Budgeted at a cost of $317,476, Ann Vickers was a remarkably frank film for 1933, one that featured two out-of-wedlock pregnancies and a remarkably independent, almost feminist heroine by today's standards. The film was adapted from a novel by the socially progressive writer Sinclair Lewis (Babbitt, Elmer Gantry), the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Lewis was known for his anti-capitalist messages, strong working woman characters and treatment of race in his work.
Joseph Breen, public relations director of the Hays office, was in charge of evaluating the initial script and found much of the material objectionable. In the screenplay's first draft Ann marries Captain Resnick, has a child with him but after the two separate, has an affair with Barney Dolphin while both are still married, a union that also produces a child. That romantic triangle was too much for the Hays office to stomach. Breen cited the portion of the Production Code prohibiting themes "tending to destroy the sanctity of marriage." After weeks of meetings with the Hays office, producer Merian C. Cooper eventually changed the script so that two married people, Ann and Dolphin, would not both be participating in adultery. References to the abortion Ann seeks in Havana were also eliminated. RKO considered re-releasing the film in 1937 but was told its still salacious themes would mean no production code certificate would be issued because of the adultery themes.
Producer: Pandro S. Berman, Merian C. Cooper
Director: John Cromwell
Screenplay: Jane Murfin, Sinclair Lewis (novel)
Cinematography: David Abel, Edward Cronjager
Film Editing: George Nichols, Jr.
Art Direction: Charles Kirk, Van Nest Polglase
Music: Roy Webb
Cast: Irene Dunne (Ann Vickers), Walter Huston (Barney Dolphin), Conrad Nagel (Lindsay Atwell), Bruce Cabot (Captain Lafe Resnick), Edna May Oliver (Malvina Wormser), Sam Hardy (Russell Spaulding).
BW-76m.
by Felicia Feaster
