Main Cast: Ronald Colman, Edna Best, David Bond, Clifford Brooke, Vanessa Brown, Peggy Cummins
Release Year: 1947
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
Based on John P. Marquand's Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical novel of the same title, this film stars Ronald Colman as George Apley, a Beantown blueblood passionately in love with his hometown. In his mind, Boston is the world's center of modern civilization and gentility and he has made it very clear that his son and daughter are to remain there for their entire lives and only associate with native Bostonians. Imagine poor Apley's horror, then, when his Harvard-student son falls in love with a Worcester girl and his daughter falls in love with a Yale student. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
By the time The Late George Apley made it to the screen -- after first being adapted to the Broadway stage -- a great deal of the detail and complexity of the title character of John P. Marquand's novel had been left out. While not exactly a caricature, Apley in the film version has become a bit softer and fuzzier, and as a result, the film loses a great deal of its dramatic power. This is especially apparent in the tacked-on and inappropriate happy ending, which negates a great deal of what has gone before. Things are not helped by Ronald Colman; while the actor's performance is a lot of fun, he's not really the right type for Apley. This is also the problem with Peggy Cummins, a capable performer who simply shouldn't have been cast as the daughter. Fortunately, the rest of the cast is much better suited to their roles, with Richard Haydn a wonderful butt of many jokes and Percy Waram stealing his scenes with his amusing cynicism. Overall, Apley is modestly engaging, a minor but amusing effort. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
George Apley (Ronald Colman) is a stuffy, self-satisfied member of Boston's upper class, supremely confident of the superiority of his hometown. However, his comfortable, predictable world is overturned when he learns, to his horror, that both his son and his daughter have fallen in love with non-Bostonians. However, he is eventually brought around to see reason.
