How others will see it. This by-the-numbers bio was made for a broad adult audience. In truth, it was made mostly for a female audience. Major accent is on Cooper's, er, Gehrig's relationships with his headstrong mother (Elsa Janssen) and supportive wife Teresa Wright. The latter smiles so much that her face must have hurt after each day of shooting.
As for his ballpark glory, that mostly consists of swatting the occasional home run. Clubhouse moments invariably involve Babe Ruth, who plays himself, until it's tissue time, when Cooper, er, Gehrig, faces his namesake incurable disease.
How I felt about it. There's nothing wrong with the casting. Gary Cooper is ideal for the role. Arguably, everything is perfect, and the film should grade 100 instead of 54. That is, if a film is judged not by its quality, but by the degree to which it demonstrates how Hollywood believed (in 1942) a blockbuster bio should be made. The Pride of the Yankees is a producer's film, rather than a director's.
Do you believe that the first time Gehrig swings a bat on the playground, he hits one over the fence? That he signs with the Yankees only to pay his mother's hospital bill? That he first meets his future wife at the same moment he begins his legendary consecutive game streak? That he swats two homes in a world series game to seal a deal with a crippled child, who fully recovers to greet him on the day of his famous Yankee stadium farewell address?
There is just one moment where the formula takes a breather. Gehrig's wedding ceremony with Polly Trueheart (a.k.a. Teresa Wright) is interrupted near its climax by a clumsy worker's electric drill. It's funny because it's unexpected, in a different way than Gehrig's 'tanglefoot' that gets the attention of sugary (but thankfully mischievous) Teresa Wright.
Even stubborn old mama gets with the program after some persuasion. Soon, she's Gehrig's biggest baseball fan, and heroic Uncle Otto is reduced to a ditchdigger. Even blacks (in embarrassing fashion) join Gehrig's bandwagon, despite the fact they won't be allowed to play in the major leagues until years after his demise, an issue predictably ignored by the script. How different it would be in Hollywood, just ten years later.
The two weakest supporting characters are sportswriters. Walter Brennan is pro-Gehrig, practically to the point of idolatry. Dan Duryea is the extreme opposite. He thinks Gehrig is a bum, and dogs him (to Gehrig's indifference) throughout his career. Poor Duryea was always stuck playing jerks.
Watching The Pride of the Yankees is like a stakeout for tragedy. You know it's coming, but not before yet another precious moment involving Gehrig and his fill-in-the-blank (mother, girlfriend, wife, rival). When the dread disease arrives and slowly sinks in, be prepared. Producer Samuel Goldwyn wants your hanky at hand.