The Sun Shines Bright

Synopsis: John Ford weaves three "Judge Priest" stories together to form a good- natured exploration of honour and small-town politics in the South around the turn of the century. Judge William Priest is involved variously in revealing the real identity of Lucy Lake, reliving his Civil War memories, preventing the lynching of a youth and contesting the elections with Yankee Horace K. Maydew.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Western
Director(s): John Ford
Production: Republic Pictures Corporation
  Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.1
APPROVED
Year:
1953
90 min
187 Views


Jeff!

Jeff!

Where is that good-for-nothing boy?!

Jeff!

Jeff!

I'm comin'...yes, I'm comin'.

Come on...reach under the bed

and get it for me.

I was just gettin' ready

to reach under there. My!

Why do I have to tell you every morning

to reach under the bed for it?!

Ah just got a little glass for you.

More power to your elbow, Judge!

I got to take this every morning.

Mind you...not as an indulgence.

Merely to get my heart started.

It's good, Judge?

The election comin' on...

...you'd have to tear my tongue out

by the roots, 'fore I'd tell it.

- Is my bath ready?

- Yeah.

Oh, I've left the...

We goin' to be late for court,

ain't we Judge?

Oh, Mr Maydew can wait.

But we late already.

Billy!

Judge Priest!

Well, if it isn't Aurora Ratchitt!

Goddess of the dawn!

A sight for sore eyes!

My friend, Dora May Plumb, from Covington.

How do you do!

Covington?!

Fine town!

Outside of my judicial circuit.

But you're in mighty fine company!

I always think of Ebenezer Ratchitt...

...the day he lead that last charge at Shiloh!

There was a gallant trooper, your father.

You know, there went a man of quality.

There went the flower of the South!

You do say the most overpowerin' things, Judge!

Thank you!

And as a friend of your father,

seeking re-election to the Circuit Court...

...for Fairfield County...

...would you mind passing these things

out among your friends.

I'll go from door to door, Judge!

Door to door!

Thank you...thank you!

Judge...

Do my eyes deceive me?

No Judge, that's Mr Ashby Corwin!

Back home at last!

Ashby Corwin!

Ashby Corwin.

Boss Ashby!

Boss Ashby!

Boss Ashby!

Nice to see you again, Dr Lake.

You're looking well, Ashby.

Thank you, sir.

And is this pretty little girl,

Miss Lucy Lee?

Yes, I could see you anywhere

in the world and I would say...

"There goes Kentucky"!

My daughter is a woman Ashby...

not to say a lady.

Oh, I've grown up quite a lot

since I saw you last, Mr Corwin.

Yes, you were just a child

when I last saw you.

But then, we're ALL Dr Lake's children.

What's the count, now, Doctor?

I have ushered 5,322 babies

into this vale of tears, Ashby.

And I'm the blackest sheep

of the lot!

It's a pleasure.

Mr Ashby!

Isn't this Uncle Zack?

It sure is, sir!

You standin' mighty good, sir!

Still at the livery stable, Uncle Zack?

No sir, Ces is gettin' kinda old...

Sort o' let me go.

Let you go?

Well I still own it, don't I?

Sure do.

Well you just take these here

critters down there...

...and tell him you're in charge.

Boss, you have SAID somethin'!

Good morning, Miss Lucy!

G'morning!

Glory be!

Mr Ashby's come home again!

Thank you Mr Corwin,

for carryin' my books.

Just as I thought...

You're still goin' to school!

Yes...I am!

Stand up everybody...

The court's now in session.

His Honour approaches the bench.

Doggon it, Billy...

You're late again this mornin'...

Why can't you get here!?

I know Andy, I'm sorry...

It's that worthless boy of mine.

He overslept!

He's the one that sleep-in...

I was just sleepin'.

Hear ye!...hear ye!...

The 17th District Court

of the Commonwealth...

Mr Solicitor...

- Now I ain't finished yet, Judge!

- Sorry.

...of Kentucky, is about to convene.

Mr Solicitor...are you ready for Mrs Mallie Cramp

to make her plea?

If you are...get going.

Indeed Your Honour, it would be repugnant

to every fibre of my being...

Nay!...it would be unethical...

...for me to represent the noble people

of Fairfield County in this case.

And your Honour is aware, of course...

...that I have dedicated myself

to eradicating vice and crime in this county.

And as I myself will probably be

sitting on that bench...

...after the election...

...I should not like to prejudice myself...

...by being a prosecutor

in the same cause.

What's next on the docket?

We have here a noble old man...

...whose nephew refuses to support him.

Mr Maydew...I didn't say

my boy HAD to support me...

...I was just...

Mr Sheriff...can't you keep

this courtroom in order?!

Sit down and shut up, uncle, please.

One moment, gentlemen.

Uncle Plez...

Did I hear you called Uncle Plez?

Yessir, Judge.

Uncle Pleasant Woodford.

Thank you.

Come here.

Are you the boy that brought Bainbridge Corwin's body

back from Chickamauga?

Yessir Judge...you remember.

I brought him all the way back...

...in these two arms.

Don't you remember?

Yes I do.

Oh, what a time that was!

What's the matter with your boy,

Uncle Pleasant.

Nothin' Judge, nothin'...

He just sit around the house

and play the banjo all day long!

Just idlin' on the levee.

This boy got to learn a trade.

Trade? He got a trade, Judge!

That boy could run away right now,

with his old plantation music.

With his banjo...

Your name, boy?!

U.S. Woodford, sir.

Where did you get that name "U.S."?

My full name is U.S. Grant Woodford.

One of the gentlemans at the G.A.R. Hall say...

..."Here the Yankee general

might be General Robert E. Lee".

Mr Maydew...

If you please!

Let me hear you play, boy.

Yes sir!

Play a military tune.

Here's one they taught me

when I cleaned up the G.A.R. Hall.

Your string is off the key and you can't

play out of tune for the judge!

You fix that string up

and wish you were in The Land of Cotton...

...old time and not forgotten...

and look away in Dixie Land...

I swear my hearin's gettin' so poorly...

I'd 've sworn I heard a band playin' "Dixie."

Reminds me of that

Second Battle of Manassas.

The one that you Yankees

call Bull Run.

I caught the end of it.

Order in the court!

Order!

Now if there's any more disturbance,

I shall have to clear the courtroom.

Sit down, gentlemen.

Now, I want you to mind Uncle Plez.

And stop lounging around the levee.

Yessir, Judge sir.

They're tying tobacco

up in the Tornado District...

...curing burley...

Now you go up there, and learn

some useful work with those hands.

You hear that, boy?

Of course...

don't risk them wonderful fingers of yours...

...around the corn-sheller...

...or a band-saw...

You just go out there and tell them

that Judge Priest sent you...

...to help his old friends.

Go on up there and tell everybody.

- Thank you, Judge.

- Thank you kindly, Judge.

Justice is indeed blind...

...when her impartial scales are so loaded

against the will of the people.

Mr Maydew...

It is the pleasure of this court

to hear the plea of Mrs Mallie Cramp.

Or shall I judge you in contempt?!

Mallie Cramp!

Mallie...on your feet.

Alright Mallie...what do you plead?

One moment, Mr Maydew!

Please be seated, Mrs Cramp.

Well I hope you get the general to come.

I'll do my best, comrade,

I'll do my best.

William Pittman Priest,

to see the general.

Time for the "priest", General.

General Fairfield...

On behalf of the Gideon K.I.R Encampment...

...The United Confederate Veterans...

...I bring our old commander,

our devotion and respects.

Thank them for me,

Trumpeter Priest.

It would do their hearts good if you came

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Laurence Stallings

Laurence Tucker Stallings (November 25, 1894 - February 28, 1968) was an American playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer. Best known for his collaboration with Maxwell Anderson on the 1924 play What Price Glory, Stallings also produced a groundbreaking autobiographical novel, Plumes, about his service in World War I, and published an award-winning book of photographs, The First World War: A Photographic History. more…

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    "The Sun Shines Bright" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/the_sun_shines_bright_21418>.

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