An epic film of early American history, BRIGHAM YOUNG-FRONTIERSMAN is an admirable attempt to interest a wide audience in the story of the pioneering Mormons and their founding of Salt Lake City. Forced because of persecution to leave their settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois, Mormons set out
under the capable leadership of Brigham Young (Jagger) across the plains to their eventual home on the Salt Lake. Adversity strikes at every turn: recalcitrants behave in a most un-Mormon-like way, hardships and starvation are endured, but, during an illness from which he almost dies, Young has a
revelation of the promised land. "This is the place," he announces as the Great Salt Lake valley stretches out below them. The ensuing winter is one of incredible hardships, but, with the onset of spring, a good harvest is expected and hopes rise, only to be dashed again when a plague of crickets
descends on the fields. Broken and weary, Young despairs and summons his followers to prayer. Suddenly, in a vividly depicted sequence, millions of sea gulls appear in the sky, devouring the crickets and saving the crops.
The matter of polygamy is delicately handled. It is not evaded, but is so subtly dealt with that few would even be aware of its existence in the picture's unfolding. Jagger's portrayal of Young brings to the character of the Mormon leader a sympathy that will be long remembered and would light a
fire under Jagger's career which had been flagging until this role. Power and Linda Darnell are the obligatory love interest turning in rather colorless performances, but they do not detract from the story. Walter Huston was to star as Brigham Young, but his unavailability left executive producer
Darryl F. Zanuck to cast the relatively unknown Jagger with veteran Astor in a brilliant coupling. The accent in the movie is on the historical rather than the religious in an effort not to scare off moviegoers, so it was ordained that the word "Frontiersman" be added to the title, but the picture
still failed--even in Utah. leave a comment