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MAN OF CONQUEST – Victor Young
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
In 1935, Herbert Yates reorganized Republic Pictures and began a multi-year program upgrading the quality of the films. He also steadily improved Republic’s infrastructure and recruited talented technical people, writers and directors. In 1939 he decided to further expand by taking on a grand historical epic. He believed he found his vehicle with Marquis James’s 1929 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Sam Houston, “The Raven” and purchased the film rights. Sol C. Siegel was placed in charge of production with a $750,000 budget, George Nicholls would direct, and the team of Harold Shumate, Wells Root, Jan Isbell Fortune, and Edward E. Paramore Jr. would adapt the novel and write the screenplay. For the cast, Richard Dix would star as Sam Houston, joined by Gail Patrick as Margaret Lea, Edward Ellis as Andrew Jackson, Joan Fontaine as Eliza Allen, Victor Jory as William B. Travis, Robert Barrat as David Crockett, Ralph Morgan as Stephen F. Austin, Robert Armstrong as Jim Bowie, and C. Henry Gordon as Generalissimo Santa Anna. Read more…
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