ksf-2 The opening theme music is "my old kentucky home", so that gives us an idea of what's to come. Quite a long introduction card... no-one said there would be reading required! This one is all about Will Rogers, wit and writer of the day. He made a couple more after this... he died tragically quite young in a plane crash the year after making this. and Hattie McDaniel, a couple years before "Gone with the Wind". Except for the duet between Rogers and McDaniel, this one kind of drags on and on. Priest spends half the film talking to himself, or to the photo on the wall. or the horse. and it's already a post-civil-war period piece. Snoozer. never really gets going. Stepin Fetchit is at the end of the cast list, but is in just about every scene for comedic effect. Subplot of "Rome" Priest (Tom Brown) defending Mr. Gillis (David Landau), for his honor, and to win the hand of his girl. This one is interesting for history's sake, with Will Rogers starring, but other than that, it's pretty weak. Directed by multi-Oscar winner John Ford. Ford had started waaaay back in the silent films.

mercysaidno It is a charming movie and Will Rogers is wonderful in his role as Judge Priest, but I noticed the young girl, Ellie May Gillespie played by Anita Louise, was never said to have parents who were married. According to the plot, her biological father was proved to be a Confederate hero thus making her acceptable for the judges' nephew to marry. Where is the logic in that? She was still a bastard and the boy's aunt was right. The aunt, as you might expect, was made a mockery of. It puts me in mind of Gone With the Wind. In it, Scarlett O'Hara was hard-hearted and calculating. Rhett Butler loved her but then became disgusted with her evil ways and the fact she loved another man, a married man. But Rhett's "friend", a prostitute, had a heart of gold. She was lifted up in this 1939 Academy Award Winner. Yes, here again we see movies even this far back were trying to change the Christian values of Americans and others. They were quite successful, unfortunately.

Michael_Elliott Judge Priest (1934) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Wonderful film has Will Rogers playing the title role who has his own way of making justice prevail. Set in a small Kentucky town, the judge must battle a wide range of subjects but all of them seem to center around a mysterious man who is charged with assault. I wasn't too thrilled with the previous Rogers/Ford film that I watched but this one here hits all the right marks. Ford's love of Southern loyalty is certainly on full display from start to finish but he also paints a film that isn't really about anything yet it's about everything. Ford paints a terrific and authentic view of the South and even manages to work other items in like patriotic war battles and moving on in time. I think some of the best moments happen between Rogers and a black man named Jeff (Stepin Fetchit) who the judge saved from being hung. The two share several scenes together and their relationship comes off very sweet and human. The performances are all extremely good with Rogers leading the way as the soft spoken judge. Tom Brown and Anita Louise are also very good as Rogers' nephew and his girlfriend. The scene stealer comes from Henry B. Walthall who plays a Reverend with a secret past that comes out during the final courtroom scene. It's forgotten today that at one time Walthall was considered one of the greatest actors out there and his performance here is very thrilling and certainly grabs ones attention.

barhound78 John Ford's often whimsical view of 19th century mid-west America is on full display here in this comic reflection about, as the authors prologue puts it, "the familiar ghosts of my own boyhood".The immensely likable Will Rogers is the eponymous hero of the title. A small town judge who has sat on the local bench since the civil war ended without necessarily having all the right credentials to do so. Indeed, as Priest himself puts it, during his tenure he has tended to follow the spirit of the law rather than the letter of it! Never-the-less, his Confederate war-stories and his folksy approach to justice (and life in general) make him a much loved figure amongst the community... Much to the chagrin of an over-orating state senator (Berton Churchill) who is eyeing his position enviously! Things are further complicated by the fact that Priests young lawyer nephew (Tom Brown) is caught in something of an innocent love triangle with the senators daughter (Rochelle Hudson) and his own childhood sweetheart(Anita Louise). When the latter unknowingly becomes the catalyst for what soon becomes the towns latest trial it is up for the Judge to get to the bottom of the matter before an innocent man - well, half-innocent anyway - is sent to gaol! Of course, the courtroom drama isn't really what matters here. It is Fords heavily mythologised evocation of 1890's Kansas life that really takes centre stage. A laconic, gentry led backwater full of Southern ideals where the struggle of the Confederacy is idealised and celebrated and a town where a love of fishing, a tale of gallantry or the playing "Dixie" outside of a courtroom can swing a jury in a man's favour. A place where white men and singing Negroes happily co-exist as if the civil war never really changed anything anyway!Yet, despite this somewhat outmoded (and superficially un-PC) rose-tinted view of mid-west life, Judge Priest succeeds in presenting itself with such charm and good-natured humour that it is almost lovable. Indeed, whilst Ford presents this as a heavily romanticised reminiscence he also plays it as a delightfully knowing satire too. To this end, the director makes particularly good use of the legendary (and hugely controversial) black comic Stepin Fetchit – manically lampooning every "coon" stereotype in the book.Ford would go on to hone the kind of bawdy, knockabout humour and lively stock of characters found here almost constantly throughout his career. As such, Judge Priest may not quite be amongst the great directors very best work but, with the help of the talented Rogers and Fetchit, it is still an extremely enjoyable entry upon his illustrious CV.