Hollywood's always struggled with the American Revolution. There aren't many films to begin with, and most of the extant ones stink. That includes The Howards of Virginia (1940), a soapy studio melodrama. Between its awkward casting, sudsy story and stiff history, it's utterly forgettable.When Matt Howard's (Cary Grant) father dies in the French and Indian War, he's adopted by the family of Thomas Jefferson (Richard Carlson). Jefferson introduces Howard to Virginia high society, where he courts Jane Peyton (Mary Scott). But Jane's brother Fleetwood (Cedric Hardwicke) disapproves when he discovers Matt's hardscrabble origins. Matt and Jane marry regardless, raising a family and profitable plantation in Albemarle. Family harmony's disrupted when Matt's elected to the House of Burgesses, just as America begins its torturous road to independence.
The Howards of Virginia predictably contrasts a family conflict caught amidst the sweep of history. The melodrama scenes are competent, though the uninspired leads undercut the drama. Cary Grant is badly miscast as a rustic Yankee, his soggy performance marred further by a flickering Scots brogue. Jane borrows Claudette Colbert's arc from Drums Along the Mohawk, transforming from refined lady to frontierswoman, yet Mary Scott isn't strong enough to pull it off. Similarly, the film's abrupt resolution scarcely seems to resolve anything.
Director Frank Lloyd (Mutiny on the Bounty) filmed Howard at Colonial Williamsburg and matches it with some respectable outdoor footage. Yet Lloyd reduces events to uninspired montages and starchy speechifying. Some of Patrick Henry's (Richard Gaines') tirades to the House of Burgesses briefly catch fire, but most everything else fizzles, from the uninspired battle footage to superfluous George Washington cameo. So many Hollywood treatments of the Revolution (Johnny Tremaine, John Paul Jones) reduce it to textbook tableaux that bore rather than inspire.
Howards' best moments come from supporting players. Sir Cedric Hardwicke (Rope) dominates the show. Hardwicke starts with snotty haughtiness, slowly revealing vulnerability over the story. Alan Marshal contributes respectable comic relief as Hardwicke's brother. And Richard Carlson makes a charming Thomas Jefferson; unlike Henry and Washington's perfunctory appearances, he's a well-drawn character.
The Howards of Virginia fumbles its setting and story. It's merely another disappointing Revolutionary War drama, forever doomed to pad TCM's July 4th schedule.
