Tol'able David

Tol'able David
File:Tol'able David-Poster.JPG Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Henry King
Produced by	Henry King
Written by	Edmund Goulding Henry King
Based on	"Tol'able David" by Joseph Hergesheimer
Starring	Richard Barthelmess Gladys Hulette Walter P. Lewis Ernest Torrence
Cinematography	Henry Cronjager
Edited by	W. Duncan Mansfield
Production company	Inspiration Pictures
Distributed by	Associated First National
Release dates	November 21, 1921 (1921-11-21) (U.S.)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent (English intertitles)

Tol'able David is a 1921 American silent film based on the Joseph Hergesheimer short story. It was adapted to the screen by Edmund Goulding and directed by Henry King for Inspiration Pictures.

A major box office success, the acclaimed film was voted the 1921 Photoplay Magazine Medal of Honor and is seen by critics and film historians as one of the classics of silent film.

In 2007, Tol'able David was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress; films selected are judged to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Cast

• Richard Barthelmess as David Kinemon
• Gladys Hulette as Esther Hatburn
• Walter P. Lewis as Iscah Hatburn
• Ernest Torrence as Luke Hatburn
• Ralph Yearsley as Saul "Little Buzzard" Hatburn
• Forrest Robinson as Grandpa Hatburn

Plot

Young David Kinemon, son of West Virginia tenant farmers, longs to be treated like a man by his family and neighbors, especially Esther Hatburn, the pretty girl who lives with her grandfather on a nearby farm. However, he is continually reminded that he is still a boy, "tol'able" enough, but no man.

He eventually gets a chance to prove himself when outlaw Iscah Hatburn and his sons Luke and "Little Buzzard," distant cousins of the Kinemon's Hatburn neighbors, move into the Hatburn farm, against the will of Esther and her grandfather. Esther initially tells David not to interfere, saying he's no match for her cousins. Later, the cousins kill David's pet dog and cripple his older brother while the latter is delivering mail and taking passengers to town in his "hack" wagon. David's father sets out to administer vigilante justice on the Hatburn cousins (the sheriff doesn't have the means to deal with the outlaws himself), but has a heart attack. David is determined to go after the Hatburns in his father's place, but his mother talks him out of it, arguing that with his father dead and brother crippled, the household, including his brother's wife and infant son, depends on him. The family is then turned out of the farm and are forced to move into a small house in town. David asks for his brother's old job of driving the hack but is told he is too young. He does find work at the general store though. Later, when the hack's regular driver is fired for drunkenness, David finally has a chance to drive the hack. He loses the mailbag near the Hatburn farm, where it is found by Luke. David goes to the Hatburn farm to demand the mailbag. He is refused and gets into an argument with the cousins, during which he is shot in the arm. David then shoots Iscah and the younger son and later, after a prolonged fight with the older brother (meant to recall the story of David and Goliath), emerges victorious. Esther flees for help and makes it to the village, telling that David has been killed. As a crowd prepares to go look for David, he, although injured, arrives in the hack with the bag of mail. It is clear to all that David, no longer merely "tol'able," is a real man and a hero.

Reception

Released in December 1921, Tol'able David was both a commercial and critical success. Carl Sandburg, reviewing the picture for the Chicago Daily News, repeatedly referred to it as a masterpiece. In Life, Robert E. Sherwood wrote, "It is the first motion picture to achieve real greatness without placing any any reliance on spectacular effect."

Trade-related publications widely recommended it. In Photoplay it was called a masterpiece again and "one of the few film tragedies of uncompromising power". Variety said of Barthelmess' performance that it came "close to being the best effort he has ever made". The review in Motion Picture News gave the opinion that there would be "few who will not feel the power of it". The Exhibitors Herald found it "a superb piece of cinema craftsmanship" and "excellent throughout".

In a 1924 interview for Photoplay, Mary Pickford named it among her favorite films, saying, "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." It influenced Russian director V.I. Pudovkin who used it as an exemplar in his writing.

Other adaptations

• The Kid Brother (1927), Harold Lloyd's highly regarded comedy, had a similar plot and featured Tol'able David actor Ralph Yearsley. The Kid Brother was a reworking of The White Sheep (1924), which also loosely adapted aspects of Tol'able David.
• A less successful 1930 sound remake with Richard Cromwell in the title role was directed by John G. Blystone for Columbia.

Additional info

Some of the climactic scenes in the 1959 horror movie The Tingler take place in a specialty theater during a showing of Tol'able David.

External links

• Tol'able David at AllMovie
• Tol'able David at IMDb
• Tol'able David is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• Tol'able David at Virtual History