Brigham Young (film)
1940 American film directed by Henry Hathaway
Brigham Young (also known as Brigham Young – Frontiersman) is a 1940 American biographical historical drama Western film starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell and Dean Jagger that describes Young's succession to the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after founder Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844. The supporting cast features Brian Donlevy, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Mary Astor, Vincent Price, Jean Rogers and Ann Todd.
Plot
In frontier-town Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844, the main body of the church are forced to leave Illinois, choosing to settle temporarily in Nebraska. They then travel by wagon train to the Great Basin.
Cast
Cast notes
Ninth-billed Jean Rogers played Dale Arden in the 1936 serial Flash Gordon and its 1938 follow-up Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars. Her co-stars in the two serials, Charles Middleton, who played Ming the Merciless and Frank Shannon, who played Dr. Zarkov, have uncredited bit parts in this film.
Production
Parts of the film were shot in Lone Pine, California, in the plains west of Parowan Gap, and in Utah Lake for the seagull scenes. The Salt Lake City sequences were filmed in California, while the trek across Nebraska and Wyoming was shot in southern Utah.
Reception
Michael and Harry Medved included Brigham Young in their 1984 book describing film financial failures, The Hollywood Hall of Shame, stating "Twentieth Century-Fox tried to emphasize its star power and to downplay the religious elements (eventually re-titling it Brigham Young, Frontiersman), but the picture still failed, even in Utah."
See also
List of American films of 1940
George D. Pyper
References
External links
Brigham Young at IMDb
Brigham Young at the TCM Movie Database (archived)
Brigham Young—Frontiersman at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Brigham Young Souvenir Program Reprint.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Brigham Young (film)” is 1940 American film directed by Henry Hathaway. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Brigham, Young and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1940 American film directed by Henry Hathaway” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2067275. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 1844, 1936 and 1938.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Brigham Young (film)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Brigham Young (film) primary sources, Brigham Young (film) archive and Brigham research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Brigham Young (film)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Brigham Young (film)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.