Jess and Eliza Birdwell (Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire) are prosperous Indiana farmers of the Quaker faith in 1863 Indiana, Union territory threatened by Confederate raiders. Prim, devout, and a bit blind to the worldly yearnings of her family, Eliza (an ordained Quaker minister herself) is constantly defeated by outside temptations, as represented by the gambling, dancing, music and fighting of the county fair. Her resistance is mostly in vain: her husband has a passion for unseemly buggy-racing, her daughter Mattie (Phyllis Love) is enraptured by a non-Quaker Yankee soldier, and her youngest, Little Jess (Richard Eyer) has sadistic ideas about strangling her housepet, a Goose named Samantha. When Jess brings a forbidden musical instrument, an organ, into the house, reconciling her beliefs with reality becomes more difficult. Finally, the outside world erupts into the Birdwell's peaceful existence in a way that cannot be ignored. Older son Josh (Anthony Perkins) takes up arms with the militia to oppose the Confederates, and the possibility of real war destroying the entire valley puts Eliza's principles to the test.

Sweet, gentle and hilariously funny, Friendly Persuasion is simply a superior entertainment. William Wyler is one of the most consistently brilliant directors from old-school Hollywood, and his work here is first-class, expressing the beauty and innocence of the Birdwells' country life with an honest directness. As is usual with Wyler, the balance and handling of the perfect cast makes all the difference. McGuire is just dotty enough to be unaware of the very un-Quakerish human natures of her own family; Gary Cooper strikes a good balance between his 'cute' and serious personae. The handling of the supporting cast is also exemplary. In only his second film, Anthony Perkins is remarkably adept with his portrayal of the conscience-striken Josh. Richard Eyer's Little Jess is an antidote for all those cutesy moppets that plague American movies, a stubborn, imaginative little ankle-biter. Less-acclaimed but equally impressive are the delightful Phyllis Love (this seems to be her only notable film) and Robert Middleton, a stock villain who here gets a rare opportunity to play a tolerant non-Quaker character. Marjorie Main has a familiar but welcome comedy scene. Friendly Persuasion has a bushel of minor speaking roles, and to show the sensitivity and thought that went into each and every one of them, take a look at the 'bit' of the bushwhacker who tries to kill Jess: it's Richard Garland, known mainly for other Allied Artists' parts in decidedly unheralded movies like Attack of the Crab Monsters. The three minutes' he's onscreen are extremely good, and his spiritual conversion (helped by the wonderful Tiomkin music) is conveyed without a single word of dialogue.

Friendly Persuasion's attitude toward sex is anything but repressive. Mattie's bare feet atop her soldier-lover's boots is plenty suggestive; as are the antics of the horny Hudspeth girls, and both are shown with enthusiasm. The "friendly persuasion" of the title refers to the Quaker tenet of meeting hostility with optimistic reason, but in the romantic context it clearly points to Jess and Eliza's night in the barn, where the forbidden Organ issue is resolved in a bed of hay. Yep, Eliza is softened with sex, which ideologues would find sexist. Yet she's not defeated; that Barn Night is a rare vision of marital compromise, and loving married sex.

Warner's DVD of Friendly Persuasion is a handsome widescreen transfer that for the first time on video reflects William Wyler's wonderful compositions. His impressive depth-staging, as in the first shots of the Raid sequence, is particularly helped by the cropping of the top and bottom of the frame. Image-wise, the picture is good but not terrific, as there is a bit more grain than would be desired, and the colors seem to have faded - a bit. Savant's seen this release on the screen several times and the 35mm prints were usually terrible, indicating that this orphaned Allied Artists feature went through a lot of foster homes without preservation. What I'm saying here is that the picture, while perfectly pleasing, is no match for a new transfer. The audio is strong and clear - this is one of Dimitri Tiomkins most beautiful movie scores.

For extras, there is a nice trailer, some bio material, and a strange television show from 1955, that pretends to be a rehearsal of a scene for the film presented 'live' for TV audiences. A fuzzy kinescope, it is nonetheless fascinating. Cooper's 'cutes' are in full swing; he sings an awful song (credited in the v.o. to Tiomkin), and when asked where he learned to sing, says, "Opera. Horse opera."

Got a family? Friendly Persuasion may be the most persuasive case for virtuous, optimistic living ever put on film, a slice of '50s Americana that offers a glimpse of possible glory behind the whitewashed, conformist propaganda machine that 'family entertainment' has become.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Friendly Persuasion rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Very Good
Sound:Excellent
Supplements: Trailer, Bios, 1955 TV show on the set.
Packaging: Snapper case
Reviewed: January 5, 2001