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The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
1/25
1/25:
I turned off The Keys of the Kingdom after thirty minutes.
That's because I can't stand too much talking. It's always been Joseph L. Mankiewicz's problem. The man
needs to know when to stop being in love with his words. A couple of days later, I went back to the film
when it transitioned to China. That's when the film started to improve only because...there's less
talking! As a result, I finished the whole thing in one sitting.
Unfortunately, the whole show is average, constantly reminding me of
Goodbye, Mr. Chips due to a peculiar storytelling trait. It
goes like this: the protagonist is seemingly a failure at first, but the more we get know to his deeds amidst
the passage of time in decades, the better person he actually is, hence his unofficial status of a saint.
Here's the trouble: where's the growth? I don't sense anything. Everybody looks the same, and nothing has
changed. At the end, the protagonist is given a beautiful send-off that's supposed to make me teary-eyed.
Such ridiculous stuff. I think it only works in epics such as
Lawrence of Arabia, Lean on Me,
and Braveheart. You need a larger-than-life character to effect this kind
of meaningful change, something that Gregory Peck and Robert Donat never possessed to begin with.
Anyway, it's a decent performance by Gregory Peck who makes his screen debut, coming from a run of failures
on Broadway. Afterwards, he was given an Academy Award nomination, setting off fifty-plus years of
excellence in cinema. However, for the same type of role, I recommend
The Scarlet and the Black because Gregory Peck became a
better actor over time by perfecting the art of magnanimousness.
Meanwhile, I give credit to Hollywood for not casting white thespians as Asians with the exception of Leonard
Strong who played Mr. Chia. I don't know how often this has happened in the early 40's and before, but it's
a rare achievement. The makeup job on Gregory Peck is excellent, putting whoever did Billy Crystal
and David Paymer for Mr. Saturday Night to shame.
All in all, The Keys of the Kingdom just needs the first thirty minutes cut out in order to get
on with the main presentation.