I'd Climb the Highest Mountain (1951)

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

07 Jan 2008 03:07 PM

"I'd Climb the Highest Mountain" is the story of a young woman named Mary (Susan Hayward) who travels to Georgia to meet her fiancé, a circuit-riding preacher named William Thompson (William Lundigen). They are married immediately upon her arrival and he takes her out to see the cute cottage he has built for her. On the way, William gets into a buggy race with Jack Stark, the most notorious scalawag in those parts, and William beats Jack. All he wants for a reward is for Jack to attend church the next Sunday, and Jack agrees.

Mary loves the house and starts getting settled, only to be told that the entire congregation is coming over to celebrate the wedding. But being a preacher's wife isn't all socializing with the members, as she's soon to discover. An epidemic sweeps through the area, laying low many of the citizens and several of them die. She and her husband nurse the ill day and night, some recovering, and some dying. Mary starts to believe she wasn't meant to be a preacher's wife, but she realizes that there's a divine reason for her to be there.

Tragedy strikes twice more. The young son of a neighbor drowns while in the preacher's care, driving a further wedge in between the atheist father and the church. That night, Mary gives birth prematurely and the baby dies, leaving her a wreck. It's actually from this sad scene that I got my biggest laugh - she says that a woman's greatest sin against her husband is to stop caring what she looks like. Um - I think you could do worse than that.

William is an admirable character. He solves disputes without entering into arguments, and he never loses his temper. Mary is a spitfire, full of personality, and together they make a great team. They even help Jack redeem himself and win the girl of his dreams.

This is a movie you can watch with your whole family, and they'll each find something they'll enjoy in it. This film was not rated.

Related Blogs:

Susan Hayward: The Brooklyn Babe

Dinner and a Movie

Movies Husbands Should Willingly Watch

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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