I noticed that a few of the comments above mentioned that Vincent Price was a strange pick, or "over the top," or whatever, as Joseph Smith.Before seeing the film, I also thought that seeing Vincent Price as Joseph Smith was a bit odd, but as others have said, this is because of the many *later* horror/thriller films he appeared in."Brigham Young," by IMDb's count, was only Price's *seventh* film, and at the time, I'm confident that he had not yet cemented his "creepy" persona.Generally, though, I echo what has been written-- not completely accurate (what historical film is?) but characters are portrayed fairly and the film was entertaining.

The movie has many good points. It is a clean movie you don't have to be ashamed to have the kids see.It has some fun scenes and leaves you feeling good. It's also a good example of movie making style from the time period.Unfortunately, it also has many bad points. It isn't historically accurate. In fact, a lot of the Brigham Young bits really play loose with the truth. There's no documented evidence that Brigham Young had the religious doubts that the movie shows. In fact, all historical evidence is to exactly the opposite.Vincent Price as the Prophet Joseph Smith is a bit over the top.There are far, far worse ways to enjoy a box of popcorn. But don't expect high art.

The completed product of Brigham Young was not the film Darryl F. Zanuck envisioned. Originally the film was to have been an actual Hollywood biography of Brigham Young starring Walter Huston. Huston would have been grand casting in the role. But he backed out and Zanuck was stuck without a leading man. He decided to use Dean Jagger who he had under contract, but who was not a leading man. Zanuck then had the roles of the young farmer and his gentile sweetheart upgraded and cast Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell in them who had done so well in several films and built those parts up.Several LDS reviewers have pointed out the glaring inaccuracies of the story so I won't repeat them. Nevertheless Henry Hathaway does a fine job making this motion picture move. He certainly captures the grit and determination of the early Mormon settlers in Utah after they are run out of Illinois.Two of the minor characters in the film that I liked are Marc Lawrence as the prosecuting attorney of Joseph Smith and John Carradine as Mormon scout Porter Rockwell. Though Joseph Smith was not tried for anything before he was murdered, Lawrence's attorney is quite typical of the demagogic politician who made the Mormon residency of wherever they settled so much grist for their propaganda mill. As for Carradine, part frontier scout and part religious zealot, he fits the conception I have always had of Rockwell. A truly colorful character, he was as well known as Brigham Young himself in his day. He'd be a good subject for a biographical film himself.One of the great enigmas of the last two centuries coming down to this one is the fact that there still has never been one shred of archaeological evidence to prove the existence of that western hemisphere civilization that the Book of Mormon speaks of. Yet for a people that built their faith on a myth there is no denying the civilization they created in Utah. And in the climax when those seagulls came and ate the locusts destroying the crop the Saints planted that first year. No seagulls have ever been in the state of Utah before or since. That was indeed something of a miracle.And from the LDS reviewers here I see they are well pleased with this film.

This is a wonderful movie about the struggle of the Mormons and their final settlement in Salt Lake, Utah. The beginning and the ending are especially powerful, and the message is one we all have to be reminded of - God doesn't talk, but he communicates, if we would only listen. As I am writing this in the midst of the horrors going on in New Orleans and the surrounding area due to Katrina, I was especially moved by the Mormons having to leave everything behind and move on after Joseph Smith was assassinated. People came to this country to escape religious persecution, and yet they could not. The struggle of the Mormons to cross the country, the cost in lives, the hardship they suffered was truly awe-inspiring, demonstrating their tremendous strength. As far as the actual beliefs of Mormons, this is not heavily gone into, and polygamy is mentioned but is not a centerpiece of the film at all.The cast is top-notch, though others who have commented know more about the actual characters and can talk about how true the portrayals were. But as actors, Dean Jagger, Mary Astor, Brian Donlevy, John Carradine, Jane Darwell all do excellently with the script they were given.Though the film could have easily stood on its own (and certainly does today) Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell were added to the cast to get the crowds into the movie theaters to see a film about the Mormons. Power is magnificently handsome as a young Mormon, and Darnell, as Zina, is not a Mormon but stays on with the family after her father is killed. Power does not have much to do until the end of the film, when he has a big scene, and Darnell (still a teenager at the time of the filming) has even less, though they make a lovely couple. Their fate is left unclear regarding her conversion, and one does wonder about the polygamy in their case. You can't beat either one for eye candy, however.