MGM looked for a bankable star to handle the role of Arnold Boult? It could only be Spencer Tracy, their finest actor with a recognizable face and name, So Robert Morley did not play his self-created dream part, but Tracy inherited it. Fortunately Tracy was fully able to give the role it's best spin if it's creator was unavailable.
Tracy being called a Canadian enables him cover his accent and to aim for social advancement that America can't really match. The social advancement is really for the sake of the one figure in the film who never appears: Edward Boult. He is like Sebastian in SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER or Harvey in HARVEY. We are aware of his personality, and even sense his presence, but we never view his face or hear his voice.
Arnold Boult and his wife Evelyn (Deborah Kerr) have just moved to a middle class district. They have two good pieces of news. First Arnold has begun a partnership with one Harry Sempkin (Mervyn Johns) in a warehouse. Secondly Arnold and Evelyn are blessed with a baby Edward. But Edward is sickly, and their friend Dr. Larry Woodhope (Ian Hunter) warns that unless Edward gets some treatment it may prove fatal for him. Arnold is totally concerned about this, and decides that he needs the money quickly. The warehouse is stocked with goods, and they have an inflated insurance policy. The warehouse goes up in smoke. Eventually the insurance companies (who are not fully satisfied - more about that late) pay up, Boult uses the money to save Edward, but also to go up in the business world (dragging a bewildered Evelyn and a frightened Sempkins with him). Sempkins is frightened because he has already had a spell in prison on a minor fraud, and he was hoping to make a new, clean beginning with the warehouse.
The story follows the expansion of Arnold's business deals to include newspaper chains, automobile companies, and the like. As has been pointed out, his Canadian background and newspaper interests make him seem a bit like Max Aiken, Lord Beaverbrook, but Aiken was never crooked. Along the way Sempkins gets framed for another swindle (and returns for a heavier prison term), and Edward is spoiled rotten despite Evelyn's trying to restrain Arnold.
Dr. Woodhope (who loves Evelyn) has to stand by and watch all of this - for Arnold has a nasty disposition towards anyone who tries to stand in his way. His break with Evelyn comes when she attempts to get legal custody in a separation, and Arnold blackmails her into accepting the status quo or being divorced and kept from ever seeing her son again.
He does similar numbers on others too. When Edward is doing his own thing at a leading public school run by Mr. Hanray (Felix Aylmer) the latter plans to expel the boy. Boult shows up and turns out to have been buying up debts owed by the school that could cause foreclosure. He offers Hanray a choice - close the school or graduate Edward. Hanray makes the choice that Boult seeks.
Eventually Edward gets a young woman pregnant, but she is not the type that Boult wants for his son - nothing less than a member of the aristocracy for Edward. The girl leaves...and takes away a future that Boult did not think of.
Edward is killed in the war in a plane disaster (he was fooling with the plane to impress a woman, it went out of control, and killed him and the crew). This finishes Evelyn, who has become an alcoholic. She dies within a few years.
Boult's social rise has been complicated. Rumors about his methods make people treat him at arms length. Sempkins commits suicide at his office building, temporarily stopping Bou;t's knighthood. But only the death of Edward shatters him - he really loved the boy. The insurance companies are still curious about the warehouse fire, and apparently closing in.
Then he learns the young woman had her baby son. The only person who knows their location is Dr. Woodhope, but when he and Boult face off the Doctor won't crack. And now Boult has no clout left - he is sentenced to five years in prison for the warehouse fire.
He comes out at the end of the film addressing the audience. He did it all for Edward, and he is now determined to find Edward's son and do it all for him too! The film ends with Tracy looking around the screen seeking the familiar features of his missing grandson.
Except for Edward Hyde Tracy never appeared in as negative a part in his major star films. Arnold Boult is a far cry from Father Flannagan or Manuel. There is nothing positive for Arnold. He loves Edward as a person to carry on his name - to breed a line of Arnold Boults. One wonders what would have happened if Edward ever had the temerity to say he wasn't interested.
Deborah Kerr's Evelyn is a sad character. She does try to keep a state of balance but fails to because her husband is just too overpowering. Her final collapse is the death of the son she loved but could not save. Hunter's Doctor is proper in his official relationship with the Boults, and also victimized as he could probably have given Evelyn the right helpmate for her child. His refusal to assist Arnold in their last confrontation is emotionally satisfying. As for Mervyn Johns, he comes on with all the hope of the future running on this partnership - not realizing his partner is the Devil - and ends a walking ghost. His suicide is like an afterthought
Tracy being called a Canadian enables him cover his accent and to aim for social advancement that America can't really match. The social advancement is really for the sake of the one figure in the film who never appears: Edward Boult. He is like Sebastian in SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER or Harvey in HARVEY. We are aware of his personality, and even sense his presence, but we never view his face or hear his voice.
Arnold Boult and his wife Evelyn (Deborah Kerr) have just moved to a middle class district. They have two good pieces of news. First Arnold has begun a partnership with one Harry Sempkin (Mervyn Johns) in a warehouse. Secondly Arnold and Evelyn are blessed with a baby Edward. But Edward is sickly, and their friend Dr. Larry Woodhope (Ian Hunter) warns that unless Edward gets some treatment it may prove fatal for him. Arnold is totally concerned about this, and decides that he needs the money quickly. The warehouse is stocked with goods, and they have an inflated insurance policy. The warehouse goes up in smoke. Eventually the insurance companies (who are not fully satisfied - more about that late) pay up, Boult uses the money to save Edward, but also to go up in the business world (dragging a bewildered Evelyn and a frightened Sempkins with him). Sempkins is frightened because he has already had a spell in prison on a minor fraud, and he was hoping to make a new, clean beginning with the warehouse.
The story follows the expansion of Arnold's business deals to include newspaper chains, automobile companies, and the like. As has been pointed out, his Canadian background and newspaper interests make him seem a bit like Max Aiken, Lord Beaverbrook, but Aiken was never crooked. Along the way Sempkins gets framed for another swindle (and returns for a heavier prison term), and Edward is spoiled rotten despite Evelyn's trying to restrain Arnold.
Dr. Woodhope (who loves Evelyn) has to stand by and watch all of this - for Arnold has a nasty disposition towards anyone who tries to stand in his way. His break with Evelyn comes when she attempts to get legal custody in a separation, and Arnold blackmails her into accepting the status quo or being divorced and kept from ever seeing her son again.
He does similar numbers on others too. When Edward is doing his own thing at a leading public school run by Mr. Hanray (Felix Aylmer) the latter plans to expel the boy. Boult shows up and turns out to have been buying up debts owed by the school that could cause foreclosure. He offers Hanray a choice - close the school or graduate Edward. Hanray makes the choice that Boult seeks.
Eventually Edward gets a young woman pregnant, but she is not the type that Boult wants for his son - nothing less than a member of the aristocracy for Edward. The girl leaves...and takes away a future that Boult did not think of.
Edward is killed in the war in a plane disaster (he was fooling with the plane to impress a woman, it went out of control, and killed him and the crew). This finishes Evelyn, who has become an alcoholic. She dies within a few years.
Boult's social rise has been complicated. Rumors about his methods make people treat him at arms length. Sempkins commits suicide at his office building, temporarily stopping Bou;t's knighthood. But only the death of Edward shatters him - he really loved the boy. The insurance companies are still curious about the warehouse fire, and apparently closing in.
Then he learns the young woman had her baby son. The only person who knows their location is Dr. Woodhope, but when he and Boult face off the Doctor won't crack. And now Boult has no clout left - he is sentenced to five years in prison for the warehouse fire.
He comes out at the end of the film addressing the audience. He did it all for Edward, and he is now determined to find Edward's son and do it all for him too! The film ends with Tracy looking around the screen seeking the familiar features of his missing grandson.
Except for Edward Hyde Tracy never appeared in as negative a part in his major star films. Arnold Boult is a far cry from Father Flannagan or Manuel. There is nothing positive for Arnold. He loves Edward as a person to carry on his name - to breed a line of Arnold Boults. One wonders what would have happened if Edward ever had the temerity to say he wasn't interested.
Deborah Kerr's Evelyn is a sad character. She does try to keep a state of balance but fails to because her husband is just too overpowering. Her final collapse is the death of the son she loved but could not save. Hunter's Doctor is proper in his official relationship with the Boults, and also victimized as he could probably have given Evelyn the right helpmate for her child. His refusal to assist Arnold in their last confrontation is emotionally satisfying. As for Mervyn Johns, he comes on with all the hope of the future running on this partnership - not realizing his partner is the Devil - and ends a walking ghost. His suicide is like an afterthought