I saw "Kings Row" years and years ago, and I just watched it again. A truly beautiful film.

But boy, did you have to read between the lines.

This is the kind of film my mother would have seen and not known any of the unspoken things that were going on. I have a feeling she wasn't alone.

The story concerns people who grew up together - Parris, Drake, Cassie, and Randy - and what happens to them. It stars Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan, Betty Field, and Ann Sheridan.

The role of Parris was intended to be the star role and go to a big name. I wasn't around in 1942 but I know that Robert Cummings was certainly known but not one of the top leading men. In fact, the year of this film was his biggest - he did this movie and Saboteur. And Hitchcock didn't want him for Saboteur anymore than Hal Wallis wanted him for this.

The role was supposed to go Tyrone Power, who would have been an ideal Parris, but Fox wouldn't lend him out -- and I have a feeling they waited until the last minute to refuse. As far as I'm concerned, that little boy Parris looked just like Tyrone Power, and Parris is the only character to get a star entrance.

Anyway, the studio wound up borrowing Cummings from Universal and using some Warners players for the rest.

Now, lots goes on in this town that is blatantly covered in the novel but only hinted at here. The biggest thing is the incestuous relationship between the woman Parris loves, Cassie (Field) and her father (Claude Rains), who is Parris' mentor when he returns from his studies.

The only indication of this is when the constable asks Dr. Gordon who has just finished examining Cassie, if there was "anything else," to which Gordon replies, "Just something about the girl." They think the father is Drake, who claims he and Cassie were in love in order to protect Parris.

That was the biggest "unspoken" though there were a couple of others. Blink and you miss it.

I won't go into the whole story, I'll just say it was well-acted. Ronald Reagan did a terrific job. People always make fun of him, but in the films of his I've seen, he was very charming with a flair for comedy - and here, he shows dramatic chops. It's a strong role. Ann Sheridan has a slightly different role as well. She's a devoted girlfriend and then wife and not a sexy good time girl, coming off as intelligent and lively.

Robert Cummings brought a boyishness to Parris in an earnest and sincere performance. Power would have brought it up a notch, though.

Because of the casting, Kings Row does not signal that it was a huge film, which it was intended to be. It's the same as Saboteur seeming like one of HItchcock's smaller movies when it wasn't at all. He wanted Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. I'm sure no one would say it was a smaller film had he been allowed to cast them. Same here.

Sometimes melodramatic but otherwise engaging adaptation of popular novel tracks the lives of a group of friends in a small town from childhood to adulthood, as they cope with life's challenges. There are good performances from Cummings as an earnest fellow who wants to become a doctor, Field as a mysterious young woman he loves, Rains as her domineering father, Reagan, in his finest role, as Cummings' best friend, and the radiant Sheridan as the former tomboy from the wrong side of the tracks who loves Reagan. Well directed by Wood, helped by the top-notch cinematography (Howe) and score (Korngold). It beautifully captures the feel of a small town around the turn of the 20th century.

The absolute best picture that Ronald Reagan ever made. Why wasn't he given better film roles after his impressive performance as Drake McHugh? Ditto for Bob Cummings. So sad to realize seeing both of them in the scenes of this picture, young and charming. Unfortunately, both fell victim to Alzheimer's Disease.

The picture is first rate. 1942 seemed to be a big year that Hollywood spoke about mental illness. Claude Rains also starred in "Now, Voyager" that dealt with Bette Davis's breakdown following a regimented life with a tormenting mother.

"Kings Row" deals with schizophrenia. Betty Field did an outstanding job as the doomed Cassie.

The film also deals with a sadistic surgeon played by Charles Coburn, in a terrific brief dramatic performance. As his wife, Judith Anderson was at her usual eerie self.

There are so many themes in this film. We see the class differences among Drake, Dr. Mitchell (Cummings) and in a terrific performance, Ann Sheridan as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks that shows her devotion to Drake when he has a series of unbelievable misfortunes befall him.

Drake's line "Where's the rest of me," when he awakes to find that his legs have been amputated is unforgettable.

"Kings Row" was nominated for best picture in 1942. It would take a classic such as "Mrs. Miniver" to have beaten it out.