Second Chance (1950) - Turner Classic Movies

Cast & Crew

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William Beaudine

Ruth Warrick

John Hubbard

Hugh Beaumont

David Holt

Pat Combs

Film Details

Release Date

Jan 1950

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Protestant Film Commission

Distribution Company

The Religious Film Association

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the short story "Second Chance" by Faith Baldwin in Woman's Day (Aug 1948).

Synopsis

When banker Ed Dean asks his wife Emily to join him on a business trip to St. Louis the next day, she declines, saying she has an appointment with her doctor because of a recurring pain in her side. Emily learns after the examination that she does not have long to live. Shaken by the news, Emily sits on a park bench and looks back on her life: As newlyweds, Emily and Ed are visited by their minister, Dr. Emory, who tells them they will need God in a partnership with them, and that they must share their life in order to keep their marriage strong. Emily and Ed become active in the church's Couples Club and do charity work in the poor section of town. Their first child, Dickie, is born, and as Ed's career with the bank advances, they join a country club instead of making their donation to the church. Ed and Emily have a second child, Jimmy, and move to a new house in a wealthier part of town. Emily joins the garden club, and when Dr. Emory asks her to chair a committee to help laid-off factory workers, she says she does not have the time. World War II begins and Dickie joins the Army, and when the family receives a telegram saying that Dickie is missing in action, Emily blames God. After the war ends, Emily suspects that she and Ed are drifting apart, but she refuses to believe it could be her fault. When Jimmy then moves out, Emily feels her life slipping away. One day, as she is complaining to Ed about an "undesirable" family that has moved into the neighborhood, Jimmy calls with the news that he has gotten married. An outraged Emily treats Jimmy's bride Irene with disdain and complains that she knows nothing of the girl's family, prompting Ed to berate his wife for her self-absorption. Emily informs the newlyweds that she expects them to live with her and Ed, but when she insults Irene, Jimmy decides that they will live in nearby Hilldale. Later, a young couple representing the Couples Club tries to get Emily and Ed involved again, but Emily demurs, and Ed, who is now president of the bank, accuses her of being a Christian only when it is convenient. In the park, back in the present, Emily watches the sunset and wishes she could find God again. At home, she cries in her bed and recites the Lord's Prayer. She wakes to find Ed sleeping, and is disconcerted when he says he is flying to St. Louis that afternoon. Emily realizes she has been dreaming, and that her medical appointment is for that afternoon. The doctor tells Emily she has nothing to worry about, and when Ed calls to learn the results of her examination, he again asks Emily to join him in St. Louis. After some initial hesitation, Emily agrees, suggesting that they stop to see Jimmy, Irene and their baby and return Sunday morning to go to church. After she hangs up, Emily gives thanks for her second chance.

Director

William Beaudine

Cast

Ruth Warrick

John Hubbard

Hugh Beaumont

David Holt

Pat Combs

Ellyle Marshall

John Holland

Joan Carroll

John Marston

Jamesson Shade

Fay Kern

Crew

Gene Anderson

Assistant Director

Bud Davidson

Assistant Camera

Oren W. Evans

Frederick Faber

Alexander Ferguson

Associate Producer

Louis Forbes

Paul F. Heard

Ray Heinz

Production Manager

H. F. Hemy

Ed Jones

Al Joseph

Marcel Lepicard

Director of Photography

S. Franklin Mack

Associate Producer

Bill Margulies

Camera Operator

Hugh Mcdowell

Robert Presnell Sr.

F. Paul Sylos

Bud Weiler

Assistant Camera

Film Details

Release Date

Jan 1950

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Protestant Film Commission

Distribution Company

The Religious Film Association

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the short story "Second Chance" by Faith Baldwin in Woman's Day (Aug 1948).

Articles

Ruth Warrick (1915-2005) - Ruth Warrick, (1915-2005)

January 21, 2005

Ruth Warrick, the actress who will forever be identified as the first Mrs. Kane in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) to film buffs; and Phoebe Wallingford, the meddlesome nosybody on the long-running soap opera All My Children, to modern television audiences, died at her Manhattan home on January 15 of complications from Pneumonia. She was 89.

She was born on June 29, 1915 in St. Joseph, Missouri. After attaining a degree in theatre from the University of Kansas City, she left for New York, where in 1938, she joined the Mercury Theater troupe, headed by a young artist on the rise by the name of Orson Welles. When Welles prepared to film Citizen Kane (1941) he took several players from his Mercury Theater (Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloan, Agnes Moorehead) and of course, Ruth Warrick. She made her film debut in Welles' cinematic epic as Emily Norton Kane. Indeed, to many film buffs, Warrick's icy charms are indispensable to the celebrated montage sequence opposite Welles at the breakfast table; particularly when he broaches the subject of her husband's infidelity:

Emily Kane: Charles, people will think...
Charles Kane: What I tell them to think!

Warrick received fine reviews for her performance, and she had good roles in her next two films The Corsican Brothers (1941), with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Journey Into Fear (1942), opposite Joseph Cotton. Sadly, Hollywood, not knowing what to do with a well-trained, mature actress like Warrick, began to cast her into routine, forgettable fare: Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944), China Sky (1945), and Swell Guy (1946). Disney's Song of the South (1947), was a box-office hit, and was her best film in a while, but overall, the material she received over the next few years, simply wasn't worthy of her talents.

Things turned around for her in the mid-50s, when Warrick discovered the medium of television. She had regular roles on The Guiding Light (1953-54), As the World Turns (1956-60), Father of the Bride (1960-61), and was unforgettable as the sinister housekeeper, Hannah Cord, in Peyton Place (1965-67). Yet it was her 35-year run in the role of Phoebe Wallingford in All My Children (1970-2005), that Warrick achieved her greatest triumph. As the rich, intrusive matriarch of the fictitious, affluent town known as Pine Valley, Warrick found a role that could be at once gloriously hammy and quietly conniving - qualities that highlighted her renown versatility as an actress. To honor her contribution to television, Warrick received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmys last December. She is survived by three children, a grandson, and six great-grandchildren.

by Michael T. Toole

Ruth Warrick (1915-2005) - Ruth Warrick, (1915-2005)

Ruth Warrick (1915-2005) - Ruth Warrick, (1915-2005)

Ruth Warrick, the actress who will forever be identified as the first Mrs. Kane in Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) to film buffs; and Phoebe Wallingford, the meddlesome nosybody on the long-running soap opera All My Children, to modern television audiences, died at her Manhattan home on January 15 of complications from Pneumonia. She was 89. She was born on June 29, 1915 in St. Joseph, Missouri. After attaining a degree in theatre from the University of Kansas City, she left for New York, where in 1938, she joined the Mercury Theater troupe, headed by a young artist on the rise by the name of Orson Welles. When Welles prepared to film Citizen Kane (1941) he took several players from his Mercury Theater (Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloan, Agnes Moorehead) and of course, Ruth Warrick. She made her film debut in Welles' cinematic epic as Emily Norton Kane. Indeed, to many film buffs, Warrick's icy charms are indispensable to the celebrated montage sequence opposite Welles at the breakfast table; particularly when he broaches the subject of her husband's infidelity: Emily Kane: Charles, people will think... Charles Kane: What I tell them to think! Warrick received fine reviews for her performance, and she had good roles in her next two films The Corsican Brothers (1941), with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Journey Into Fear (1942), opposite Joseph Cotton. Sadly, Hollywood, not knowing what to do with a well-trained, mature actress like Warrick, began to cast her into routine, forgettable fare: Mr. Winkle Goes to War (1944), China Sky (1945), and Swell Guy (1946). Disney's Song of the South (1947), was a box-office hit, and was her best film in a while, but overall, the material she received over the next few years, simply wasn't worthy of her talents. Things turned around for her in the mid-50s, when Warrick discovered the medium of television. She had regular roles on The Guiding Light (1953-54), As the World Turns (1956-60), Father of the Bride (1960-61), and was unforgettable as the sinister housekeeper, Hannah Cord, in Peyton Place (1965-67). Yet it was her 35-year run in the role of Phoebe Wallingford in All My Children (1970-2005), that Warrick achieved her greatest triumph. As the rich, intrusive matriarch of the fictitious, affluent town known as Pine Valley, Warrick found a role that could be at once gloriously hammy and quietly conniving - qualities that highlighted her renown versatility as an actress. To honor her contribution to television, Warrick received a lifetime achievement award from the Daytime Emmys last December. She is survived by three children, a grandson, and six great-grandchildren. by Michael T. Toole

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Notes

Films produced by the Protestant Film Commission were made primarily to be shown in churches; therefore, this film May not have had a theatrical release.

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