LET FREEDOM RING

Let Freedom Ring
MGM, 1939, B/W, 86 minutes, ***½
Released February, 1939

Politics and music mix when Harvard lawyer Nelson Eddy returns to his small Western hometown to find a railroad company muscling in on the townspeople. Eddy disguises himself as "The Wasp" and launches a battle against the evil company and its thugs. Edward Arnold, Virginia Bruce and Victor McLaglen co-star; tunes include "Dusty Road," "Love Serenade," "Home Sweet Home" and more.

Great film is part western, part drama, part comedy and part musical. Rousing song score sung by Nelson Eddy somehow seems to ring true today as much as it did when he sang it.

"The greatest battles for liberty and Human Rights are not fought on the Battlefields of History, but in the Hearts of a Nation's People."

"This Is a Tale of the days when the New West refought without guns or banners the eternal struggle against Oppression -- and won for another Generation the gift of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Produced by: Harry Rapf
Directed by: Jack Conway
Original Story and Screen Play by: Ben Hecht
"Dusty Road" (by) Otis and Leon René
"Love Serenade" (by) Riccardo Drigo, Bob Wright and Chet Forrest
Musical Director: Arthur Lange
Orchestral Arrangements: Leonid Raab
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Associate: Daniel B. Cathcart
Set Decorations: Edwin B. Willis
Women's Costumes by: Dolly Tree
Men's Costumes by: Valles
Make-Up Created by: Jack Dawn
Recording Director: Douglas Shearer
Montage Effects: Jack Hoffman
Photographed by: Sidney Wagner
Film Editor: Fredrick Y. Smith

Cast: Nelson Eddy [Steve Logan], Virginia Bruce [Maggie Adams], Victor McLaglen [Chris Mulligan], Lionel Barrymore [Thomas Logan], Edward Arnold [Jim Knox], Guy Kibbee [David Bronson], Charles Butterworth ["The Mackerel"], H. B. Warner [Rutledge], Raymond Walburn [Underwood], Dick Rich ["Bumper" Jackson], Trevor Bardette [Gagan], George "Gabby" Hayes ["Pop" Wilkie], Louis Jean Heydt [Ned Wilkie], Sarah Padden ["Ma" Logan], Eddie Dunn ["Curly"], C. E. Anderson [Sheriff Hicks], Additional Cast: Maude Allen [Hilda], Adia Kuznetzoff [Pole], Luis Alberni [Tony], Emory Parnell [Swede], Tenen Holtz [Hunky], Mitchell Lewis [Joe], Victor Potel [2nd Swede], Constantine Romanoff [Russian], Lionel Royce [German], Billy Bevan [Cockney], Syd Saylor, Ted Thompson [Surveyors], Hank Bell [Stage Driver], Harry Wilson [Workman], Philo McCullough, Harry Fleischmann, Ralph Bushman [Cagan's Henchmen], Bruce Mitchell, Cyril Ring, Heinie Conklin, Jimmy Aubrey [Ranchers], Art Mix, Harry Tenbrook, James Mason [Barflies]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:12] I've Been Working on the Railroad (with a few bars of "Funiculi, Funicula" sung by Chorus as the railroad crew marches through town); [0:22} Home Sweet Home (sung by Nelson Eddy); [0:29] Ten Thousand Cattle Straying (sung by Nelson Eddy); [0:31] Love Serenade (sung by Nelson Eddy); [0:39] When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (sung by Nelson Eddy); [0:41] Pat Sez He ("off to the mountain" thrown in to signal Charles Butterworth, sung by Nelson Eddy, danced by Nelson Eddy and Victor McLaglen); [0:58] Dusty Road (sung by Nelson Eddy); [1:03] Irish jig danced by Victor McLaglen and Ensemble at political rally; [1:06] Where Else But Here (sung by Nelson Eddy and Mens Chorus); [1:24] America (sung by Virginia Bruce, Nelson Eddy, Victor McLaglen and Chorus)