Steineded How sad is this?

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

krocheav I had waited for many years to see this film, and when it turned up on TCM my wife and I jumped at the opportunity. It's hard to believe that MGM could have turned out such a poor production.The basic story is interesting, the shots of ships at sea are grand, (albeit too few) George Folsey's nominated Cinematography pleases the eye ~ but it's all let down by a pedestrian screenplay, (Harry Brown was not up to the task) limp direction by Richard Thorpe, and 'by the numbers' acting. Everyone looked as if they knew they were making a dud. Taylor had turned in many fine performances, both before and after 'All the Brothers': "The Mortal Storm" - a true 1940's Gem (the film that caused Goebbels to ban screenings of MGM pictures in German territories!) "Devil's Doorway" '50 (while perhaps miscast as an Indian, was still very effective) then after: "Saddle the Wind" etc.As for 'Brothers', he looks as if he were only doing it to honor a contract. It seemed much the same with Granger, who had moments looking like he wished it was all over...not one of his better performances (ie: "Bhowani Junction") Ann Blyth was worthy of better material, she had very few good moments and even less good lines, and while Betta St John was very appealing playing a native girl, shes wasted as an actress. "All the Brothers..." quite clearly shows major film making in decline. MGM only a few years on would be heading for receivership.... Strong, story driven scripts, were giving way to more graphic violence and superficial details. My wife gave up half way through. This is one time Leonard Maltin got his review right. Following the war years, it seemed much of the creative passion had subsided, and fewer people cared all that much. This all pointed toward Television, bringing with it more low brow artificial trends, leading to todays 'comercially stylized' film making.The terrible print screened by TCM Australia did not help. The vivid Technicolor had been cheaply transfered and reduced to a dull, lifeless shadow of the original. The image focus was soft and fuzzy, the audio was equally poor.Congratulations though, are due to TCM in the USA, by showing some respect for it's viewing audience. Their watermark (station ID) is supered over the image for 30seconds only every hour or so. This offers the paying customer better appreciation of good composition, with far less overall distraction. They also seem to have little, or no 'Automatic Volume Leveling' devices on their sound tracks, so there's less unwanted hiss during the quieter moments. When will TCM Australia get it right and offer its paying customers the quality they deserve? Little wonder so many folk I've spoken to, tell me they've cancelled their subscription.I'm still with it, but if it doesn't improve, don't know for how much longer. As for 'The Valiant Bros" if you're un-demanding, it may help pass or waste some time.

mark.waltz There are far too many villains in "All the Brothers Were Valiant", an update of an old silent where two brothers continue the family destiny at sea. The two brothers are as different as night and day. We meet them over a series of flashbacks of their ancestors writing in the ship's log that has been passed down from one generation to the next, and as one of the brothers is presumed dead, surviving brother Robert Taylor learns his brother had made many enemies at sea. Taking over the vessel, he marries the dead brother's former sweetheart (the lovely Ann Blyth, cast as more than just another pretty face here) and heads out for an adventure of whaling. But like the legend of Enoch Arden, the dead brother (Stewart Granger) returns, and their old rivalry is revealed, Granger gloating over having always taken away Taylor's toys as a child, and vowing to do that now both with the ship and with Blyth.First, though, there is an adventure concerning pearl diving where Granger explains his whereabouts while presumed dead as he joined up with pearl hunters James Whitmore and Kurt Kasznar who are as villainous as the men aboard Taylor's crew. The extended sequence is like something out of one of Dorothy Lamour's Paramount adventures featuring tropical settings (near the Cape of Good Hope) and the two men being done in by their own greed. But Granger learns nothing from this adventure, and utilizes the men on Taylor's boat to plot mutiny so they can return to find the bag of pearls accidentally dropped into the bottom of the sea.Rather violent in some sequences, this attractive color production screams "silent movie!" with its melodramatic dialog and the contrast of good and evil between the two brothers. It is odd to see Granger playing such an amoral character, but there are elements of good in him that creep out on occasion to make him less one dimensional than the characters played by such character actors as Keenan Wynn, Robert Burton and James Lupton. "Judge Hardy" Lewis Stone has a cameo in this his last film, having died tragically on his front lawn after having a heart attack while dealing with juvenile delinquents breaking up his lawn furniture. Betta St. John is the native girl Granger briefly takes up with in his south sea adventure. Overall, this may not be a classic, but as adventure, it is lots of fun, and a reminder of the power of nobility.

Robert J. Maxwell Taylor is captain of a whaling ship in the south Pacific. His wife, Anne Blythe, is also aboard to keep Taylor from getting too nervous. The crew are a mixed lot. Somewhere along the way Taylor's ship picks up Taylor's brother, Stewart Granger, who left home long ago to pursue various unsavory adventures, leaving behind a history of family friction.Granger relates a tale of falling in with a couple of douche bags, Kurt Kaszner and James Whitmore, who show him a stash of pearls in the lagoon of an island inhabited by hostile natives. Before they can make off with the millions of dollars of rare pearls, the two miscreants are killed and Granger barely escapes alive.Back aboard Taylor's ship, Granger invites him to forget about any past frictions and join him in getting the pearls. Forget the whaling business. It sounds pretty good to Anne Blythe, who has always had a bit of a crush on the roguish Granger, but Taylor's face is grim as he declares that he, the captain, will carry out the ship's mission, which is to kill whales.Stewart seduces Blythe and incites a mutiny. That's the kind of guy he is. There is a knockabout fist fight, and Granger changes sides to fight side by side with his brother and -- well, medical discretion forbids the revelation of additional plot details, but, this being a 1950s movie, you can guess the ending.Interesting to see Stewart Granger in the role of irresponsible and light-hearted adventurer, kind of an Errol Flynn role. Robert Taylor's acting makes a quantum leap in this film -- he manages to suggest two emotions at the same time. As an actress, Anne Blythe had a pretty voice.The score is by Miklos Rozsa. You can tell from the moment that first signature six-note phrase appears. We're told Rozsa was a musical prodigy. There's no reason to doubt it, but he recycled the same tone and even the same melodies from one movie to the next. Dmitri Tiomkin was also distinctive, but you can tell one score from another. "The Guns of Navarron" doesn't sound like "Red River." But here, if you close your eyelids, you find you're watching "Ben Hur" unroll on their interiors.I hate to sound too sarcastic about this but it really is a dated by-product of the old Hollywood. It seems to have been ground out like a Sonic Burger. Everyone wears clean clothes. The men are closely shaved except those who look like supporting players and extras who have been instructed to grow beards so they look villainous. The tans are not from the weather but from Max Factor. After a monstrous gut-busting fist fight, nobody has a mark on him -- and this was after "Shane". The scenes aboard ship are studio bound. There's not a puff of wind.Strictly routine.

silverscreen888 This is one of my favorite stories as a writer, and it has been for fifty years. MGM had many contract players still on its roster in the early 1950s, among them its most used leading men Robert Taylor and Stewart Granger. To pair with them, as a woman loved by both, studio executives decided to use Ann Blyth, their lovely dark-haired all purpose singing and dramatic star and Betta St. John, along with many fine supporting actors such as Lewis Stone, Kurt Kasznar, Keenan Wynn, Michael Pate, John Lupton, Leo Gordon, Frank DeKova, Peter Whitney, and James Whitmore. This is an adventure that might have been played as an explicit-idea-level drama, since it has many dramatic elements. But it is also a complex, dialogue-rich film with exotic locales and actions, the strong music of Miklos Rosza and a story-line second to none. The Nathan Ross is a sturdy whaling ship from a proud New Bedford Massachusetts family's line of such ships. The men who go to sea in such frail vessels hunt the world's largest mammals with harpoons hurled from longboats; they risk dangers from wild islanders, pirates and inimical ships in foreign service; but sometimes the greatest danger comes from their own failings, passions and obsessions. "All the Brothers Were Valiant" was directed by action expert Richard Thorpe from a script by Harry Brown based on a Ben Ames Williams novel. The story-line was first revealed in a movie magazine in the year of release, along with "Shane" and several other soon-to-be-released films, which is when I first read of it. The production itself was filmed in color and I find it to be beautifully mounted. Cinematography was provided by George Folsey with art direction by Randall Duell and Cedric Gibbons and set decorations by Hugh Hunt and Edwin B. Willis. The vivid costumes were the work of Walter Plunkett. Douglas Shearer as usual at MGM was the sound engineer, and this must have been one of his most difficult assignments. The story-line, remake of a silent 1920s film, begins with an exciting flashback. The year is 1857. Mark Shore (Granger) has been reported lost at sea. What really happened is he had contracted a fever and had been drinking. He ended up on an island where a beautiful native girl (St. John) nursed him, and told him of a fabulous fortune in untouched black pearls. They are chased by furious natives, and he somehow escapes. In the meanwhile, his brother, Joel Shore (Taylor) has been appointed captain of the Nathan Ross. He has also married lovely Priscilla (Blyth) who had been fonder of the more dashing Mark all along. He takes her with her on the three-year-long whaling voyage as his bride, as captains frequently did in those days. And after adventures such as a whale hunt and storms, Mark finds his way back aboard ship. he claims the captaincy; Taylor tells him that he is captain of the Nathan Ross and offers to make him mate. Once aboard, Mark then starts angling to excite the men about the possibility of going back for the fortune in pearls, which lie in only 12 feet of water, just waiting to be harvested. What happens hereafter is the fomenting of a mutiny, which at the last Granger refuses to allow to run its course, He and Taylor battle the ship's mutineers and at the last, in keeping with a strange tradition which is practiced at the end of each day when the captain of the ship writes his "log" or journal report, he is able to say of Mark as well as himself, "all the brothers were valiant". This is a complex and interesting tale, I suggest, and one filled with fascinating minor characters and dramatic interplay among the persons and crewmen involved.. Granger is very good as Mark, and Blyth is unusually good for a young actress as the woman they both desire. Taylor is stalwart and capable as the serious-minded brother also. Many of the supporting actors are outstanding, as they must play honest seamen and obsessed mutineers or disappointed loyalists as well. Also aboard or involved were in addition to those already named John Doucette, Robert Burton, James Bell, Stanley Andrews, Tyler McVey, Mitchell Lewis, Henry Rowland and Jonathan Kott among others. I recommend this story as a fine and strongly-plotted adventure; its theme is honor, and its production values both I find to be very high indeed.