Kings Row

Introduced by Daniel Garber, editor of The Reagan Show

Dir. Sam Wood. 1942, 127 mins. 35mm. With Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. A haunting, elegiac melodrama that takes place in a fictitious Midwestern town, Kings Row was the film that made Ronald Reagan one of the most popular young actors of his time. He gives a fine performance as Drake McHugh, a rich heir-turned-amputee who loses his fortune to embezzlement. “Where’s the rest of me?” became Reagan’s signature line and the title of his first autobiography. Seen as overly brooding and melancholy at the time of its release, Kings Row is one of Wood’s best films, with atmospheric cinematography by the legendary James Wong Howe.