Mrs. Mike
Cast & Crew
Louis King
Dick Powell
Evelyn Keyes
J. M. Kerrigan
Angela Clarke
Will Wright
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Kathy O'Fallon arrives from Boston to her uncle John's cabin near the Canadian border and meets Sgt. Mike Flannigan of the Canadian North West Mounted Police. They marry in the middle of winter, and he takes her, by dogsled, to the remote northwest village of Hendricks Hole, where his duties include emergency tooth extractions, vaccinating Indians from smallpox, and setting the broken legs of sled dogs. Kathy soon becomes pregnant, and after the baby of her best friend, Mrs. Howard, is born dead, she insists Mike transfer to a larger settlement for the birth. When Kathy is in her third trimester, they travel by canoe to Fort Manette, and she is forced to wait in a remote cabin with its owner, the stern Mrs. Mathers, while Mike fetches a doctor. After a day of delirium, Kathy wakes to find that she has given birth to a girl with the help of a kind midwife named Sarah Carpentier, who becomes Kathy's best friend at the fort. One day, Sarah's son Pierre's arm is crushed by a boulder, and has to be amputated. Sarah is greatly disturbed by the tragedy, but her friend, Georgette Beauclaire, is grateful that the boy is alive and tells Kathy that her own daughters, Madeleine and Barbette, are her third family. When a woman lives in such remote regions, Georgette explains, she expects to rebuild her family over and over again after the inevitable death of loved ones. Kathy, Mike and little Mary live happily until, at age eighteen months, Mary dies from diphtheria during an epidemic. Kathy, unable to handle the brutalities of life in an isolated settlement, leaves Mike to return to Boston. However, when Mike sadly returns to his and Kathy's first home in Hendricks Hole, he finds Kathy waiting for him. After seeing Mrs. Howard's new healthy baby girl, Kathy says, she decided it was time to start a new family with Mike.
Director
Louis King
Cast
Dick Powell
Evelyn Keyes
J. M. Kerrigan
Angela Clarke
Will Wright
Nan Boardman
Clarence Straight
Frances Morris
John Miljan
Joel Nestler
Jean Inness
Chief Yowlachie
Fred Aldrich
Gary Lee Jackson
Ro Mere Darling
Archie Leonard
James Fairfax
Robin Camp
Don Pietro
Janet Sackett
Judith Sackett
Crew
Victor Appel
James Baier
Joseph F. Biroc
Samuel Bischoff
Samuel Bischoff
Dewitt Bodeen
H. Bruce Carruthers
Marie Clark
Joseph Depew
Carmen Dirigo
Richard Dixon
Louis Forbes
Charles W. Glover
Frances Grant
Edward Gross
Huntington Hartford
Ben Hersh
Ben Hersh
Kiva Hoffman
Eloise Jenssen
Alfred Lewis Levitt
Arthur Lonergan
Les Nettenstrom
Dick Powell
Robert Priestley
J. R. Rabin
C. Mordaunt Spencer
Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Ned Washington
Paul Weatherwax
Lee Zavitz
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Benedict and Nancy Freedman's novel was based on the real-life adventures of Mrs. Michael (Katherine Mary) Flannigan, who traveled to the Canadian northwoods in 1905. The novel was published in 1947, while also appearing serially in Atlantic Monthly (Feb-April 1947). Regal Films, Inc. was jointly owned by Dick Powell, Sam Bischoff and Edward Gross. According to an August 1948 Variety news item, RKO head Howard Hughes first considered releasing the picture. According to Variety, June Allyson (who was married to Powell) was considered for the starring role. Also considered for roles were Barbara Bel Geddes, Peggy Cummins, Barbara Bates, Joanne Dru, Betsy Drake and Diana Lynn. Mrs. Mike appeared on Hollywood Reporter production charts for a three-and-a-half month period from late March 1949 to mid-July 1949. Beginning on June 2, 1949, however, the production was halted for approximately three weeks due to script revisions. On May 17, 1949, Hollywood Reporter reported that the producers had called for 100 square dancers to be used in the film. A May 4, 1949 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that Sherman Saunders was scheduled to be the square dance caller, but his participation in the released film has not been confirmed. Studio press information and Daily Variety credit Lee Zavitz with special effects, although J. R. Rabin is credited onscreen in that capacity. In September 1948, Hollywood Reporter reported that Yellow Knife, Canada and Samuel Goldwyn Studios were being considered for locations and studios, but they have not been confirmed. As noted in Hollywood Reporter, portions of the film were shot in Alberta, Canada and Sun Valley, ID. A September 27, 1949 Hollywood Reporter news item notes that National Screen Service was preparing six two-minute television trailers to promote the film. As reported in Virginia Wright's column in Daily Variety on May 17, 1947, Katherine Flannigan, then a widow, came to Hollywood in 1945 and submitted a story outline to agent Laura Wilk; Wilk turned down the story, but saw potential in Flannigan's life story, and paired her up with the young husband and wife writing team of Benedict and Nancy Freedman. In the spring of 1951, Katherine Flannigan sued the film's producers and the authors for an unpaid balance of $25,000 due to her for the rights to her story. The suit was dropped on July 23, 1951 on the basis that only the Freedmans, not the producers, were contractually bound to Flannigan. Dick Powell reprised his role in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on April 24, 1950, co-starring Gene Tierney.
