would heartily recommend this film along with "A Man Called Peter" and "One Foot in Heaven" as among the best that Hollywood offered when it sought to inspire better behavior.

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.

The charm of the North Georgia Mountains as they used to be, coupled with the human warmth of the acting captured on beautiful color filming, makes this film a perennial classic. The story of a moderate minister and the ordeals he faces, as his wife faces her own. They come to combine their trials as well as their triumphs. A glimpse at olden times, but which reveals that folks back then were quite like us. Yet wholesome and safe for the entire family.

This was a pretty good movie in that the main character was a solid preacher, not the flawed one seen in all modern-day films. The only chink in his armor was that he married an unbeliever, something a sincere minister (William Lundigan) such as the one shown here, would NEVER do.

Susan Hayward's character, the minister's wife, is annoying at times but at least she admits her weaknesses and doubts and then realizes the doubts were unfounded. However, her allegiance, even at the end with a quote from Scripture, is not to God but to her husband. She thinks her purpose in life is to follow him, not Him!

Interwoven in this story are a couple of touching stories of relationships that are transformed from hardened to soft with the patient help from the preacher. It's basically life in strict small Georgia town in Protestant church setting.

Overall, a nice story and good family viewing, as the cliché goes, but nothing extraordinary to be honest. Worth at least one look