The Power and the Glory is something of a cinema breakthrough, this film was hailed at the time for its unconventional structure (dubbed ‘narratage’ and often seen as the basis for the structure of ‘Citizen Kane’ – although director Orson Welles discounted this notion.) and the debuts of Tracy in a leading role and Sturges as writer.
A corrupt tycoon rises from a poor young idealist to an uncaring robber baron. His faithful wife helps him to build his empire, then suffers from his selfishness as his power grows. It was renowned as much for Sturges’s deal with studio head Lasky for a percentage of its gross as for its structure.
production details
USA | Twentieth Century Fox | 76 minutes | 1933
Director: William K. Howard
Producer: Jesse L. Lasky
Cinematography: James Wong Howe
Editor: Paul Weatherwax
Music: Peter Brunelli
Louis De Francesco
J.S. Zamecnik
Script: Preston Sturges
Production Design: Max Parker
cast
Mary Gordon as Nurse
Sarah Padden as Henry’s Wife
Helen Vinson as Eve Borden
Robert Warwick as Edwards
Mary Carr as Flower peddler
Spencer Tracy as Tom Garner
Colleen Moore as Sally Garner
Ralph Morgan as Henry
Phillip Trent as Tom Garner, Jr.
Henry Kolker as Mr. Borden
Billy O’Brien as Tom as a Boy
Cullen Johnson as Henry as a Boy
J. Farrell MacDonald as Mulligan
Russell Simpson as Professor