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Sunrise at Campobello

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This article is about the 1960 film. For the 1958 play, see Sunrise at Campobello (play).
Sunrise at Campobello
File:Sunrise at Campobello film.jpg
VHS cover
Directed byVincent J. Donehue
Written byDore Schary
Produced byDore Schary
StarringRalph Bellamy
Greer Garson
Hume Cronyn
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • September 28, 1960 (1960-09-28)
Running time
144 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Sunrise at Campobello is a 1960 American biographical film made by Dore Schary Productions and Warner Bros., and based on the long-running Broadway play with the same name. It tells the story of the initial struggle by future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and his family when he was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 in August 1921.

Plot

Beginning at the Roosevelt family's vacation home on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada (on the border with Maine), in the summer of 1921, Franklin is depicted in early scenes as vigorously athletic, enjoying games with his children and sailing his boat.

Suddenly stricken with fever and then paralysis, subsequent scenes focus on the ensuing conflict in the following weeks between the bedridden FDR, his wife Eleanor, his mother Sara, and his close political adviser Louis Howe over FDR's political future. A later scene portrays FDR literally dragging himself up the stairs as, through grit and determination, he painfully strives to overcome his physical limitations and not remain an invalid. In the final triumphant scene, FDR is shown re-entering public life as he walks to the speaker's rostrum at a party convention, aided by heavy leg braces and on the arm of his eldest son James.

The play and film both omit any mention of Warm Springs, Georgia and of Roosevelt's stay there, and of Roosevelt's creation of a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs.

Casting and production

Sunrise at Campobello stars Ralph Bellamy, Greer Garson, Hume Cronyn and Jean Hagen. Eleanor Roosevelt was present on the set during location shooting at the Roosevelt estate in Hyde Park, New York. The film was based on Dore Schary's Tony Award-winning Broadway play of the same name. The play and the film were both written and produced by Schary and directed by Vincent J. Donehue.

Awards

The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Greer Garson), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color (Edward Carrere, George James Hopkins), Best Costume Design, Color and Best Sound (George Groves).[1] Greer Garson won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama.[2]

Historical context

Before and during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, the extent of his disability was carefully concealed from the public. Sunrise at Campobello depicts the debilitating effects of FDR's illness to a greater extent than had been previously disclosed by the media.

Although FDR's disease was earlier attributed to poliomyelitis, a 2003 peer-reviewed study[3] found that six of eight Bayesian posterior probabilities favored a diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome over poliomyelitis.

FDR's attending physician, Dr. William Keen, believed it was polio and commended Eleanor's devotion to the stricken Franklin during that time of travail, as portrayed in Sunrise at Campobello. "You have been a rare wife and have borne your heavy burden most bravely," he said, proclaiming her "one of my heroines".[4]

Franklin D. Roosevelt's character in the movie states that President Harding is playing the tuba while the country has 6,000,000 people out of work.

Cast

(l-r) Ralph Bellamy, Eleanor Roosevelt and Greer Garson at Hyde Park, NY, filming Sunrise at Campobello (1960)

See also

References

  1. ^ "The 33rd Academy Awards (1961) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
  2. ^ "NY Times: Sunrise at Campobello". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  3. ^ Goldman, AS et al., What was the cause of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's paralytic illness?. J Med Biogr. 11: 232-240 (2003)
  4. ^ Lash, Joseph P. (1971). Eleanor and Franklin. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 1-56852-075-1.
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