Directed by:
Irving PichelScreenplay:
Julien JosephsonCinematography:
Joseph LaShelleComposer:
Cyril J. MockridgeCast:
Don Ameche, Frances Dee, Harry Carey, Ann Rutherford, Cara Williams, Harry Morgan, Minor Watson, Dickie Moore, Oscar O'Shea, Natalie Wood, Mary Wickes (more)Plots(1)
An Iowa drugstore owner (Don Ameche) becomes embittered when his son is killed in World War II. The druggist believes that the boy's life was cut short before he had an opportunity to truly appreciate his existence. The grieving father is shown the error of his assumption by the ghost of his grandfather (Harry Carey), who through flashbacks details the good things about the son's short term on Earth, and the wonderful life that the druggist himself has enjoyed. Frances Dee plays Don Ameche's wife, while Ann Rutherford portrays his son's girl (who in turn is played in a flashback sequence by former Little Rascal Darla Hood). Happy Land was suitable wartime propaganda, though it doesn't play quite as movingly today. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Reed Hadley
USA
Best movies:
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Kansas Pacific (1953)
Bachelor Mother (1939)
Richard Crane
USA
Best movies:
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
Follow the Boys (1944)
A Lady Without Passport (1950)
Adeline De Walt Reynolds
USA
Best movies:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Going My Way (1944)
Darla Hood
USA
Best movies:
The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
The Bohemian Girl (1936)
The Bat (1959)
Joseph E. Bernard
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
Adam's Rib (1949)
Juanita Quigley
USA
Best movies:
National Velvet (1944)
Mystery Street (1950)
Born to Dance (1936)
Larry Olsen
USA
Best movies:
Winchester '73 (1950)
The Seventh Cross (1944)
The Story of Three Loves (1953)
Paul Weigel
Germany
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Ninotchka (1939)
Anthony Adverse (1936)
Leigh Whipper
USA
Best movies:
Of Mice and Men (1939)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Horrible Horror (1986) - a.f.
June Preston
USA
Best movies:
It Happened One Night (1934)
Second Chorus (1940)
Heaven Can Wait (1943)