Penn of Pennsylvania
Encyclopedia
Penn of Pennsylvania is a 1941 British historical 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...

 directed by Lance Comfort
Lance Comfort
Lance Comfort was an English film director and producer born in Harrow, London.With a career spanning over 25 years he became one of the most prolific film directors in Britain though never gained critical attention and remained on the fringes of the film industry creating mostly B movies.Comfort...

 and starring Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

, Clifford Evans
Clifford Evans
Clifford Evans was a Welsh actor. As a conscientious objector he served in the Non-Combatant Corps in World War II.During the summer of 1934 he appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Open Air Theatre in London....

, Dennis Arundell
Dennis Arundell
Dennis Drew Arundell was a British actor, librettist, opera scholar, translator, producer, director, conductor and composer of incidental music.-Selected filmography:...

, Henry Oscar
Henry Oscar
Henry Oscar was an English stage and film actor.Born as Henry Wale, he changed his name and began acting in 1911 and appeared in a wide range of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much , Fire Over England , The Four Feathers , Hatter's Castle ,...

, Herbet Lomas
Herbert Lomas (actor)
Herbet Lomas was a British actor who appeared in more than forty films in a career lasting between 1931 and 1955. He was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1887 and made his first screen appearance in the 1931 film Hobson's Choice.-Filmography:...

 and Edward Rigby
Edward Rigby
Edward Rigby was a British character actor.-Early life:Rigby was the son of Jamaican-born Dr. William Harriot Coke and his wife Liverpool-born Mary Elizabeth of 17 High Street, Ashford. He was educated at Haileybury, and Wye Agricultural College...

. The film depicts the life of the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...

. It portrays his struggle to be granted a colonial charter
Colonial charter
A charter is a document that gave colonies the legal rights to exist.A charter is a document bestowing certain rights on a town, city, university or an institution....

 in London and attracting settlers to his new colony as well as his adoption a radical new approach with regard to the treatment of the Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

. It is also known by the alternative title
Alternative title
An alternative title is a film distribution device. Films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small alteration to the title, such as the addition of The, to wholesale changes...

 Courageous Mr. Penn.

Production

The idea of a film about Penn was developed by the producer Richard Vernon
Richard Vernon
Richard Vernon was a British actor. He appeared in many feature films and television programmes, often in aristocratic or supercilious roles...

. After listening to a radio broadcast by Franklin Delano Roosevelt Vernon had been struck by how similar his views were to the Quaker philosophy of William Penn the next morning he approached bosses at British National Films and pitched the idea of a Penn biopic to them, securing their support. Anatole de Grunwald
Anatole de Grunwald
Anatole "Tolly" de Grunwald was a British film producer and screenwriter.Anatole de Grunwald was born in Petrograd , Russia, the son of a diplomat in the service of Tsar Nicholas II. He was seven years old when his father was forced to flee with his family to England during the 1917 Bolshevik...

 hastily wrote a screenplay and the film began production at Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios
"Elstree Studios" refers to any of several film studios that were based in the towns of Borehamwood and Elstree in Hertfordshire, England, since film production begun in 1927.-Name:...

 on 10 February 1941. Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

, a rising star, was given equal billing with Clifford Evans
Clifford Evans
Clifford Evans was a Welsh actor. As a conscientious objector he served in the Non-Combatant Corps in World War II.During the summer of 1934 he appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Open Air Theatre in London....

, who played Penn, but had far less screen time as the film primarily focused on Penn rather than her portrayal of his wife. The film concentrates of Penn's emblematic importance rather than simply as a historic individual, and he serves as a broader depiction of a freedom-loving Englishman.

The musical score was written by William Alwyn
William Alwyn
William Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.-Life and music:...

, the first time he had written for a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

. His score is generally considered far superior to the film itself.

Made during the Second World War the film was intended in part as a propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 effort to stir the United States out of its isolationist policies and persuade them into joining the war on Britain's side, and was one of a series of historical films including The Prime Minister
The Prime Minister (film)
The Prime Minister is a British film from 1941 directed by Thorold Dickinson. It details the life and times of Benjamin Disraeli, who became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and stars John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard, Fay Compton and Stephen Murray.-Plot:...

, The Young Mr Pitt
The Young Mr Pitt
The Young Mr Pitt is a 1942 British, black-and-white, biographical film, directed by Carol Reed and starring Robert Donat, Robert Morley and John Mills. It was produced by Edward Black, Maurice Ostrer, Twentieth Century Productions Ltd. and Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation.-Synopsis:The film...

and The Great Mr Handel which were made at the same time, as well as Thunder Rock
Thunder Rock (film)
Thunder Rock is a 1942 British drama film with supernatural elements, directed by Roy Boulting and starring Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Lilli Palmer and Barbara Mullen.-Background:...

and 49th Parallel
49th Parallel (film)
49th Parallel is the third film made by the British writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was released in the United States as The Invaders. Despite the title, no scene in the movie is set at the 49th parallel, which forms much of the U.S.-Canadian border...

which portrayed a similar message in a contemporary setting.

Reception

The film received universally bad reviews which criticised the lack of vitality in the historical figures who often resembled stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

s. When it was released in the United States the New York Times observed "Penn is definitely not one of England's better film efforts". Evan's portrayal of Penn was generally praised for his "sympathetic" performance.

Shortly afterwards Comfort directed Kerr in another film Hatter's Castle
Hatter's Castle (film)
Hatter's Castle is a 1941 British film adaptation of the 1931 novel by A. J. Cronin, which dramatizes the ruin that befalls a Scottish hatter set on recapturing his imagined lost nobility. The film was made by Paramount British Pictures and stars Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason, and Emlyn...

which proved a major success.

Cast

  • Clifford Evans
    Clifford Evans
    Clifford Evans was a Welsh actor. As a conscientious objector he served in the Non-Combatant Corps in World War II.During the summer of 1934 he appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Open Air Theatre in London....

     - William Penn
  • Deborah Kerr
    Deborah Kerr
    Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

     - Gulielma Maria Springett
  • Dennis Arundell
    Dennis Arundell
    Dennis Drew Arundell was a British actor, librettist, opera scholar, translator, producer, director, conductor and composer of incidental music.-Selected filmography:...

     - Charles II
  • Aubrey Mallalieu
    Aubrey Mallalieu
    Aubrey Mallalieu was an English actor with a prolific career in supporting roles in films in the 1930s and 1940s....

     - Chaplain
  • D.J. Williams - Lord Arlington
  • O.B. Clarence - Lord Cecil
  • James Harcourt
    James Harcourt
    James Harcourt was a British character actor. He was born on 20 April 1873 in Headingley, Yorkshire.He started work as a cabinet maker, and drifted into amateur dramatics...

     - George Fox
  • Charles Carson
    Charles Carson (actor)
    -Selected filmography:* The Loves of Ariane * Dreyfus * Many Waters * Marry Me * The Chinese Puzzle * Monsieur Albert * Men of Tomorrow * Leap Year...

     - Admiral Penn
  • Henry Oscar
    Henry Oscar
    Henry Oscar was an English stage and film actor.Born as Henry Wale, he changed his name and began acting in 1911 and appeared in a wide range of films, including Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much , Fire Over England , The Four Feathers , Hatter's Castle ,...

     - Samuel Pepys
  • Max Adrian
    Max Adrian
    Max Adrian was a Northern Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre....

     - Elton
  • John Stuart
    John Stuart (actor)
    John Stuart, born John Alfred Louden Croall , was a Scottish actor, and a very popular leading man in British silent films in the 1920s. He appeared in two films directed by Alfred Hitchcock....

     - Bindle
  • Maire O'Neill
    Maire O'Neill
    -External links:**...

     - Cook
  • Edward Rigby
    Edward Rigby
    Edward Rigby was a British character actor.-Early life:Rigby was the son of Jamaican-born Dr. William Harriot Coke and his wife Liverpool-born Mary Elizabeth of 17 High Street, Ashford. He was educated at Haileybury, and Wye Agricultural College...

     - Bushell
  • Joss Ambler
    Joss Ambler
    Joss Ambler was an Australian-born British film and television actor.He usually played somewhat pompous figures of authority, excelling in comedy films...

     - Lord Mayor
  • J.H. Roberts - Ford
  • Edmund Willard
    Edmund Willard
    Edmund Willard born 19 December 1884 in Brighton, Sussex, England – †6 October 1956 in Kingston upon Thames, England, was a British actor of the 1930s and 1940s....

     - Captain
  • Percy Marmont
    Percy Marmont
    Percy Marmont was an English film actor. He appeared in over 80 films between 1916 and 1968. He is best remembered today for playing the title character in Lord Jim the first film version of Joseph Conrad's novel, and for playing one of Clara Bow's love interests in the Paramount Pictures film...

     - Holme
  • Gibb McLaughlin
    Gibb McLaughlin
    Gibb McLaughlin was an English film actor. He appeared in 118 films between 1921 and 1959. He was born in Sunderland, England and died in London, England.-Selected filmography:* The Road to London...

     - Indian Chief
  • Herbert Lomas
    Herbert Lomas (actor)
    Herbet Lomas was a British actor who appeared in more than forty films in a career lasting between 1931 and 1955. He was born in Burnley, Lancashire in 1887 and made his first screen appearance in the 1931 film Hobson's Choice.-Filmography:...

     - Captain Cockle
  • Gus McNaughton
    Gus McNaughton
    Gus McNaughton was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947.He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire.-Selected filmography:* Children of Chance...

    - Mate
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