Chad Hanna (1940)

SYNOPSIS: A circus picture from the pen of Walter D. Edmonds (Drums Along the Mohawk), Chad Hanna turns out to be the name of the title character, a small town, small-time American rustic. (Unfortunately, Henry Fonda transforms this lovable loon into a melodramatically overblown figure of unrequited love). COMMENT: Alas, Chad Hanna is at its best when Hanna himself is not on the screen. It's a role requiring a light, amiable touch, but Fonda gives his Hanna a brooding, pseudo-tragic intensity quite out of keeping with the overall tone of the picture. In other respects, the movie emerges as a colorful slice of mid-19th century Americana. Most of the scenes with Guy Kibbee are flavorsome as circus candy. Kibbee gets great support from people like Roscoe Ates and Linda Darnell. There's a marvelous sequence in which Linda receives training as a bareback rider, half of it filmed in one long, dizzying take. Superbly photographed in color by Technicolor, sequences like the circus parade come across like midnight joy. Miss Darnell also looks very attractive indeed. On the other hand, Dorothy Lamour is not favored at all. Nor does her insipid performance impress.Producer/writer Nunnally Johnson belatedly realized that the picture needed more accent on circus lore and less on the title character. Chad Hanna finishes up not with a close-up of nominal star Henry Fonda (and/or Dorothy Lamour) but with a shot of Guy Kibbee realizing his lifelong dream of owning "a circus with a elephant." Wonderful!

Boring story about a country bumpkin (Henry Fonda) and the girl (Linda Darnell) who loves him running off with a circus. Fonda's infatuated with bareback rider Dorothy Lamour but eventually realizes he was meant for the country girl. Darnell and Lamour look beautiful, especially in Technicolor. Really, the whole picture looks good. The problem is the story is dull and some of the acting is sub-par. Considering this cast, I expected better. Darnell's often spotty so I wasn't phased by her weak performance. But I was disappointed in Henry Fonda, whose rube routine was annoying. He reunites with his Grapes of Wrath costars John Carradine and Jane Darwell, both of whom are fine in this. Dorothy Lamour stands out the most. I wish I could recommend it but unless you're a Fonda, Lamour, or Darnell completist I wouldn't waste my time on it. Watchable but dull.

1940's "Chad Hanna" was a colorful feast for the eyes, but far stronger on atmosphere than incident. We open in New York state, 1841, and the circus is coming to town. B. D. Bisbee (John Carradine) works as the advance agent for the Huguenine Circus, garnering attention wherever he goes, building up the audience to a fever pitch by emphasizing both male AND female acrobats...in tights! In the title role, Henry Fonda performs another expert character study, playing a Canastota stable boy who literally runs away to join the circus to escape a vengeful slave catcher whose daughter Caroline (Linda Darnell) later joins him, also a victim of her father's rage. Chad instantly falls for equestrienne Albany Yates (Dorothy Lamour), the star attraction for this one ring circus, but she soon spurns Huguenine for a rival circus that has an elephant. It's a shame that the filmmakers chose to showcase the dramatically anemic, predictably absurd romantic triangle over the more interesting circus life rarely depicted at that time. Fonda and Carradine are teamed for the fifth and last time, from "Jesse James," "Drums Along the Mohawk," "The Grapes of Wrath," and "The Return of Frank James." Carradine was no stranger to lovely Linda Darnell- "Brigham Young," "Blood and Sand," "Fallen Angel," and the 1958 WAGON TRAIN, "The Dora Gray Story." After such a powerful introduction, Carradine instantly fades into the background, disappearing completely after Chad and Caroline marry 54 minutes in. Sharp eyed viewers can catch canvasman Rondo Hatton at the 34 minute mark, looking quite menacing on the far right, one line of dialogue spoken in his own voice: "all right men, up to the next street!"

I just loved that part of the movie when Chad Hanna, all resplendent in his ringmaster's uniform, is seeking to imitate A.D's confidant introduction. Circus movies have always been my guilty secret - I just love them and could definitely remember the name "Chad Hanna" from my childhood (watching it on TV). It was a lovely, rambling, watch it on a rainy afternoon story about the trials and tribulations of a small time circus that toured the American countryside in the 1840s. 20th Century Fox was one of the first studios to fully explore the possibilities of Technicolor and it gave this movie a richness and the magnificent beauty of Linda Darnell was greatly enhanced by it. This was at the beginning of her career when her fresh naturalness was just breath taking. Walter D. Edmond's books - "The Farmer Takes a Wife" (1935) and "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939) had already been filmed and had found a perfect actor to portray their strong and honorable heroes in Henry Fonda.In "Chad Hanna" he was absolutely splendid as the title character, a dreamy farm boy whose determination to help a runaway slave and to see "the most beautiful lady I've ever laid eyes on" - bareback rider Albany Yates (Dorothy Lamour) perform at the circus, has both him and Caroline (Linda Darnell) running for their lives. She has been beaten by her father, who is also after Chad, so they both run away with the circus. The supporting cast is like a "Who's Who" of the best players in Hollywood - Guy Kibbee as harassed circus owner A.D., Jane Darwell as his wife, John Carradine and Roscoe Ates. Even though beautiful Caroline silently loves him, Chad has only eyes for the proud Albany, who soon shows her true colors by being easily lured over to the rival circus and leaving them now without a star attraction. A.D has always bemoaned the fact that the one addition that would put them in the big time is an elephant and now they have to train up Caroline to take Albany's place. I agree with the other reviewer, for all her regalness, Dorothy Lamour seems to be only going through the motions and then half way through she is gone!! Although the new up and coming glamour girl on the Fox lot was Linda Darnell - Lamour was a Paramount player - so it stands to reason which one was going to have the bigger, more sympathetic part.A.D's circus is always in danger of being run out of business by their bigger, flashier rival - Shepley's Circus. Shepley's even employ their own "goons", always at the ready , armed with poles to prevent A.D's from participating in the street parade and, in the most exciting scene in the movie, threatening to burn down A.D's circus. After that riot A.D ends up in hospital and hands over the Ring Master's mantle to Chad (in my opinion John Carradine would have been the best choice - he even looked and sounded like a Ring Master) but the death of their lion - their main attraction has Chad sent from the circus in disgrace. Sure, not a great deal happens in the movie, but how Chad returns with a circus act that A.D. never dreamed they would ever have is quite exciting stuff. It also looks suspiciously like Rondo Hatton as a circus workman.Highly Recommended.