These Wilder Years
| These Wilder Years | |
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| Directed by | Roy Rowland |
| Produced by | Jules Schermer |
| Written by | Ralph Wheelwright (story) Frank Fenton |
| Starring |
James Cagney Barbara Stanwyck Walter Pidgeon |
| Music by | Jeff Alexander |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
| Edited by | Ben Lewis |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,257,000 |
| Box office | $877,000 |
These Wilder Years is a 1956 drama film directed by Roy Rowland, and starring James Cagney and Barbara Stanwyck. It is the story of a businessman who tries to find the illegitimate son he gave up to an orphanage many years ago.
These Wilder Years marked the first onscreen pairing of Hollywood stars Cagney and Stanwyck.
Detroit business tycoon Steve Bradford (Cagney) tells his board of directors without explanation that he is taking a leave of absence. He travels to his small hometown, where it turns out that his goal is to find a son he put up for adoption 20 years before.
Steve turns to Ann Dempster (Stanwyck), who runs an orphanage, explaining how he has achieved success in life, but feels a void left by his absent and unknown son. Ann explains that she is ethically required to conceal the identity of foster children and parents. Steve tries charming her, cajoling, even bribing, to no avail, then brings in his lawyer, James Rayburn, to seek other ways of finding the boy.
At the orphanage, meantime, he strikes up an acquaintance with a young lady, Suzie, expecting a baby, abandoned by the child's father. Steve takes a personal interest in the girl, particularly after she is involved in an auto accident and needs surgery that she fears could endanger the baby.
Although he has befriended Ann, he betrays her with a charge of fraud, resulting in a courtroom hearing that could cost her both her vocation and reputation. A furious Ann digs up records that prove how Steve specifically expressed no wish to ever see his child 20 years before.
With the case dismissed, and Steve overcome with guilt, he is approached by a young man who turns out to be his missing son, claiming he'd been following the progress of the trial. Steve believes that this seemingly coincidental meeting was privately arranged by Ann out of the goodness of her heart. Steve stays long enough to see Suzie through her childbirth, and is overjoyed when she ends up naming the baby after him.
According to MGM records the film earned $572,000 in the US and Canada and $305,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $600,000.
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