By Glenn Erickson
We Who Are Young
Brief Synopsis
A man violates company policy by getting married.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Harold S. Bucquet
Director
Lana Turner
Margy [White] Brooks
John Shelton
William Brooks
Gene Lockhart
C. B. Beamis
Grant Mitchell
Jones
Henry Armetta
Tony
Film Details
Also Known As
I Do, To Own the World
Genre
Romance
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
Jul
19,
1940
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 19m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Synopsis
Margy White and William Brooks, two young office workers in a large accounting firm, secretly marry in defiance of the rules of the New York company where they are employed. After furnishing their flat on the installment plan, their dreams for a bright future are dimmed when C. B. Beamis, the small-minded office manager, discovers their marriage and fires Margy. Bill, hoping that the reorganization plan that he has submitted to Beamis will result in a substantial raise, keeps his spirits up and attempts to keep the household together on his meager salary. Bill's optimism is tested, however, when Beamis rejects his plan and Margy reveals she is pregnant. Desperate for money to pay the doctor's bills, Bill borrows from a loan shark, who attaches his pay-check when he is unable to meet his payments. When Beamis fires him for going into debt and he is unable to find another job, Bill stares destitution in the face. Humiliated after hocking Margy's engagement ring, having their furniture repossessed and being forced onto the welfare roles, Bill, in a final move of desperation, seizes a shovel and begins to dig on a construction site. After he is arrested for trespassing,the foreman, Tony, pleads his case to Braddock, the head of the company, who bails Bill out of jail and offers him a job. With hope at last, Bill reclaims his reorganization plan from Beamis and tells him off. Returning home to find Margy in labor, Bill is unable to summon an ambulance and frantically steals a car to drive her to the hospital. As Margy gives birth to twins, the car's owner dismisses charges against Bill, while Beamis, seeing the error of his ways, asks Bill to return to work.
Director
Harold S. Bucquet
Director
Cast
Lana Turner
Margy [White] Brooks
John Shelton
William Brooks
Gene Lockhart
C. B. Beamis
Grant Mitchell
Jones
Henry Armetta
Tony
Jonathan Hale
Braddock
Clarence Wilson
R. Glassford
Ian Wolfe
Judge
Hal K. Dawson
Salesman
John Butler
Mr. Peabody
Irene Seidner
Mrs. Weinstock
Charles Lane
Perkins
Horace Macmahon
Foreman
Mary Maclaren
Nurse
Margaret Bert
Nurse
Dorothy Adams
Nurse
Truman Bradley
Commentator
Jane Drummond
Miss Gordon
Don Castle
Second clerk
Shirley Warde
Miss Anderson
Grady Sutton
Youth
Harry Hayden
Examiner
Bill Clark
Clerk
Sam Ash
Clerk
Ralph Mccullough
Clerk
Louis Natheaux
Man clerk
Sherry Hall
Clerk
Emanuel Turner
Clerk
Jack Rice
Clerk
Helen Dickson
Clerk
Alice Keating
Clerk
Richard Kipling
Clerk
Wade Boteler
Policeman
Bill Lally
Policeman
Franklin Murrell
Mr. Huff
Edward Hearn
Turnkey
Mel Ruick
Sergeant
Edgar Dearing
First officer
Ralph Dunn
Second officer
Charles Arnt
Eckman
Milton Parsons
Magazine man
Tom Herbert
Drunk
Irene Tedrow
Office girl
Jane Barnes
Office girl
Mimi Lawler
Office girl
Catherine Lewis
Office girl
Hal Price
Bartender
Art Belasco
Father
Ernie Alexander
Father
Charles Dorety
Father
Crew
Karl Freund
Director of Photography
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Bronislau Kaper
Music Score
Millard Kaufman
Original Screenplay
Seymour Nebenzahl
Producer
Howard O'neill
Film Editor
Wade B. Rubottom
Art Director Associate
John Seitz
Photography
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
Walter Strohm
Assistant Director
Dolly Tree
Wardrobe
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Film Details
Also Known As
I Do, To Own the World
Genre
Romance
Comedy
Drama
Release Date
Jul
19,
1940
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 19m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Articles
We Who Are Young -
We Who Are Young (1940)
Studio heads of the late 1930s mostly concerned themselves with writers' storytelling skills, not their personal politics. Yet when asked to find evidence of leftist influence in Hollywood, researchers often cite screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's uplifting personal drama about a young couple struggling against financial problems. Margy and William Brooks (Lana Turner & John Shelton) have married against the policy of the company where they both work; when they're discovered she is fired. John's single salary isn't enough, especially after his company reorganization plan is rejected, nixing chances of a promotion. With Margy now pregnant John foolishly borrows from a loan shark. When his debt is discovered he forfeits his job, the furniture is repossessed and they're forced to pawn Margy's engagement ring. Idle and frustrated, John is arrested for trespassing at a construction site. He then steals a car to rush Margy to the maternity hospital. An atypical MGM film concerned with the problems of the disadvantaged, We Who Are Young was a change of pace for its star Lana Turner, away from her 'tight sweater' image. The contrived screenplay is a thematic update on King Vidor's the silent The Crowd, except that the same arbitrary forces that darken the Brooks' future, regroup to produce an equally arbitrary happy ending. John's recovers mainly because he attracts the attention of an enlightened contractor, Braddock (Jonathan Hale). Dalton Trumbo's anti-capitalist dialogue has Braddock blame a greedy system for the troubles of honest workingmen. He also implies that in a more cooperative future, undefined new friends will help John, "people you've never heard of." Reclaiming his business plan, John lectures his old boss that "money isn't everything." Despite its forced conflicts and trite resolution, MGM's We Who Are Young was the beginning of Trumbo's most productive screenwriting period, that includes the popular successes Kitty Foyle, A Guy Named Joe and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
We Who Are Young -
We Who Are Young (1940)
Studio heads of the late 1930s mostly concerned themselves with writers' storytelling skills, not their personal politics. Yet when asked to find evidence of leftist influence in Hollywood, researchers often cite screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's uplifting personal drama about a young couple struggling against financial problems. Margy and William Brooks (Lana Turner & John Shelton) have married against the policy of the company where they both work; when they're discovered she is fired. John's single salary isn't enough, especially after his company reorganization plan is rejected, nixing chances of a promotion. With Margy now pregnant John foolishly borrows from a loan shark. When his debt is discovered he forfeits his job, the furniture is repossessed and they're forced to pawn Margy's engagement ring. Idle and frustrated, John is arrested for trespassing at a construction site. He then steals a car to rush Margy to the maternity hospital. An atypical MGM film concerned with the problems of the disadvantaged, We Who Are Young was a change of pace for its star Lana Turner, away from her 'tight sweater' image. The contrived screenplay is a thematic update on King Vidor's the silent The Crowd, except that the same arbitrary forces that darken the Brooks' future, regroup to produce an equally arbitrary happy ending. John's recovers mainly because he attracts the attention of an enlightened contractor, Braddock (Jonathan Hale). Dalton Trumbo's anti-capitalist dialogue has Braddock blame a greedy system for the troubles of honest workingmen. He also implies that in a more cooperative future, undefined new friends will help John, "people you've never heard of." Reclaiming his business plan, John lectures his old boss that "money isn't everything." Despite its forced conflicts and trite resolution, MGM's We Who Are Young was the beginning of Trumbo's most productive screenwriting period, that includes the popular successes Kitty Foyle, A Guy Named Joe and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.
By Glenn Erickson
Quotes
Trivia
Cinematographer John F. Seitz took over as director of photography when Karl Freund fell ill.
Notes
The working titles of this film were I Do and To Own the World. According to a news item in Hollywood Reporter, photographer John Seitz substituted for Karl Freund when Freund fell ill. This picture marked the American debut of European producer Seymour Nebenzahl, the producer of M and Mayerling.
