White Banners
Encyclopedia
White Banners is a 1938 Warner Brothers
drama film
starring Claude Rains
, Fay Bainter
, Jackie Cooper
, Bonita Granville
, Henry O'Neill
, and Kay Johnson
.
Directed
by Edmund Goulding
and produced
by Henry Blanke
and Hal B. Wallis
, the screenplay
was adapted
by Lenore J. Coffee
, Abem Finkel and Cameron Rogers based on the 1936 novel
of the same title by Lloyd C. Douglas
.
The movie, Fay Bainter and others of the cast
received very good reviews
in the Los Angeles Times
. Bainter was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
for her performance
as Hannah Parmalee.
, in 1919. On a dreary, cold and snowy day a peddler
named Hannah Parmalee (played by Bainter) appears at the door of a kind couple, Paul Ward (played by Rains) and his wife, Marcia (played by Johnson), selling apple peelers. Asked by Mrs. Ward to come inside and warm up, Hannah sees they are struggling financially and are in need of some domestic help
. She offers her services and becomes their cook
and housekeeper
for room and board
.
Mr. Ward, a science
teacher by day, is an inventor by night attempting to create something that will provide sufficient money for Marcia, their teenaged daughter Sally (played by Granville) and their new baby, to have some luxuries
in life. Hannah, who is extremely wise and helpful, comes up with some good ideas. She persuades Ward to sell old and useless furniture to raise money and make a place for his work in the basement.
Their teenaged neighbor, Peter Trimble (played by Cooper), who is one of Ward's students at the school where he teaches, is the son of the richest man in town, Sam Trimble (played by O'Neill). Hannah is very pleased to know Peter and to be a part of his life. In her devotion to him, however, she is never able to indulge the motherly instinct she feels, except in an indirect way. He is very good at science and, after Hannah suggests that he set a good example for the boy, Ward asks young Trimble to become his assistant. Sally gets a crush
on Peter and becomes his love interest.
Ward's invention
, an "ice
less icebox
," is unintentionally revealed by Peter to some local mechanic
s, Joe Ellis (played by William Pawley) and his brother Bill (played by Edward Pawley). When the Ellis brother's steal it and have it patent
ed, Peter feels so bad about what he did that he lies when Ward asks him about it. In the meantime, Sally becomes ill with pneumonia
.
Hannah persuades Ward that it is best to "turn the other cheek" and to give young Peter another chance. Ward then develops a new and better feature for his invention, which is on its way to becoming a great electric
refrigerator
for homes. Sally recovers and she and her mother, Marcia, leave on a trip with the baby.
Another crisis arises, however, when Thomas Bradford (played by James Stephenson), a wealth
y businessman
from Chicago
, arrives to discuss financing of Ward's invention. Hannah reveals to Ward that Peter Trimble is her son who she was forced to give up all those years ago because he was born out of wedlock
. Sam Trimble adopted
him after his own baby died, but Bradford is the boy's real father.
When Bradford finds out that Peter is his son he wants to claim him. Hannah, however, persuades him to leave him where he is and he does not reveal the truth to Peter.
The movie ends as Hannah, satisfied with the kind of young man her son has become, and that he is on the right path in life, leaves with Peter believing that his adoptive parents are his biological parents. She walks off into the wintry landscape just as she drifted into the Ward's household at the beginning.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Claude Rains
Claude Rains
Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
, Fay Bainter
Fay Bainter
Fay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and Mary Okell. In 1910, she was a traveling stage actress...
, Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper
Jackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
, Bonita Granville
Bonita Granville
Bonita Granville was an American film actress and television producer.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Granville was the daughter of stage actors, and made her film debut at the age of nine in Westward Passage...
, Henry O'Neill
Henry O'Neill
Henry O'Neill was a film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:...
, and Kay Johnson
Kay Johnson
Kay Johnson was an American actress who performed on the stage and in Hollywood films.-Family:Catherine Townsend Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1904. Her father was architect Thomas R. Johnson who designed several noteworthy buildings in the New York City...
.
Directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding was a British film writer and director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 British made Paramount silent Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 20s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray and...
and produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
by Henry Blanke
Henry Blanke
Henry Blanke was a German-born film producer who also worked as an assistant director, supervisor, writer, and production manager. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Nun's Story ....
and Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis
Hal B. Wallis was an American film producer.-Career:Harold Brent Wallis was born in Chicago in 1898. His family moved in 1922 to Los Angeles, California, where he found work as part of the publicity department at Warner Bros...
, the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was adapted
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
by Lenore J. Coffee
Lenore J. Coffee
Lenore Jackson Coffee was an American screenwriter, playwright and novelist.-Biography:...
, Abem Finkel and Cameron Rogers based on the 1936 novel
1936 in literature
The year 1936 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Life magazine is first published.* The Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature is established in the UK.-New books:...
of the same title by Lloyd C. Douglas
Lloyd C. Douglas
Lloyd Cassel Douglas born Doya C. Douglas, was an American minister and author.He was born in Columbia City, Indiana, spent part of his boyhood in Monroeville, Indiana, Wilmot, Indiana and Florence, Kentucky, where his father, Alexander Jackson Douglas, was pastor of the Hopeful Lutheran Church...
.
The movie, Fay Bainter and others of the cast
Cast member
A cast member is:* An actor who performs in a theatrical production, motion picture, or television program. The actors who perform in the show are collectively referred to as the cast....
received very good reviews
Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and...
in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. Bainter was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for her performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
as Hannah Parmalee.
Synopsis
White Banners is set in a small town in IndianaIndiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, in 1919. On a dreary, cold and snowy day a peddler
Peddler
A peddler, in British English pedlar, also known as a canvasser, cheapjack, monger, or solicitor , is a travelling vendor of goods. In England, the term was mostly used for travellers hawking goods in the countryside to small towns and villages; they might also be called tinkers or gypsies...
named Hannah Parmalee (played by Bainter) appears at the door of a kind couple, Paul Ward (played by Rains) and his wife, Marcia (played by Johnson), selling apple peelers. Asked by Mrs. Ward to come inside and warm up, Hannah sees they are struggling financially and are in need of some domestic help
Domestic worker
A domestic worker is a man, woman or child who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping...
. She offers her services and becomes their cook
Cook (servant)
A cook is a household staff member responsible for food preparation. The term can refer to the head of kitchen staff in a great house or to the cook-housekeeper, a far less prestigious position involving more physical labour....
and housekeeper
Housekeeper (servant)
A housekeeper is an individual responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the interior of a residence, including direction of subordinate maids...
for room and board
Room and board
Room and board describes a situation where, in exchange for money, labor or other considerations, a person is provided with a place to live as well as meals on a comprehensive basis...
.
Mr. Ward, a science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
teacher by day, is an inventor by night attempting to create something that will provide sufficient money for Marcia, their teenaged daughter Sally (played by Granville) and their new baby, to have some luxuries
Luxury good
Luxury goods are products and services that are not considered essential and associated with affluence.The concept of luxury has been present in various forms since the beginning of civilization. Its role was just as important in ancient western and eastern empires as it is in modern societies...
in life. Hannah, who is extremely wise and helpful, comes up with some good ideas. She persuades Ward to sell old and useless furniture to raise money and make a place for his work in the basement.
Their teenaged neighbor, Peter Trimble (played by Cooper), who is one of Ward's students at the school where he teaches, is the son of the richest man in town, Sam Trimble (played by O'Neill). Hannah is very pleased to know Peter and to be a part of his life. In her devotion to him, however, she is never able to indulge the motherly instinct she feels, except in an indirect way. He is very good at science and, after Hannah suggests that he set a good example for the boy, Ward asks young Trimble to become his assistant. Sally gets a crush
Puppy love
Puppy love is an informal term for feelings of love or infatuation felt by young people during childhood and adolescence, so-called for its resemblance to the adoring, worshipful affection that may be felt by a puppy. 'Simple infatuation is often called a "crush" or "puppy love"...
on Peter and becomes his love interest.
Ward's invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
, an "ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
less icebox
Icebox
An icebox is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common kitchen appliance before the development of safe powered refrigeration devices.- Design :...
," is unintentionally revealed by Peter to some local mechanic
Mechanic
A mechanic is a craftsman or technician who uses tools to build or repair machinery.Many mechanics are specialized in a particular field such as auto mechanics, bicycle mechanics, motorcycle mechanics, boiler mechanics, general mechanics, industrial maintenance mechanics , air conditioning and...
s, Joe Ellis (played by William Pawley) and his brother Bill (played by Edward Pawley). When the Ellis brother's steal it and have it patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed, Peter feels so bad about what he did that he lies when Ward asks him about it. In the meantime, Sally becomes ill with pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
.
Hannah persuades Ward that it is best to "turn the other cheek" and to give young Peter another chance. Ward then develops a new and better feature for his invention, which is on its way to becoming a great electric
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
refrigerator
Refrigerator
A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...
for homes. Sally recovers and she and her mother, Marcia, leave on a trip with the baby.
Another crisis arises, however, when Thomas Bradford (played by James Stephenson), a wealth
Wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
y businessman
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, arrives to discuss financing of Ward's invention. Hannah reveals to Ward that Peter Trimble is her son who she was forced to give up all those years ago because he was born out of wedlock
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
. Sam Trimble adopted
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
him after his own baby died, but Bradford is the boy's real father.
When Bradford finds out that Peter is his son he wants to claim him. Hannah, however, persuades him to leave him where he is and he does not reveal the truth to Peter.
The movie ends as Hannah, satisfied with the kind of young man her son has become, and that he is on the right path in life, leaves with Peter believing that his adoptive parents are his biological parents. She walks off into the wintry landscape just as she drifted into the Ward's household at the beginning.
Cast
- Claude RainsClaude RainsClaude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 66 years. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man , a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington , Mr...
as Paul Ward - Fay BainterFay BainterFay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and Mary Okell. In 1910, she was a traveling stage actress...
as Hannah Parmalee - Jackie CooperJackie CooperJackie Cooper was an American actor, television director, producer and executive. He was a child actor who managed to make the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first child actor to receive an Academy Award nomination...
as Peter Trimble - Bonita GranvilleBonita GranvilleBonita Granville was an American film actress and television producer.-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Granville was the daughter of stage actors, and made her film debut at the age of nine in Westward Passage...
as Sally Ward - Henry O'NeillHenry O'NeillHenry O'Neill was a film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:...
as Sam Trimble - Kay JohnsonKay JohnsonKay Johnson was an American actress who performed on the stage and in Hollywood films.-Family:Catherine Townsend Johnson was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1904. Her father was architect Thomas R. Johnson who designed several noteworthy buildings in the New York City...
as Mrs. Marcia Ward - James StephensonJames StephensonJames Stephenson was a British actor.-Career:British stage actor James Stephenson made his film debut in 1937 at the age of 48 with parts in four films...
as Thomas Bradford - J. Farrell MacDonaldJ. Farrell MacDonaldJoseph Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. MacDonald, who was sometimes billed as "John Farrell Macdonald", "J.F...
as Dr. Thompson - William Pawley as Joe Ellis
- Edward PawleyEdward PawleyEdward Joel Pawley was an American actor of radio, films and Broadway. The full name on his birth certificate is Edward Joel Stone Pawley, however, he never used the Stone name. It derived from a Stone family in Illinois.At maturity, Pawley was 5'-10" tall with thick black hair and blue eyes...
as Bill Ellis - John RidgelyJohn RidgelyJohn Ridgely was an American film character actor with over 100 film credits. He appeared in the 1946 Humphrey Bogart film The Big Sleep as blackmailing gangster Eddie Mars and had a memorable role as a suffering heart patient in the film noir Nora Prentiss .The Chicago, Illinois-born actor...
as Charles Ellis - Mary FieldMary FieldMary Field was an American film actress who primarily appeared in supporting roles.- Early life :She was born in New York City, New York. As a child she never knew her biological parents. During her infancy she was left outside the doors of a church with a note pinned to her saying that her name...
as Hester, Trimble's secretary - Edward McWadeEdward McWadeEdward McWade was an American film actor and screenwriter. He appeared in 132 films between 1919 and 1944. He also wrote for 15 films between 1897 and 1914.He was born in Washington, D.C...
as Sloan, the furniture dealer