Pilgrimage (1933) User Reviews (14)

Her Guilt Overcomes Her Grief

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 April 2011]

The only other time that I recall John Ford doing a film where women are the protagonists is his last film of Seven Women. Pilgrimage which is set in pastoral rural America is far more a film that could be typical of John Ford even if the men aren't at the center.

Before Darryl Zanuck took over Fox films and merged it with 20th Century Pictures to form what it is today, Fox Films was known as the red state studio. In the early sound era, it's major stars were Will Rogers and Janet Gaynor and a rustic film like Pilgrimage was very typical product for Fox even if Rogers and Gaynor don't appear.

Veteran stage actress Henrietta Crosman stars in Pilgrimage, a rather hard bitten farm woman who lives only for her son Norman Foster. She thinks Foster is slumming when he courts Marian Nixon although God only knows why, Nixon and father Charley Grapewin aren't living any better than Crosman and Foster are. Still she does what she can to break them which includes going to the local draft board and saying she doesn't need an exemption for her son. Foster is off to France where he's killed in the Argonne, but he leaves behind an unmarried and pregnant Nixon who has Crosman's grandchild.

If such a story were to happen today Crosman would be in some kind of group grief counseling. Her guilt overcomes her grief however and she becomes harder and meaner than ever. It's only when she goes to France on a Pilgrimage with other Gold Star mothers that she's finally able to come to terms with her loss. And something else happens over there that speeds up the healing process.

Three other women should also be recognized, Heather Angel as a young woman whom Crosman befriends in France along with Maurice Murphy, future gossip columnist Hedda Hopper who is Murphy's society mother and Crosman's fellow rural rustic Lucille LaVerne who scandalizes all of the ship by smoking her corncob pipe.

I'm surprised that Janet Gaynor wasn't in this film, it was definitely her kind of material. She could have either played Nixon or Angel's part though the role would have had to have been built up.

The cinematography shows an idealized rural America almost like a moving landscape painting that John Ford always so painstakingly worked on to get that rural paradise effect.

Although dated somewhat in technique, Pilgrimage is a universal story and actually could be done for more modern wars like Vietnam or the two actions in Iraq. And Ford does a lot better with this women's picture than he did with Seven Women.

Henrietta rules!

[marcslope · 7/10 · 17 December 2007]

Henrietta Crossman, a big Broadway star since the 1890s who didn't have much luck with movies, is a tremendous presence in this uncharacteristic John Ford piece that zeroes in on the waste of war and spends little time glorifying foreign military adventures. As the frankly spiteful mother of a dead soldier she forced into combat, Crossman is as unsympathetic as they come and doesn't care who knows it; an Ethel Barrymore, say, would have somehow conveyed "yes, I'm playing a bitch, but you're still supposed to love ME." Crossman never indulges in such audience-baiting, and it makes her character real and frightening. There's an odd third act that ventures into totally unexpected territory to set up her vindication, and the comedy relief -- was Ford ever good at comedy? -- doesn't really work, relying on ethnic types and seeming at odds with the tragedy at the center. But the overall arc is powerful, abetted by good actors like Marian Nixon and little Jay Ward. And Ford's direction is suitably leisurely, with long tracking and sometimes absolutely still shots, and slow fade-outs that let the audience savor the sadness. It's emotional stuff, and if you shed a tear or two before it's over, you're not being had.

A Voyage to France

[davidmvining · 7/10 · 16 November 2021]

This is one of several movies John Ford made about things around World War I. He hasn't made one about the war directly. Any look at battle has been short and quick with the focus of the films on events around the fighting itself. That's no different here with Pilgrimage, his 1933 film, but I can't help but comparing the similar output from Howard Hawks who made films about men in the thick of it, embracing aesthetics of different aspects of the war along with the experiences of those who fought it. Hawks trained men for combat during the war, and Ford made movies. I wonder if that's part of the reason why he kept choosing and crafting scripts about people around the fighting instead of directly part of it.

It's a curious story of a woman, Mrs. Hannah Jessop (Henrietta Crosman), on a farm in Arkansas and her young adult son, Jim (Norman Foster). The mother is dead set against her son's romance with the neighbor girl Mary (Marian Nixon), daughter to a drunk. No woman will be good enough for her son, and to keep them apart she's willing to draft him into the war effort, sending him to fight in France. In a bit of pre-Code drama, Jim gets Mary pregnant before they can marry, and as he's being shipped off to war she informs him without enough time for a marriage. Yes, this is the stuff of melodrama.

Jim dies in France, the only young man sent to France from the town who died in combat, and ten years pass. Henrietta scorns Mary as well as her grandchild Jimmy (Jay Ward). This kind of heartlessness ends up feeling a bit broad in the beginning, but what changes is the actual, titular pilgrimage. The US government wants to send gold star mothers to France to visit the graves of their sons, and it's important to the local governmental authorities that Henrietta goes, being the mother of the only local boy killed in the war. After some hemming and hawing, she decides to go.

This is about a third of the way through the film, and it gives the melodramatic opening a surprisingly effective air as Henrietta joins up with other gold star mothers on the boat to France. There are two in particular that get attention. The first is Henrietta's cabinmate Mrs. Rogers (Louise Carter). Carrying around the framed picture of her deceased son, she's mournful and shares her deep emotion with everyone. Henrietta is understanding but obviously offput. However, there is also Mrs. Kelly Hatfield (Lucille La Verne), a large lady from Texas who is happy to make jokes about smart cows refusing to live as close together as people in New York.

What ends up happening is that the movie jumps between tones for a while. With most of the women, it's sad faces and tears, but with Mrs. Hatfield it's light comedy and laughs. What's surprising about the film is that it balances these two tones shockingly well, allowing just enough time from one major moment of sadness or amusement to pass before transitioning to the next. The ladies go dress shopping in Paris, quickly followed by them visiting a memorial service for the dead. This kind of jumping is hard to pull off, and Ford as well as his editor Louis Loeffler manage it shockingly well. It doesn't feel like whiplash, it feels like a woman divorced from her own guilt about the fate of her son and being surrounded by the sadness she should be feeling finding ways out of it.

This is a surprisingly effective middle section, and it really feels like it's going somewhere. And then a major contrivance strikes, and I never quite got invested at the same level again.

In a huff, Henrietta decides that she's going to make her opinion of her boy known, that he wasn't a good boy and that she has no desire to see his grave. She walks out onto the streets of Paris and finds a young American man, drunk, and slurring about his mother. Yes, this young man, Gary (Maurice Murphy), is in pretty much the exact same predicament as Jim had been in. He wants to marry a French girl, Suzanne (Heather Angel), but his mother won't let him. They have a small adventure into the countryside, witnessing a small French festival, and Henrietta begins to feel the emotions she should have been feeling for her son towards Gary. This is emotionally where the story needed to end, but the late stage introduction of such a contrivance as a perfect match for her own situation made me roll my eyes a bit. A similar but not so on the nose situation would have probably been more appropriate. Like an American needing to choose between a career and his family, or something, along with introducing it earlier. I would have probably found it more satisfying if Henrietta had found her kind of solace without a last minute detour into another character's story. Maybe having her and Mrs. Hatfield coming to some kind of understanding where Mrs. Hatfield has moved on from her grief, providing a sort of opening for Henrietta to walk through to find her own.

So, the ending is fine, not quite living up to the promise of the journey overall, but the movie as a whole, while feeling a bit patchy, ends up working overall. The opening is melodramatic, but it's solid enough foundation on which to build Henrietta's journey. The actual resolution gets her to where she needs to be, but it's less elegant than what could have been. I was ready to love this movie by the time Henrietta was shouting at everyone about how her Jim wasn't a good boy, ready for her to turn around in melodramatic fashion, but the actual mechanics of that resolution were just too obvious for my tastes.

Still, I liked the film overall. It's imperfect, but solid enough.

Excellent, rarely seen John Ford film.

[totty-2 · 9 August 1999]

I happened to catch "Pilgrimage" this past weekend during AMC's (American Movie Classics) John Ford Marathon. This is the story of a Arkansas farm woman and her son. When the son starts to exert some autonomy and expresses his desire to marry a girl who comes from a family that the mother thinks is trash, she enrolls him in the army. Meeting his fiancée at a train station while being transported by the army, she tells him she is pregnant; he is unable to get leave to marry her. He is killed in the Battle of the Argonne Forest.

The remainder of the movie deals with the mother's reconciliation with her wrong and the love she has for her son, and the eventual reconciliation she has with her "daughter-in-law" and her grandson.

The majority of the movie takes place in France where the mother (wonderfully played by Henrietta Crosman) is taken as part of a program for mothers to visit the graves of her sons.

John Ford, who is considered an action director and a man's director, does a wonderful job directing the women on their voyage of discovery in France.

Also of note in the cast: Lucille La Verne as a Carolina hill woman who is on the France trip, and Hedda Hopper playing a stuck-up society mother. Heather Angel is in the cast in a small role

If it turns up on cable, don't miss this one. Please make allowances for the acting styles - after all, this was 1933.

Effective Drama

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 11 December 2007]

You'd never know this was directed by John Ford if his name weren't in the credits. There's not a bottle of booze in sight, no fist fights, no comedic interludes. Henrietta Crosman is a tough, domineering Arkansas mother who denies her grown son every privilege of independence. Of course, no woman is good enough for him either. And when he falls for some blond, and she for him, Crosman signs a waiver, has the boy drafted, and sent to France, leaving behind his now-pregnant girl friend. The son is killed in the Argonne.

Ten years go by, during which Crosman avoids any contact with the girl, now a school teacher, and her illegitimate son. Then Crosman is approached by an organization sponsoring a pilgrimage of Gold Star Mothers to the American cemetery in France. She's a bitter old lady by now and spurns their offer but, soon enough, finds herself joining the few dozen other ladies on the trip.

Aboard the ship Crosman gets to know some of the other mothers, including one from Carolina who has three sons buried in France. The two rustic Southern ladies, each pretty tough, get along well and, with the other's good-natured self confidence induced in her, Crosman begins to see that there may be a bit of warmth and amusement in life, after all, that one need not be a carbuncle on the integument of one's community.

In France she accidentally runs into a young man who is having almost the identical problem with his mother that Crosman's son had with his. The authoritative mother is driving the young couple apart. Crosman visits the rich, aristocratic mother and tells the story of her own self discovery. There is a good deal of sniffling and embracing before Crosman throws herself on her son's grave and begs his forgiveness. Back home, she embraces her grandson and his mother.

If it isn't mainstream Ford and it isn't a masterpiece, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's inevitable sentiment is balanced by the gruff, no-nonsense demeanor of some of the characters. It's all helped enormously by Henrietta Crosman's appearance. (Her acting skills are no more than modest.) She is unable to look at anything without "glaring" at it. Her big black eyeballs in that pale face and under that white coif are overwhelming. They seem not to look at objects so much as look into them. The surprising thing is not that she has a little trouble becoming a warm and loving mother at the end, but that she can do it at all. (I still wonder how she's going to treat her grandson if he shows signs of becoming uppity.) Overall, it's a rather artfully done but routine drama about a person who never had any doubt whatever about what was right and what was wrong. That's an inhuman position. And by the end of the film the character has become human.

Some mother's son

[dbdumonteil · 9/10 · 4 August 2009]

"Pilgrimage" is a phenomenon.First of all ,the subject is not,as the audience is expecting at the beginning of the movie,the story of two lovers but it focuses on the boy's mother ,Mrs Jessop,wonderfully portrayed by Henrietta Crosman.It's very rare that the star of a movie is a middle age woman ,particularly in a John Ford work,even if women often play a prominent part in his films (his last effort was "seven women") Mrs Jessop is a hateful over possessive selfish mom:"I'd rather see my boy dead than with that woman";her hatred knows no bounds when she enlists her son in the army (WW1 time) "whereas other mothers try to hide their son's age".

John Ford wanted the viewer to side with his pitiful heroine only in the last part .His film is never melodramatic because the tragic scenes alternate with prosaic ones (the shooting range in France is telling).And I dare you not to cry when the mom lays withered flowers on the grave and when she meets again her grandson .The cemetery scene is in direct contrast to the ceremony under L'Arc De Triomphe Sur La Tombe Du Soldat Inconnu:between the two moments,Mrs Jessop has become a mother.At last.

Slightly awkward in a few parts, but a great watch

[joefoerster · 7/10 · 4 December 2016]

A good tale, and I agree with many other reviewers about the strong performance of Henrietta Crosman as "Mrs. Jessop". However, I found Hedda Hopper to be wooden and ill-timed in almost all of her few lines. The scene between her and Miss Crosman actually got quite awkward and cringe-worthy at a point or two. (It's interesting that the New York Times review from 1933 did not mention Hedda at all!) I would guess that this and some other slightly awkward takes had mostly to do with the production economies of the day. Today they would do lots and lots of retakes and get it nailed perfectly or they would be blasted by critics. But in spite of this, the picture carries itself well. I think something not mentioned by others is the sheer culture differences that "Mrs. Hannah Jessop" encounters, both with her travel companions and with the French people she encounters. Seeing how others live, coming to understand that people may be very different and yet the same. The little shooting gallery encounter is a clear indication of this to me. She is, of course, pushed hardest with the young couple she meets and sees they are in the same situation that her son and his girl were in. But even before that, she was beginning to realize there is a wider world of things outside her narrow experience and control, and yet these were good people who she starts to feel she is unworthy to be around... I don't agree that this is a "woman's movie"; rather a human movie.

Gold Star Mother

[lugonian · 8/10 · 25 November 2017]

PILGRIMAGE (Fox Films, 1933), directed by John Ford, is an early but memorable sentimental story featuring Henrietta Crosman in a very rare leading role. Not quite a retelling of the Pilgrims voyaging to America on the Mayflower in 1620 as one might be made to believe, but a drama about an elderly woman with a hold on her son's life, only to live to regret it.

Opening title: "The Jessop Home, Three Cedars, Arkansas." Hannah Jessop (Henrietta Crosman) is a widowed farm woman who works hard in both her daily chores and the upbringing of her young adult son, Jim (Norman Foster). However, Jim is unhappy with his life and wants to leave his existence to enlist in the Army as his friends are doing during the World War. Hannah refuses at first, but agrees to let him go to battle rather than having Jim leaving home to marry Mary Saunders (Marion Nixon), a farm girl living just over the fence with her drunkard father (Charley Grapewin). Having told Mary, "I'd rather see Jim dead than married to you," Hannah signs a waver with permission for him to go. She also disinherits Jim for leaving her to be with Mary. Before he's to leave with the other soldiers by train, Jim is told by Mary that she's pregnant. In spite of the news to his superior, Jim is denied temporary leave to marry her. During a stormy night, Hannah awakens from her sleep calling out Jim's name the very moment he is killed in battle, also the very night Mary gives birth to his son. Ten years pass and Hannah still holds a grudge against Mary, even to a point of avoiding any contact with her grandson, Jimmy (Jay Ward), who takes a liking to his late father's dog, Susie. Mayor Elmer Briggs (Francis Ford) and others in his committee select Hannah to go on a pilgrimage to France along with other "Gold Star Mothers" to visit the graves of their military sons. While in France, Hannah refuses to go to the cemetery until she encounters a troubled youth named Gary Worth (Maurice Murphy), drunk, confused and wanting to jump off a bridge to suicide. After taking him to his apartment, Hannah learns the young man is going through the same issues with his domineering mother (Hedda Hopper) over the love of a girl named Suzanne (Heather Angel), the same situation that occurred years before between her and her son, thus, seeing herself for the first time to whom she really was as seen through the eyes of little Jim.

PILGRIMAGE is a good film, a very good film that has been underrated and forgotten throughout the years. In spite the fact that it's directed by four-time Academy Award winning John Ford, possibly one of the reasons for it never to be selected as one of Ford's top ten best films is due to the fact of having any top marquee names as Marie Dressler, for example. Granted, had PILGRIMAGE been filmed only a few years later, it probably would have featured, for example, Janet Gaynor as Mary; May Robson as Hannah; and Henry Fonda as Jim. Other capable actresses as Louise Dresser or Marjorie Rambeau might have handled the role just as well, but Henrietta Crosman, a theater actress with limited movie roles dating back to the silent film era, was chosen to carry the entire 96 minutes, and she does it quite well. Aside from her strong performance, her scene walking through the cemetery in France to visit her son's grave is both heartfelt and noteworthy. Others featured in the cast are Robert Warwick (Major Albertson); Betty Blythe (Janet Prescott); Louise Carter (Mrs. Rogers, the other mother who shares the cabin with Hannah); and Jack Pennick (The Sergeant). Lucille LaVerne, best known for playing old hags dating back in the silent movie days of D.W. Griffith, nearly steals it with her small performance as Mrs. Hatfield, another Gold Star mother of three deceased sons who not only befriends Hannah, but causes raised eyebrows by smoking a pipe in public. She and Crosman have lighter moments together to an otherwise dramatic story where they show how good there are at a shooting gallery. Marion Nixon and Jay Ward are equally unforgettable as both mother and son longing to connect with Hannah.

A worthwhile story that has had limited television broadcasts throughout the years: WFSB, Channel 3, Hartford, Connecticut (1974); WNET, Channel 13, New York City (1992); and cable channels as BRAVO (1987-88); American Movie Classics (August 1999 as part of its John Ford tribute); Fox Movie Channel and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 10, 2007). Aside from availability on DVD with John Ford's BORN RECKLESS (Fox, 1933) on the flip-side, PILGRIMAGE remains very much an obscure film that needs to be observed and studied, not for the directorial style of John Ford, but for the best movie performance ever given by the long forgotten Henrietta Crosman. (****)

The atonement of the mama of all mothers.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 28 February 2013]

Everybody needs to be knocked down a peg or to, and for Hannah Jenkins (Henrietta Crossman), it comes in a place she never thought in her life she'd visit. She is a hard-working farm woman, not only hard in making a living, but in religious matters which instills in her a possessiveness she puts into her relationship with her son. When he dares to cross her by falling in love with a young woman, Crossman crosses the bounds of apron strings and has him drafted into service as World War I erupts, leaving behind his pregnant lover. As he is killed, she wakes up screaming out his name in a cold sweat. Her guilt either hidden underneath her frosty exterior or non-existent, she eventually agrees to accompany a group of mothers over to France, still sure she was justified for everything she did.

You'll have a hard time in keeping your tear-ducts dry as she learns the painful truth about her sins. A kindly mountain woman (Lucille La Verne) teaches her a thing or two about the need to let their children go, but it all comes together when she encounters a drunken American boy going through a similar situation with his mother (Hedda Hopper). Hannah slowly melts that icy manner that has her initially photographed very harshly, but behind every sour face is a smile longing to appear. Her journey from this monster mama to atoned woman desperate for a second chance is a joy to watch. For me, watching this a second time improved my opinion of it, every moment both hating her and pitying her for her coldness. It is ironic to see La Verne visiting spots of the French revolution, remembering her as the hags in the silent "Orphans of the Storm" and the later "A Tale of Two Cities". This may not be a truly perfect film, but it is one worthy of re-discovery, and a definite treasure in the career of its director, John Ford.

Masterfully directed and definitely among John Ford's best.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 3 July 2010]

This film is about a part of American and French history that I'd never heard about. Apparently in 1930, the War Department and the French government worked together to locate mothers who lost sons during the war and invited them to France to pay their respects. "Pilgrimage" is a nice little memorial to these men and their ultimate sacrifices.

Hannah Jessop is a spiteful and controlling mother. When her son, Jim, announces to her that he wants to wed Mary, she refuses to give her permission--saying she'd rather see him dead! She even goes a step further and sees the head of the local draft board to ask that Jim's exemption (since he's her only son) be withdrawn--she WANTS to see him taken into the army during WWI! Nice lady, huh?! Sadly, Mary just happens to be pregnant and his being called overseas leaves her alone and with a baby on the way. Even worse, word soon comes that Jim was killed in action.

Now the film jumps ahead ten years. Hannah is alone and as cranky as ever. Despite her now having a grandson who lives nearby, she has had nothing to do with the kid. As for the little boy, he's often picked on by the other kids since he's illegitimate--and he's miserable.

Out of the blue, an organization comes to pressure Hannah to come with a shipload of gold star mothers (women who lost sons in the war). They want her to represent her town on this pilgrimage. Naturally, she is against it and a bit nasty, but the next day she's changed her mind and heads to France with the other women. There, aboard the ship, you see many vignettes of the types of women who were in attendance--and some of them are quite touching. It seems that the French have invited all the ladies in appreciation for their son's sacrifice to save their nation.

One thing you soon notice is that nasty Hannah is beginning to loosen up--allowing herself to smile and even be friendly with the other passengers. It's a huge contrast to what we'd seen of her in the film so far! Then an odd thing happens--Hannah becomes a rather normal and likable person through the course of the film--someone you can actually connect with and not hate. She especially grows, when you see her, for once, giving to others instead of being mired in her own bitterness And, in the process, she finds redemption.

The film is exceptional in so many ways. While the actors were mostly unknowns, the direction by John Ford was among the best he ever did--long before he was recognized as a film genius. Again and again, I marveled at the sensitive and touching moments in the film--and Ford certainly excelled at sentiment. Some of this clearly was due to the writers, but so often the way the scenes were framed, the camera work and the wonderful little performances betrayed that a masterful touch was bringing it all together. While this film's direction is as good as any Ford ever did, the DVD with this film on it has "Born Reckless" (1930) on the other--and it's a very poor Ford film. My advice, then, is see "Pilgrimage" first--otherwise you might think his films of this era are nothing special!

All about their Mother

[akoaytao1234 · 9/10 · 8 April 2023]

One of the biggest surprise I had watching a film, a precode Melodrama about a mother and her burdens after she left his son onto a war that ultimately killed him and left his unwed pregnant bride alone. Now few years forward, she heads on for a pilgrimage together with other mothers of dead soldier to find peace and solace in their final resting place.

There something entirely modern watching this film. The stilted attitude shown as is, and is actually looked down. A plight that shows much headspace that lefts its viewer to see how the gears was turning AND a moving change of heart. The story is just more complicated and nuance than a lot of the films that would be made afterwards.

Again, a precode film that defies its age. Pilgrimage is often forgotten in the works of Ford as it is not a Western nor does it include big stars that would be common place in his peak era. But it works. With the central performance of Henrietta Crosman and the other mothers in the film, they do heavy lifting in creating a wounded view of different mothers as they try to make sense of their great loss in the war.

Overall, a delightful find. Wonderful all around.

Surprisingly good, moving film that ought to be seen more often

[MichaelM-3 · 11 August 1999]

"Pilgrimage" works at several levels.

It is "a woman's film" in that it is very emotional.

It presents a cast of superb actors, generally unknown to modern audiences, with the exception of Heather Angel, whose role is actually small despite her second billing.

It is a surprise, too, because its director was John Ford, much better known for such action pictures as "The Searchers" and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," or such dark melodramas as "The Informer."

There is a remarkably talented child actor who grew up to become the daddy of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Jay Ward.

Marian Nixon, billed down the list, but with a strong and important role, is not only beautiful, but poignant and touching. She deserves to be considered in the pantheon of great actresses who didn't quite make the top ranks.

Perhaps because of the lack of major names, perhaps because of the time frame of the action, perhaps because of the weepiness of the plot (which I do not say in a pejorative sense), "Pilgrimage" is almost unknown today, but I consider it quite good, definitely worth seeing again.

Communicating with the dead (some spoilers)

[Kalaman · 20 June 2002]

"Pilgrimage" is sadly one of John Ford's least appreciated masterworks. I think this one is better than Ford's other film of the year, "Doctor Bull" (his first collaboration with Will Rogers). "Pilgrimage"'s undeserved obscurity is due to the fact that most pre-1935 Fox films are highly inaccessible and very hard to find on video. This is something to be lamented because this is such a lovely piece of work in need of reappraisal.

For me, what is so fascinating about "Pilgrimage" is the scene in which Hannah Jessop, a hard-hearted mother who mistakenly enlists her son Jim to the army, talks to her son on his grave. Hannah asks Jim to forgive what she did to him and she falls on his grave in a fog-covered, Murnau-inspired tracking shot. This is hardly an aberration. In Ford's work, the living often communicates with the dead in complex ways.

In "Judge Priest", there is a marvellous scene where Will Rogers talks to his wife on her tombstone. Far from affirming his long-lost wife and her children, the scene illustrates Priest's loneliness and celibacy and the transitory attitude toward his life. As much as reconciling and healing tensions, Ford's heroes are extremely lonely and sometimes their loneliness often leads to self-destruction (a classic example is Ford's sublime swan song, "7 Women"). In "Young Mr. Lincoln", Abe Lincoln talks to Ann Rutledge on her graveyard. By doing this, Lincoln finally surrenders to her and carries her past spirit into his mythic status.

Ford's most personal works feature a deeply felt Catholicity. He redeems the dead as much as the living, and a new era is built on past mistakes and sacrifices. But what's so remarkable about "Pilgrimage" is that unlike Lincoln and Priest, Hannah forgets her status as a true mediator and creates a disharmony that purports to be order. Lincoln and Priest's roles as mediators are far more subtle and complex in their grasp of their own intolerant communities. Still, Hannah recovers and after her pilgrimage, she finally meets Jim's son and embraces him. And in the end a sense of harmony and security is born of Hannah's pilgrimage and self-discovery.

Strong Direction

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

Pilgrimage (1933)

*** (out of 4)

Hard hitting drama from John Ford about an overbearing mother (Henrietta Crosman) who can't stand to see her son (Norman Foster) with a farm girl (Heather Angel) because she wants him to stand with her his entire life. When the mother learns that her son has the girl pregnant, she puts him in the draft for WW1 where he is eventually killed. The mother still doesn't accept his son's girlfriend or their kids but when she goes to France to visit her son's grave she meets a young couple who are in the same boat as her dead son. This isn't one of Ford's greatest films but I might go on the record as saying it's his greatest directing jobs. It's rather amazing at what Ford is able to do with this film because it's so strong on so many levels when you'd think these levels wouldn't work together. Henrietta Crosman's character is one of the most evil bitches to ever show up in any film. Her self centered ways and the ways she abuses the young woman after her son is killed made my blood boil with hatred. I really, really hated her character and wished the very worst for her. I knew there would be some sort of redemption but I thought it would be impossible for me to give it to her yet Ford works the film in such a way that the message of forgiveness comes across very strong. SOme might balk at the ending but it worked perfectly well for me. Ford handles the redemption very well and it's terrific how he's able to get it while earlier in the film creating a hated character. The supporting cast is very good but the show clearly belongs to Crosman who delivers a brilliant performance. This isn't one of the director's better known films but hopefully its recent DVD release will change that.