Chad Hanna
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Henry King
Henry Fonda
Dorothy Lamour
Linda Darnell
Guy Kibbee
Jane Darwell
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In the 1900's, Chad Hanna, a country boy working along the canal in Canastota, New York, is infatuated with Albany Yates, the beautiful bareback rider with the Huguenine circus. While the circus is in town, Chad becomes enmeshed in a dispute with brutish slave hunter Cisco Tridd after he allows a slave that Tridd was tracking to escape, and Bisbee, the circus advanceman, hides the boy from Tridd. Tridd also vents his anger on his daughter Caroline, and after he beats the girl, she, too, seeks refuge with the circus. When the Huguenine wagons leave town, Chad and Caroline accompany them, Chad works as a wagon driver and Caroline learns to ride bareback. Soon after, the circus suffers a series of setbacks, beginning when Albany, the star attraction, quits to join the rival Burke circus. Burke and Huguenine later come to blows, and in the skirmish, Huguenine is injured and sent to the mineral baths in Albany for a cure, appointing Chad ringmaster in his absence. The next catastrophe occurs with the appearance of Tridd, who has come to reclaim his daughter. In an effort to protect Caroline, Chad claims that they are married, and when Tridd threatens to check the records, Chad is forced into the marriage. On the night of their wedding celebration, the unexpected appearance of Albany rekindles Chad's feelings. Chad's discontent deepens after Huguenine blames him for the death of a lion and fires him, precipitating a fight with Caroline. Disgusted and angry, Chad leaves the circus and seeks out Albany, who convinces him that he really does love his wife. That evening, as he spends a sleepless night in the stables, Chad is startled by a dispossessed elephant and his master, Elmer Proudfoot, and the next day, Chad returns with the elephant to save both the circus and his marriage.
Director
Henry King
Cast
Henry Fonda
Dorothy Lamour
Linda Darnell
Guy Kibbee
Jane Darwell
John Carradine
Ted North
Roscoe Ates
Ben Carter
Frank [m.] Thomas
Olin Howland
Frank Conlan
Edward Conrad
Edward Mcwade
Edward Mundy
George Davis
Paul Burns
Sarah Padden
Leonard St. Leo
Elizabeth Abbott
Tully Marshall
Almira Sessions
Virginia Brissac
Si Jenks
Victor Kilian
Louis Mason
Charles Middleton
Rondo Hatton
Maxine Tucker
Jim Pierce
Nelson Mcdowell
Dick Rich
Herbert Ashley
Paul Sutton
Clarence Muse
Crew
Travis Banton
David Buttolph
Richard Day
George Dudley
Roger Heman
Nunnally Johnson
Nunnally Johnson
Natalie Kalmus
Arthur Von Kirbach
Thomas Little
Barbara Mclean
Morgan Padelford
Ernest Palmer
Ray Rennahan
Robert Webb
Darryl F. Zanuck
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Walter Edmond's novel was first published as a short story in the Saturday Evening Post (10 February-30 March 1940). According to materials contained in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, Joseph I. Breen, director of the PCA, demanded cuts in the bedroom scene in which "Chad" returns to "Albany's" room and tosses her garter on the bed. Breen insisted that the film be re-shot to establish the fact that "Albany" was wearing underwear. Story conferences included in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Theater Arts Library note that Darryl Zanuck considered Anne Baxter, Brenda Joyce and Dorris Bowdon for the role of "Caroline Tridd," and Marjorie Main for that of "Mrs. Tridd." Dorothy Lamour was borrowed from Paramount for this picture.
