The Magnificent Yankee (1950) User Reviews

The Yankee From Olympus, 1841 - 1935

[theowinthrop · 6/10 · 4 July 2005]

Louis Calhern was a good all around actor. Besides playing villains like De Villefort in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO opposite Robert Donat, he played comic villains against Wheeler and Woolsey in DIPLOMANIACS and "Ambassador Trentino" against the Marx Brothers in DUCK SOUP. He had vast stage background, and Vincent Minelli used him as an adviser in THE BAND WAGON in staging the sequence of OEDIPUS REZ with Jack Buchanan as Oedipus, and as the voice of Lana Turner's famous actor father in THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. He only had one lead role in any film he appeared in - it was as Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in THE MAGNIFICENT YANKEE. He had been appearing in it on Broadway, and MGM bought it for him to star in as a reward for all of his great journeyman work. It is for that reason that his stage performance was preserved.

I can't say if it is his greatest role. His moment of truth in THE ASPHALT JUNGLE is far more gut wrenching, but he shares the honors with Sterling Heyden, Sam Jaffe, Jean Hagen, Marilyn Monroe and the rest of the cast there, not to mention the direction of John Huston. But his is a steady, likable, and intelligent Holmes (who ages from 61 to 91: he was on the court form 1902 - 1932). He is not shown to disadvantage - the typical problem of "classic biography" from Hollywood's golden age. A biography in that period showed the basic achievement of the hero or heroine, but none of the bad points of their characters: Henry Stanley in STANLEY AND LIVINGSTON is shown as the brave and determined reporter/explorer who finds Livingston and is converted to his attempt to bring Christianity to the continent - actually Stanley would be a great explorer, but helped exploit the natives for profits. Thomas Edison is shown as the great inventor in EDISON THE MAN, but they fail to discuss his patent fights and his stealing credit from some of his co-workers (or employees).

In Holmes case they do not mention BELL v. VIRGINIA, where he supported sterilization for idiots ("Three generations of idiots is enough!"). Fortunately that moment is captured by Maximilian Schell in JUDGMENT AT NUREMBURG, when he reads part of Holmes decision (not a dissent, by the way, but the decision) to show Nazi policy on sterilization was common in other countries. Another odd decision was one where Holmes came out in favor of a state statute allowing peonage to pay off debts. He could make peculiar decisions occasionally.

But most of his famous dissents are the ones we do recall him for. He and Brandeis would craft the law of the middle and late 20th Century with their dissents to the predominantly conservative brethren. Oddly enough not all the dissents by Holmes are always "liberal" in spirit either. In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt was angered when the court's decision in the "NORTHERN SECURITIES" Case that destroyed a railroad monopoly was met with a dissent by Holmes, who could not see how the creation of a large holding company proved to be an interference with commerce as envisioned in the Sherman anti-trust act. Most people probably feel that the decision by Rufus Peckham was important in helping destroy the use of business trusts in this country, but Holmes was willing to look into the reality of the situation. Roosevelt did not care for that, and suggested he could have carved a man with more backbone out of a banana (or a chocolate éclair, according to some accounts of the statement - it has also been attributed to former Speaker of the House Thomas Reed regarding President McKinley).

On the whole, though, the film is quite good in recapturing a great jurist's career. But I find it significant that since 1950 no other film biography about a Supreme Court justice has been made. We still have none about John Marshall, Earl Warren, Felix Frankfurter, Joseph Story. A television movie about Brown v. the Board of Education, starring Sidney Poitier as Thurgood Marshall, was made (Burt Lancaster was the lawyer for the Board of Education of Topeka, John W. Davis), but Marshall was not a justice on the court at the time. Henry Fonda appeared in a film about Clarence Gideon, GIDEON'S TRUMPET, but Gideon was the appellant in that case that helped determined the right to counsel in a criminal case. Cases could be subject to films, but not judges. I find that sad.

Calhern was nominated for an Oscar for best actor in THE MAGNIFICENT YANKEE, but lost to Jose Ferrer as CYRANO DE BERGERAC. But he got roles that were more in the quasi-lead rather than support category from then on, like THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, his money-man snared by his plans in EXECUTIVE SUITE, and his performance in the title role of JULIUS CAESAR. He was playing Col. Purdy III in the film version of TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON when he died in 1955. He was in demand until the end of his career, which was the end of his life.

Surprising charm and maturity

[odresel · 8/10 · 5 July 2005]

I caught this on Turner last night. I happen to be in the history business, in a way, and was surprised at how good this still was. Like most films-adapted-from-plays of the 30s and 40s, it never really transcends its stage origins, but I thought it dealt with the big issues of law, justice, morality, life and death in a way inconceivable in a politically correct age such as ours. We are much smaller people now. The conversation Holmes has with his wife while she lies dying in her bed is a masterpiece of really mature human communication, it's not sappy or sentimental, it's just heartbreaking in its honesty.

The Justice Holmes of this film was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., the son of the famous poet-doctor of the same name who wrote "Old Ironsides" and "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." The father and son are often confused. I was also delighted by Eduard Franz's underplayed portrayal of Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice on the US Supreme Court, after whom Brandeis University was named.

I didn't want this film to end, and will now look up the original stage play.

An incredibly superficial yet entertaining biopic

[wjfickling · 8/10 · 3 January 2005]

I had never even heard of this film until I saw it yesterday on TCM. Louis Calhern does an excellent job portraying Holmes, and Ann Harding does a creditable job as his wife, although she is saddled with lines of insufferable banality. Eduard Franz is quite good as Brandeis, and judging from pictures I have seen, he looks quite a bit like Brandeis as well.

All this having been said, it was astonishing to me that this film tells us almost nothing about Holmes' professional life, even though he spent over 30 years as a Supreme Court Associate Justice. Holmes is 61 years old when the film begins! The only hint we get of his life before this is a couple of mentions that he fought in the US Civil War, and that he went to Harvard. There is no mention of his having been Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. There is no inkling of why Teddy Roosevelt appointed him to the US Supreme Court, and we are left with very little notion of why Roosevelt was disappointed with Holmes, other than that Holmes wrote a few opinions that Teddy didn't like.

The film seems totally unwilling to tackle weighty or controversial subjects. We get a few glimpses of Holmes' rulings on free speech issues, and his willingness to restrict free speech when it may present a clear and present danger to the public good. Holmes' notorious opinion in Buck v. Bell, upholding the right of the state to sterilize 'mentally defective' people, in which Holmes made the statement that 'three generations of imbeciles is enough, is never mentioned. The focus of this film is almost entirely on Holmes' domestic life and the fact that he and his wife devotedly loved each other but regretted not being able to have children. The film also depicts how Holmes' court clerks were in effect surrogate sons. Louis Brandeis is a significant character in the film, but he is there only to show that he and Holmes had a close friendship and often voted alike. The film depicts that the appointment of Brandeis by Wilson in 1916 was controversial, and that 22 senators voted against confirmation, but we are never told exactly why Brandeis was controversial, other than that his being Jewish may have been a factor. Finally, I was irritated by the fact that there is a recurrent character named Adams, whose first name is never mentioned. We learn that he is a grandson of John Quincy Adams, but who is he? Is he Henry Adams or Charles Francis Adams? We never find out.

This film was released in 1950. That is surprising, because it must have been an anachronism even then. It has much more of the flavor and feel of the biopics of the 1930s, e.g., the biographies of Pasteur and Juarez starring Paul Muni, although it is nowhere near as good as either of those. In short this is an entertaining film worth watching for Calhern's performance, but don't expect to learn anything of substance about Holmes.

Nice vibes all around

[marcslope · 19 November 2001]

The story of the making of this genteel biopic is almost as quietly heartwarming as the movie itself: Louis Calhern had been giving small, perfect performances for MGM for years. He went off to Broadway to do this stately biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes. It was a hit. More out of gratitude to Calhern than anything, MGM bought the film rights for him, budgeting it modestly and expecting a low-grossing "prestige picture." It did garner prestige, and even made a little money.

It's a sweet, low-key, moving character portrait, not "opened up" much from the stage and reeking of mid-century theatrical conventions -- you can tell which lines were the scene-enders onstage. The themes are Holmes's unfulfilled desire for sons, his abiding love for his wife, and his thoughtfulness and moral decency as a Supreme Court justice. Episodic and on the slow side, it has a civics-lesson mustiness, and yet it's satisfyingly sincere; the earnestness that MGM so often lent to its Americana works in its favor for a change. Calhern's performance is a model for aspiring actors, and he's matched at every step by Harding, who strikes unusual notes of fire and resolve in the standard behind-every-man loving-spouse part. Not a showy or brilliant movie, but a thoroughly satisfying one.

Sentimental portrait of Oliver Wendell Holmes

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 6/10 · 26 February 2011]

There's not much substance here, at least in terms of the legal side of Oliver Wendell Holmes. This is more about the man as husband, with a few doses of patriotism. It'd downright sentimental.

I've always liked Louis Calhern in old films, but I'm not quite sure. He's, at best, a good character actor. It is said that he was given the title role here as thanks from the studio for being a good soldier and accepting so many character roles. Perhaps the best acting in this picture comes from Ann Harding as the wife.

The social importance of Holmes' years on the Supreme Court is mentioned, but almost in passing. But, as Bosley Crowther put it in his review at the time, it's a "gentle screen drama". It really is more about marital companionship than law, as Crowther pointed out. It is most touching as Mr. & Mrs. Holmes reach their sunset years.

A Judge In Love

[jcholguin · 6/10 · 6 July 2003]

I grew up in East Los Angeles so my history of Judge Oliver W Holmes is not very good. If this was a good recounting of the actual life of Holmes is unbeknown to me. The story told however was interesting to me because it was about love and friendship interactions with other human beings. Louis Calhern played Oliver W Holmes and did a masterful job of playing a man that ages into his nineties. Ann Harding played his wife Fanny was also masterful until her death in the film. This man Holmes did not have children in the normal sense but counted many of his law clerks as his sons when serving in the Supreme Court. His friend played my Eduard Franz (Judge Brandeis) had a friendship that last their entire careers in public service. They formed a voting group of two on the court but the friendship was so close that each other was not afraid to correct the other when it was needed. This is what a real friend will do. So this film really was about friendship/love and growing old together, a good movie to watch.

Literate, gracious, film

[coop-16 · 9/10 · 10 March 2000]

At first I was surprised at the number of votes for this film, but on reflection, it becomes all too clear why this is so. This film may be too literate for contemporary audiences. How many people now know who Henry Adams, Owen Wister, and Louis Brandeis WERE? Still, one shouldn't have to be a constitutional law scholar to love a film so well acted and so rich in Human interest. Yes, the film does occasionally sentimentalise Holmes. So? I find it fascinating that Emmett Lavery, a devout Catholic, educated by Jesuits, was able to paint such a warm portrait of the atheist (and lets not mince words-he WAS an atheist) Holmes, who had little use for moral absolutes or the Natural Law. In short, a very fine film, of the sort that is impossible to make nowadays.

Painfully unsophisticated

[talpapiger · 6/10 · 27 July 2022]

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Was, by all accounts, a fairly fascinating figure with many foibles, flaws and contradictions, but you can't tell it from this sanitized, New Dealist portrayal. Still, it's pleasant and agreeable enough, in a developmentally disabled sort of way.

Wendell And Fanny

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 18 February 2009]

Louis Calhern who was in demand right up to his death in 1956 on both stage and screen gets a chance to repeat his most famous stage role as Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Magnificent Yankee. He appeared on Broadway with this play by Emmett Lavery in 1946 for 159 performances with Dorothy Gish playing his wise and patient wife Fanny Dixwell Holmes.

For those who think that this play and movie is about the Great Dissenter on the Supreme Court Oliver Wendell Holmes, author of some of the best known and most quoted legal opinions ever rendered by the US Supreme Court you are wrong. It is instead about a love story between two elderly people, Wendell and Fanny, who embark on a new adventure when at the ripe old age of 60, Wendell gets a major new job in his chosen profession.

If Holmes had never been put on the Supreme Court by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 his reputation would rest on being the author of The Common Law which is a history of and Holmes view of same. It's a classic in jurisprudence published in many languages. In 1902 Holmes was three years into the job of Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court when he got the call which insurance actuarists would have given him a decade tops on his new job.

Yet we first meet Mr. Justice Holmes and his lady right after that appointment, buying a new home for themselves in Washington, DC. They were one of the great love stories in history. Fanny Dixwell was the daughter of the man who ran Dixwell's Latin School in Boston which was THE place to be sending your young Yankee children for their education. They met as children and it was love at first sight. They had eyes for no others.

Taking Dorothy Gish's place for the screen version is Ann Harding. She and Calhern perfectly fit my conception of what the Holmeses must have been like in their private moments. Eduard Franz plays Holmes friend and colleague Louis D. Brandeis who was his partner in dissent on many occasion replacing Edgar Barrier who did the role on stage.

It's sad that while Calhern was given an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, Ann Harding was not similarly honored. The two roles are so entwined that I don't think you can honor one without the other. I made a similar comment on William Powell being nominated for Nick Charles in The Thin Man and Myrna Loy being snubbed for the same film.

The Holmeses had no children, they did in fact raise a niece who was out of the picture when they moved to the capital, but the legend about his law clerks from Harvard becoming surrogate sons is quite true. You can spot such players as Jimmy Lydon, Richard Anderson, and Herbert Anderson in brief roles as the many clerks Holmes had over the years.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was possibly our most distinguished man of the law and Louis Calhern brings him vividly alive with the wit and grace Holmes was known for in his life. Don't ever miss The Magnificent Yankee played by a magnificent actor about a magnificent man.

Louis Calhern earned his only Oscar nomination playing Oliver Wendell Holmes

[jacobs-greenwood · 5/10 · 9 December 2016]

Louis Calhern played Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes on Broadway for a couple of years in the Emmet Lavery play. When MGM decided to make this screen version, Lavery wrote the screenplay and John Sturges directed it. Calhern received his only Academy Award nomination (Best Actor) playing the titled justice (Walter Plunkett received his first, for his B&W Costume Design). Ann Harding plays Holmes's longtime wife, the former Fanny Bowditch.

The rest of the credited cast includes Eduard Franz as Judge Louis Brandeis, Philip Ober as Owen Wister (the supposed writer of this biography, and the film's narrator), Ian Wolfe as "doom & gloom" Adams (descended from two Presidents), Edith Evanson as Annie Gough, the Holmes' housekeeper, and Richard Anderson, Jimmy Lydon, and Herbert Anderson as three of the Justice's top Harvard law school graduate secretaries, each of whom served for one year. John Hamilton, appearing as Chief Justice White, Selmer Jackson as Mr. Amboy, a lawyer who appears before the court, Hayden Rorke as Graham, a reporter from the Boston Transcript who's invited in by Mrs. Holmes, and Dan Tobin, as the real estate agent who sold the Holmes's their Washington, D.C. home, are among the many actors who appear uncredited.

If you're expecting much insight into Justice Holmes's judicial philosophy, landmark decisions, or courtroom action, you'll have to find it somewhere else. Other than a brief reference near the beginning about President Theodore Roosevelt's dissatisfaction with Holmes's first dissenting opinion and a few general comments from the narrator about Holmes, who later worked with Justice Brandeis as these two outsiders regularly offered disparate opinions that were eventually reconsidered (e.g. became more accepted), the story is strikingly apolitical.

In fact, it's more about Holmes long loving relationship with his wife and the surrogate parenting role they played in the lives of his many secretaries over thirty years. This historical drama begins in 1902, right after Boston judge Holmes (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice) was appointed by Roosevelt to the Supreme Court, and continues for 30 years, through Fanny's passing, and shortly after the time that he retired from the court at age 90 as the oldest serving Judge in the court's history.

An Almost Perfect Biographical film of Holmes!

[Sylviastel · 9/10 · 18 February 2009]

First, the casting of Lewis Calhern as Oliver Wendell Holmes and Ann Harding as his wife, Fanny Bowditch Holmes, is perfect together. The film is set around Holmes' life as a Supreme Court Justice with the late Louis Brandeis who was the first Jewish member of the supreme court. The film is first rate and the script could use a little work. This film is an example of old Hollywood at it's brilliance with class, style, and a terrific cast and crew. The film's historical basis allows the story to be told easily. You can't help but enjoy Harding and Calhern on the screen as a loving couple. They don't make such high quality films anymore where it's character driven. I watched this film this morning and I couldn't take my eyes off Calhern as he played the late Oliver Wendell Holmes nor Ann Harding as his wife. The film is a perfect example of what thrived in Old Hollywood in it's golden era. It's never recovered from days where veterans like Harding and Calhern and many others worked five films per year.

magnificent arschloch

[karlericsson · 1/10 · 9 November 2012]

If anything ever made America "great" in any way, then it surely was not its politicians, who more resemble who's who in abomination then anything else. This movie makes me mad. What the heck is it about, really? Are we supposed to be impressed by these greedy imbeciles? As for the man who had no children of his own and treated others as if they were his sons - well, there I have no complains and I am touched as anybody else would be. Pity it's about such an outrageous racket as US government. The United States of Business is nothing to be proved about. The whole thing belongs in jail and the key to the dungeon thrown away. This film is truly bizarre and made in the most promising decade of the late century, the fifties. What a contrast! There are some rumors that "yankee" means "coward" in some Indian language but I think it means "Arschloch" in the German language.

Magnificent!!

[willrams · 9/10 · 6 March 2003]

I had never seen this film before until I saw it on TCM TV the other day. It is really an extraordinarly drama of the life of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes portrayed by Louis Calhoun and his wife played by Ann Harding, and directed by John Sturges. Judge Lewis Brandeis is played by Eduard Franz. Holmes always wanted a son and he called all 30 of his secretaries "his sons". One of the sons I recognized but just couldn't think of his name, so I looked it up; sure enough he was played by child actor Jimmy Lydon whom I always loved in films. Lydon played the part of Secretary Clinton. This truly is a well acted and enjoyable biography. Highly recommended!

A great performance

[jhpen22 · 9/10 · 13 February 2014]

I just discovered this very moving account of the career of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Its fine content and production pale in the presence of a towering performance by Louis Calhern. Simply to watch him greet all of his former law clerks, all his "sons," when they come to wish him a happy 80th birthday is to wonder at how a great actor can give a great performance by simply repeating one word. The story of his legal career, his love for his dear Fanny, to whom he was married for 57 years, and his interaction with friends is illuminated by the deep humanity, wit, and intelligence of Calhern's portrayal. And it's a fine script: "Do you know what I think when I see a pretty girl? ... Oh, to be 80 again." It's hard to believe that nobody has yet reviewed this fine film. Maybe, now that it's shown on TCM, there will be more viewers and more who feel the need to respond.

One additional thought.... I don't remember a film in which the makeup of characters who age greatly is done with such art.

A near-perfect historical biopic

[aromatic-2 · 10/10 · 2 December 2000]

Louis Calhern is superb as Oliver Wendell Holmes. The script is extraordinarily literate, and the historical conflicts seem every bit as important as they did at the time. Superbly directed and acted by all involved, this should be required viewing for all would-be lawyers.

Not elementary at all, Holmes!

[lee_eisenberg · 9/10 · 19 August 2020]

Oliver Wendell Holmes is probably only on your radar if you pay a lot of attention to the Supreme Court. I had heard about him occasionally, but not being a scholar of law, I didn't know specifically what he was famous for. "The Magnificent Yankee" (based on a play which was itself based on a novel about Holmes) looks at the man's years as an associate justice. Basically, Holmes was known for casting dissenting votes, along with his colleague Louis Brandeis.

Louis Calhern - whom you may remember as the conniving ambassador in "Duck Soup" - received an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Holmes, depicting him as an avuncular type who did what he thought was right. He was inclined to generally be at odds with most of his colleagues, but never bowed to peer pressure. It's a fine performance in a fine movie. Not the greatest one ever made, but it would make a good double feature with "On the Basis of Sex" (about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's early judicial career). I'd now like to see a movie about Brandeis; maybe we could learn why Wilson appointed him when Brandeis was so anti-corporate and Wilson was so pro-corporate.

Watch for early appearances of Herbert Anderson (the dad on "Dennis the Menace") and Hayden Rorke (Dr. Bellows on "I Dream of Jeannie").

The Magnificent Yankee Was Just That ****

[edwagreen · 10/10 · 23 February 2011]

Absolutely fabulous biography of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Louis Calhern gave a memorable performance and received his only Oscar nomination for this film. Just too bad that Jose Ferrer had made "Cyrano de Bergerac" the same year.

The Republican Holmes was appointed to the court in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Although he appointed him, Holmes frequently disagreed with the president as was the case involving Northern Securities of 1904. He was given the name of the great dissenter.

The movie focused on his career and with his wonderful wife,fabulously played by Ann Harding.

This is certainly a virtuous, ethical film to the hilt. Both the Justice and his wife had wonderful philosophies of life. A childless couple, they had many sons in the secretaries who served under Holmes. Holmes' friend was Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish justice to be appointed to the bench by Woodrow Wilson. Eduard Franz played Brandeis, who dissented along with Holmes in many a case. Franz's performance was low keyed but captured the mood of the man.

It was a blessing for Holmes to have had a long life, long service and the ability to know when it was time to retire.

A totally memorable film with a new perspective in history depicted-extreme love of country.