Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

Edward G. Robinson enjoyed a welcome change of pace from his usual tough guy roles when MGM cast him as a simple immigrant farmer in the family drama Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945). But although his character was a bastion of all-American ideals, Robinson's association with screenwriter Dalton Trumbo on the film would come back to haunt him in later years, ultimately leading to his blacklisting during the early part of the '50s. That the former Little Caesar would even have been considered for the role of Margaret O'Brien's father in this touching tale of small-town America is a tribute to Robinson's versatility and tenacity. He had fought for more varied roles throughout his career, impressing audiences and studio executives with his work as a pioneering medical researcher in Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940), a hobo trying to save face at his class reunion in Tales of Manhattan (1942) and a tough-talking insurance investigator in Double Indemnity (1944). In Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, he tugged at the heart strings as a simple man who drives all night so his daughter can see a circus elephant and gives up his dream of building a new barn to help out a neighbor who's lost everything. His performance earned widespread raves. Even James Agee, long an opponent of the studio star system, praised Robinson, O'Brien and Agnes Moorehead (as Robinson's wife) for their simple natural acting. Robinson was thrilled to be working with screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, whom he would describe in his memoirs as "hot-headed, wildly gifted, inordinately progressive, and, it seemed to me, intensely logical." Trumbo had already scored back-to-back hits at MGM with the wartime fantasy A Guy Named Joe (1943) and the documentary style Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). For Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, he drew on his small-town Colorado roots to flesh out the characters in George Victor Martin's episodic novel. With three successes in a row, he negotiated an unprecedented contract at MGM, guaranteeing him $75,000 per picture and the right to work at home, where he slept all day and typed through the night -- in the bathtub. But Trumbo's world would soon come crashing down when he was called as one of the Hollywood Ten to testify before the House Un -American Activities Committee (HUAC) about his alleged affiliation with Communist organizations. The Ten's refusal to answer questions about their political affiliations led to prison sentences and the birth of the Hollywood blacklist. Unable to work, Trumbo appealed to Robinson for a loan to help keep his family together. When word got out that Robinson had written him a check for $2,500, the star found himself unable to find work either. Robinson refused to name names or publicly declare himself a "commie dupe," so he remained unemployed, despite appeals to FBI head J. Edgar Hoover to help him clear his name. It took three appearances before the HUAC before he could finally return to work. Ironically, Trumbo never stopped working during that time. He wrote scripts under pseudonyms and through fronts, even smuggling one script out of prison. And he won Oscars® for The Brave One (1956) and Roman Holiday (1953) -- but not under his own name. The latter film almost led to another encounter with one of the actors he'd written Our Vines Have Tender Grapes for. In the late '50s, he got a call from Margaret O'Brien's mother. By this time, O'Brien's days as a child star were over, and her mother was hoping to find a comeback vehicle to lead her to adult stardom. She approached Trumbo about writing a script for her daughter, initially claiming she wanted him because Our Vines Have Tender Grapes had been one of her daughter's best films. Then she admitted she was sure a picture like Roman Holiday would put her daughter back on top. Refusing to admit or deny that he had written the film, Trumbo suggested she turn to Ian McLellan Hunter, the writer who had put his name on the script. Ironically, Hunter was also on the blacklist by that time -- proving that the real world was a far cry from the simple American community Trumbo had written about in Our Vines Have Tender Grapes. Ultimately, O'Brien never got her comeback vehicle, though audiences will long remember her as the farm girl riding on an elephant's trunk and giving up her pet calf to save a neighbor from bankruptcy. Producer: Robert Sisk Director: Roy Rowland Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo Based on the Novel by George Victor Martin Cinematography: Robert Surtees Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno Music: Bronislau Kaper Principal Cast: Edward G. Robinson (Martinius Jacobson), Margaret O'Brien (Selma Jacobson), James Craig (Nels Halverson), Agnes Moorehead (Bruna Jacobson), Jackie "Butch" Jenkins (Arnold Hanson), Morris Carnovsky (Bjorn Bjornson), Frances Gifford (Viola Johnson), Sara Haden (Mrs. Bjornson), Charles Middleton (Kurt Jensen). BW-106m. Closed captioning by Frank Miller