Stubs - Plymouth Adventure

Plymouth Adventure  (1952) Starring: Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson, Leo Genn, Lloyd Bridges. Directed by Clarence Brown. Screenplay by Helen Deutsch. Based on the novel The Plymouth Adventure by Ernest Gebler (New York, 1950). Produced by Dore Schary. Run time: 105 minutes. Color. USA. Adventure, Romance.

The landing of the Mayflower in New England is one of the touchstone moments in American History. It is from this settlement that many of the ideals we hold dear to an American way of life were born, including religious freedom and a government of the people by the people and for the people.

This very historical event gets a fictionalized treatment in Plymouth Adventure while still basically telling the story of the Pilgrim's journey to the New World. Based on Ernest Gebler’s 1950 novel of the same name, many real-life people, including John Howland, with whom I am related, are either ignored or mushed together into other characters, it’s hard to tell. There are some real figures who are represented in the film: John Alden, Miles Standish, William Brewster, Edward Winslow, William Butten, etc., so it’s a little like the film Titanic (1997), in which real life and fiction are mixed together as if the real-life story wasn’t interesting enough.

The film opens in August 1620 with a group of religious Englishmen known as the pilgrims waiting on a Southampton dock to sail to America on The Mayflower. The authorities are searching the group for William Brewster (Barry Jones), an elderly man who is wanted for his writings. No one seems to know where he is, including his wife Mary Brewster (Kathleen Lockhart), who feigns not to have seen him since they arrived back from Holland.

Carpenter John Alden (Van Johnson) overhears talk about
the voyage and talks with Gilbert Winslow (John Dehner), one of the passengers.

John Alden (Van Johnson), is not a pilgrim himself, but as a carpenter, he overhears talk and gets interested in going along. He seeks out the ship’s captain, Christopher Jones (Spencer Tracy), who is in conference with Mr. Weston, a representative of the Virginia Company, which is sponsoring the voyage.

Alden walks in after Weston (Rhy Williams) has bribed Capt. Christopher Jones
(Spencer Tracy) to take the pilgrims to New England rather than Virginia.

He walks in while Weston (Rhys Williams) is bribing Jones to take the Mayflower to New England, rather than Virginia. He offers Jones 100 pounds with more when he returns. Jones said he would have to include his first mate Coppin (Lloyd Bridges) in the scheme, as he is the ship’s navigator.

Coppin (Lloyd Bridges)

Alden signs up to work for the Virginia Company as a carpenter for a year’s term. When he gets onboard, he is not considered either crew or Pilgrim and has to find his own place to bed. He takes up residence in the rope room, where he discovers Brewster is hiding and decides to help him. He also takes notice of Priscilla Mullins (Dawn Addams), the only single woman on the boat over the age of 10.

Priscilla Mullins (Dawn Addams)

Just before the Mayflower sets sail, Weston reveals that terms of the compact have been changed, and rather than work five days for the Virginia Company and two days for themselves, the settlers will need to work seven days a week for the company and everything would belong to the company, including their homes.

When the passengers refuse to sign, Weston tears up the agreement, but does not cancel the voyage. Later, Jones realizes what Weston has planned and tells Coppin what’s going on. He theorizes that Weston had secretly been buying the bankrupt New England company in the hope that the hardworking pilgrims would make it profitable.

The passengers still want to go and because the voyage has already been paid for, Jones agrees to keep his passengers. But he does know who Brewster is and holds over turning him over to the authorities as a way of keeping the passengers in line.

The night before sailing, Jones gets drunk in a local tavern and when he comes back onboard, encounters Dorothy Bradford (Gene Tierney), the pretty, younger wife of William Bradford (Leo Genn). Jones is attracted to Dorothy and tries to force himself on her. Her screams summon her husband and this ends the attack.

The next morning, August 6th, the Mayflower and its companion ship, the Speedwell, set sail. Young William Button (Tommy Ivo) happily says that he will be the first to see the new world, a vow written down by Gilbert Winslow (John Dehner), who chronicles the voyage.

The Mayflower is in the foreground and The Speedwell is behind it.

By August 15th, the Speedwell is having trouble. Jones goes over to the boat to assess the problem. Bradford insists that the captain tell him the problem and he’ll tell the passengers. Jones balks and tells Bradford he’ll tell them. Turns out the Speedwell is on the verge of sinking and Jones determines that both ships must return to England. Although the passengers concur, Jones is irritated that Bradford has insisted that the passengers vote on the issue.

Back in Plymouth, England, eighteen of the Mayflower passengers decide to remain, and the rest vote to allow those on the Speedwell to sail with them. Jones allows that but warns them of short rations.

After setting sail again, the Mayflower encounters dry weather, and water is limited. When John helps Priscilla obtain some fresh water for washing, she then passes it around, and eventually, Dorothy tosses it overboard, which is seen by First Mate Coppin, who drags her in to see Jones. Jones admonishes her because of how low the water supply is but also intimates that there is always water for a friend of the Captain. Insulted, Dorothy rushes back to her cabin, where her husband tells her not to interact with the sailors.

Soon the weather turns cold and Mr. Bradford, among others, comes down with lung fever.

A great storm threatens the Mayflower.

When a large storm hits, the passengers are terrified. When a woman mistakenly reports that her son is on deck, Bradford goes to find him. In the tossing and turning, Bradford falls into the ocean. He is saved by Jones and Winslow.

As the storm continues to rage, the mast falls and one of the timbers beneath the deck breaks. The ship is only saved from foundering when Alden suggests that they use a large printing press in the cargo hold to hoist the ceiling. The press works and for the first time, Jones smiles.

After the storm passes, Dorothy goes to Jones to thank him for saving her husband. He sends her away but notices that before leaving, she gently touches his jacket.

By October, the voyage has taken its toll on the passengers and crew. Many have come down with fever or scurvy. Rations and firewood are dangerously low as the cold increases. One night, Dorothy approaches Jones on deck. He admits his longing for her, but she merely says that she has discovered his secret, that he has a heart.

Pilgrims show William Button (Tommy Ivo) the dead bird.

On Wednesday, November 8th, the sixty-fourth day of their voyage, one of the dogs on the ship finds a dead land bird. Some of the passengers take it down to show to William Button, who is very ill. They hope it will inspire him. Instead, he goes up on deck to see for himself, collapses and dies.

Only after he is buried at sea, land is finally sighted. Although the passengers think that they have reached Virginia, crewman Greene (John Dierkes) tells them that it is New England, but assumes that they will stay only a few days before sailing on.

Bradford and the other leaders go to see Jones, who informs them that they will be staying in New England. Bradford, who guessed that their arrival in New England was not accidental, tells Jones that they have decided to stay because it is less tied to England than the Virginia colony.

Bradford then suggests a new compact to the other passengers, one that will unite them in the new world. There is great fanfare attributed to the signing of the Mayflower Compact.

Dorothy (Gene Tierney) and William Bradford (Leo Genn).

Later, some of the men, led by Bradford, go ashore in the area they call New Plymouth. Before leaving the ship, Bradford tells Dorothy that everything that has happened on the ship will be forgotten, then reveals how much she means to him.

After her husband has gone, Dorothy goes to Jones’ cabin to ask him to stay instead of taking the ship back to England as he’s planned. He asks her to return with him, and they kiss, but she says that it is wrong to leave her husband. Jones counters that it is equally wrong to stay and think of another man, after which a troubled Dorothy goes on deck.

Three days later, the men return, and Bradford is told by Brewster that Dorothy went over the side and drowned. After showing his contempt for Bradford, Jones goes to his cabin and sobs.

Coppin demands that they sail back to England, but Jones fights him and orders his crew to return to their posts.

In early April, the fifty-six colonists who lived through the winter are thriving, with houses built and crops planted. Jones, who has become a trusted friend, is bid farewell by the grateful colonists, and he thanks them for teaching him about the human spirit. Prior to sailing, Jones admits to Bradford, with whom he has become close, that he loved Dorothy, but says that she never betrayed her husband.

He offers any pilgrim that wants to return to England passage and tells them to meet him at 6 am. There are no takers.

As the Mayflower sets sail, he orders a salute to be fired for those who made the voyage.

The reviews from the time seem to be positive, though not enthusiastic. Variety said,” The production, ably executed, puts more emphasis on the voyage itself and the attendant dangers than on developing the characters into flesh-and-blood people.”

Bosley Crowther’s writing for The New York Times stated “Although the conception is romantic and although it even further departs from the fiction of Ernest Gebler's novel, upon which the script is based, Spencer Tracy makes something rather striking of this crudely predatory Captain Jones.” He also remarks about the depiction of the storm in the film. “…that storm at sea bears close comparison to the one in Samuel Goldwyn's 'The Hurricane.' Such waves! Such horrendous careening!” The film would win the Academy Award for Best Special Effects.

Overall, the film does keep the pace moving and while you’re never really bored, you might not really learn what went onboard the Mayflower. As noted, my relative on the journey is ignored in the film and his own claim to fame, being swept overboard, is instead attributed to William Bradford.

According to a Variety article from November 26, 1952, when the film opened, descendants of those who sailed to North America on the original Mayflower complained about the way their ancestors were portrayed. Former congressman Maurice Thatcher, Deputy Governor General of the National Society of Mayflower Descendants, took particular exception to the portrayal of “Dorothy Bradford,” who was, according to Thatcher “eminently respectable” and not involved in any scandal as shown in the film. Thatcher claimed that the film altered the facts of incidents that happened to Priscilla Mullins to make it appear that they happened to Bradford because Bradford drowned, leaving no descendants, whereas Mullins’ descendants “raised the roof” when they learned about incidents that were to be dramatized on the screen. Not really sure if that was necessary based on what I saw depicted.

Another Variety article described similar complaints by Mayflower descendants after a special screening of the film for the Washington, D.C. chapter of the National Society of Mayflower Descendants. Following the screening, the 300-member chapter passed a resolution denouncing “the contamination of the reputation of Dorothy Bradford.”

It should be noted that Dorothy Bradford did fall from the Mayflower while William was ashore. It was a fictional story published in June 1869 in Harper’s Weekly, that said the fall was somehow a depression-induced suicide, involving an affair with the ship's captain, Christopher Jones. Although this story had no historical proof, it has nevertheless made it into some popular accounts of the Pilgrims, including this film.

John Alden and Priscilla Mullins would be married in the colony in 1621, the third such couple. William Bradford would marry Alice Carpenter, who was not portrayed in the film, later in 1623.

Spencer Tracy as Captian Christopher Jones.

The acting is pretty good considering. Spencer Tracy rarely, if ever, gave a weak performance. While, as Crowther points out he in “no way conveys the illusion of an Elizabethan sailor”, you still get the sense of a man torn by ideals and, ultimately, love.

His relationship with Dorothy seems more confined to innuendos but even that was probably something lacking from her marriage to William, who was, in real life, seven years her senior and a puritan.

I liked Van Johnson as John Alden. He seems to be a real person, someone who had nothing holding him in England and who got wrapped up in the spirit of adventure to see the New World. His attraction to Priscilla Mullins, given that she is portrayed by Dawn Addams, seems very understanding.

Leo Genn gives a reserved portrayal of William Bradford, who probably was never the life of the party. Lloyd Bridges’ Coppin is not the comic relief I had read he was supposed to be, but plays him tough and no-nonsense. He seems eager to please the Captain until he turns on him, but then knows when to heel.

This film never really touches on Thanksgiving, which was the reason I wanted to watch it. The storm is done very well and would seem to deserve the award it received for Special Effects. That might not be enough of a reason to watch it. Also hurting a recommendation is that the story is fabricated when perhaps the real story would have sufficed. There is an adventure, as the title suggests, but not historical accuracy. If you want the former but not the latter then perhaps Plymouth Adventure is for you. But if you had a relative who was onboard, you might be disappointed with either how they were portrayed or ignored.