Cass Timberlane

Cass Timberlane
Cass Timberlane
	Theatrical poster
Directed by	George Sidney
Written by	Sinclair Lewis (Novel); Donald Ogden Stewart (Adaptation and Screenplay); Sonya Levien (Adaptation)
Produced by	Arthur Hornblow, Jr.
Starring	Spencer Tracy; Lana Turner; Zachary Scott
Cinematography	Robert Planck
Edited by	John Dunning
Music by	Roy Webb
Distributed by	Universal
Release date	January 16, 1948
Running time	119 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,733,000
Box office	$5,186,000

Cass Timberlane is a romantic drama film starring Spencer Tracy, Lana Turner and Zachary Scott, directed by George Sidney, and released in the United States on January 9, 1948. It was based on the 1945 novel Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives by Sinclair Lewis, which was Lewis' nineteenth novel and one of his last.

Plot[]

Former Congressman and now Judge Cass Timberlane is a middle-aged, incorruptible, highly respected man who enjoys good books and playing the flute. He falls for Ginny, a much younger girl from a lower class in his small Minnesota town. At first, the marriage is happy, but Ginny becomes bored with the small town and with the judge's friends. She leaves him for an affair with a lawyer, Timberlane's boyhood friend. Eventually, disillusioned with her lover, Ginny returns to her husband and becomes the good wife. The novel is Lewis's examination of marriage, love, romance, heartache and trust.

Cast[]

Spencer Tracy, George Sidney and Lana Turner on the set of Cass Timberlane

Spencer Tracy as Cass Timberlane
Lana Turner as Virginia "Ginny" Marshland
Zachary Scott as Brad Criley
Tom Drake as Jamie Wargate
Mary Astor as Queenie Havock
Albert Dekker as Boone Havock
Margaret Lindsay as Chris Grau
Rose Hobart as Diantha Marl
John Litel as Webb Wargate
Mona Barrie as Avis Elderman
Josephine Hutchinson as Lillian Drover
Selena Royle as Louise Wargate
Frank Wilcox as Gregg Marl
Richard Gaines as Dennis Thane
John Alexander as Dr. Roy Drover
Cameron Mitchell as Eino Roskinen
Howard Freeman as Hervey Plint
Griff Barnett as Herman
Jessie Grayson as Mrs. Higbee^[2]
Gordon Richards as the Butler (uncredited)

Production[]

Cultural references[]

Wolcott Gibbs spoofed the novel in The New Yorker as "Shad Ampersand." The song "Cleo the Cat" by the band Benton Harbor Lunchbox was inspired by the novel Cass Timberlane: A Novel of Husbands and Wives.

Reception[]

Though it received tepid critical reviews, the film was a box office hit, earning $3,983,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,203,000 elsewhere, but because of its high production cost, it only returned a profit of $746,000.^[1]^[3]

Home media[]

Cass Timberlane was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on July 6, 2010 via Warner Archives as a DVD-on-demand disc available through Amazon.

In other media[]

Radio[]

Cass Timberlane was presented on Theatre Guild on the Air February 15, 1953. The one-hour adaptation starred Fredric March and Nina Foch.^[4]

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
^ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-feb-24-me-11289-story.html^{[bare URL]}
^ "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46
^ Kirby, Walter (February 15, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 42. Retrieved June 21, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[]

[Mannix-1] The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

[2] ttps://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-feb-24-me-11289-story.html^{[bare URL]}

[3] "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46

[4] Kirby, Walter (February 15, 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 42. Retrieved June 21, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

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