It's rare as soon as a movie is released it is labeled as an 'instant masterpiece.' Such was November 1921's "Tol'able David." Reviewer Carl Sandburg wrote such glowing reports for the Chicago Daily News after he had seen the film. And Robert Sherwood, in a Life Magazine article, said "It is the first motion picture to achieve real greatness without placing any reliance on spectacular effect."
To think "Tol'able David" takes place in a land few urbanites were familiar would draw so much praise. Director Henry King, born and bred in the Appalachian Mountain town of Christiansburg, Virginia, was attracted to the story of a border West Virginian community who was visited by three ruffians escaping the law. Richard Barthelmess, 27 at the time, plays an 18-year-old in a family whose members treat him like a child. His coming of age story involves a theft of a mailbag he was transporting stolen by one of the outlaws. Facing insurmountable odds, the youngster has to decide whether to cut and run without the mail or stand up to them and forcefully retake the bag. The movie was helped by the locales the film was shot: Blue Grass, Virginia (on the border with West Virginia) and in Staunton, Virginia.
Because of the rousing reviews, "Tol'able David" gained a famous crowd of devotees. Mary Pickford said about one of her favorite films, "When I first saw this picture, I felt I was not looking at a photoplay but was really witnessing the tragedy of a family I had known all my life." Director John Ford listed the film as one of his top ten movies he had seen. One modern day film critic, David Thomson, mentioned "Tol'able David" as the forerunner to movies where an ordinary person fends for himself against a number of desperados, similar to 1952's 'High Noon' and 1971's 'Straw Dogs.' By the time he directed "Tol'able David," Henry King was establishing himself as one of Hollywood's more talented directors. Helming his first film in 1915, King went on to direct movies into the early 1960's, his last being 1962's 'Tender Is The Night' with Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards. Nominated twice by the Academy Awards for Best Director, he was the first to receive the Golden Globe Award for Best Director in 1943's 'The Song of Bernadette.'
To think "Tol'able David" takes place in a land few urbanites were familiar would draw so much praise. Director Henry King, born and bred in the Appalachian Mountain town of Christiansburg, Virginia, was attracted to the story of a border West Virginian community who was visited by three ruffians escaping the law. Richard Barthelmess, 27 at the time, plays an 18-year-old in a family whose members treat him like a child. His coming of age story involves a theft of a mailbag he was transporting stolen by one of the outlaws. Facing insurmountable odds, the youngster has to decide whether to cut and run without the mail or stand up to them and forcefully retake the bag. The movie was helped by the locales the film was shot: Blue Grass, Virginia (on the border with West Virginia) and in Staunton, Virginia.
Because of the rousing reviews, "Tol'able David" gained a famous crowd of devotees. Mary Pickford said about one of her favorite films, "When I first saw this picture, I felt I was not looking at a photoplay but was really witnessing the tragedy of a family I had known all my life." Director John Ford listed the film as one of his top ten movies he had seen. One modern day film critic, David Thomson, mentioned "Tol'able David" as the forerunner to movies where an ordinary person fends for himself against a number of desperados, similar to 1952's 'High Noon' and 1971's 'Straw Dogs.' By the time he directed "Tol'able David," Henry King was establishing himself as one of Hollywood's more talented directors. Helming his first film in 1915, King went on to direct movies into the early 1960's, his last being 1962's 'Tender Is The Night' with Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards. Nominated twice by the Academy Awards for Best Director, he was the first to receive the Golden Globe Award for Best Director in 1943's 'The Song of Bernadette.'