Kings Row

It's a quaint turn-of-the-century small town of shady streets, swimming holes and the Sunday afternoon clip-clop of horse and buggy. But that peaceful exterior conceals human lives twisted by cruelty, murder and madness. Kings Row is one of Warner Bros.' most distinguished productions, highlighted by an outstanding cast, haunting James Wong Howe cinematography and a somber, emotion-laden Erich Wolfgang Korngold score. Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Betty Field, Claude Rains and Charles Coburn give indelible performances ? and Ronald Reagan's portrayal of Drake, a cheerful ne'er-do-well shattered by tragedy, has been hailed as his career best. Nominated for 3 Academy Awards? including Best Picture,* Kings Row is a powerful American saga of dreams, despair and triumph.

Kings Row (1942) is consensus pick for Ronald Reagan's finest screen hour. A big, juicy, and really quite weird melodrama, the film cruises through the creepier side of small-town life, with Reagan in a very appealing groove. He plays the more rascally of the two male leads (Robert Cummings is the sensitive hero), a breezy charmer whose talent with the ladies gets him in trouble. The most lurid twist in the movie leads to Reagan's line, "Where's the rest of me?", which became the title of his autobiography. An extremely entertaining movie, with director Sam Wood inestimably aided by James Wong Howe's lush cinematography and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's classic music score. --Robert Horton