May 3 Aline MacMahon

Happy Birthday Bing Crosby, Mary Astor, Aline MacMahon and Walter Slezak.

Of the above only Aline MacMahon does not get a birthday marathon. Bing Crosby got a day on Monday the 2nd, Mary Astor Tuesday the 3rd and Walter Slezak films will be shown Friday the 13th. There is one film shown in Mary’s honor that also has Aline MacMahon, The World Changes. Aline may be the lesser known of the three but she is a talented actress with a wide range of roles. My favorites are a con-artist countess in One Way Passage and a Fur coat designer in Side Street a pre-code drama. A lot of her films are available at WBshop.com/archive.

In The World Changes the story takes place 1856 to 1929. At the beginning of the film Aline plays a young married woman pregnant on a wagon in the Dakota territory. Next she is chopping wood with the baby in the cradle nearby. As a town develops she decides it will be called Orinville after her child and husband. A wedding takes place in town and Orin makes a speech which she tries to make him stop and she watches how much she drinks. When Custer comes into town to clear the Indians higher into the mountains he tells the people the war is over. “What war?” she asks. The war between the north and the south. We have been fighting the war for America since we got here. Orin, now grown, played by Paul Muni, decides to go to Texas to by cattle and bring them north to get better price his mother protests. We came out here to get land and a home for us. Not selfish seeking money. Orin leaves early in the morning with a note. She sees him leaves and a smile comes to her face.

1929 Orin’s granddaughter is getting married. Aline in Orinville sees the story in the paper and decides to go to NY for the wedding, On the train she gives final instructions to her workers. The grandchildren she has never seen thinks to put her in a quite corner and get her a nurse. When she gets to NY she stays with her grandchildren. She drills her great children and they don’t work. She grills her granddaughter’s husband to be, an English baron what he does and he can’t handle it and leaves the room. She becomes angry with her son, is this how you raised your children? The crash happens and Orin’s son, a broker commits suicide. Orin sees him lying dead on the ground and his life flashes before his life and he dies. Aline and her great-grandson Orin go to Orinville where they pray over the land. She sees in the distance her old wagon and the final shot of the film is her smiling a sad smile.

The montages that show the passage of time are very well done. There are pictures of major innovations with a world turning in the background.