King's Row was based on the 1940 novel of the same name, written by Harry Bellamann. The film itself was filmed in 1942 and focuses on the lives of five children grown into adults: Parris, Drake, Cassie, Randy and Louise, from King's Row, a small town in the Midwest. As melodrama, music plays a prominent role in understanding the director's intentions and is one of the predominant ways in which the creators hoped to appeal to the emotions of the viewers. Since King's Row was derived from a novel, it quickly generated a fan base confirming its popularity among moviegoers when it first hit theaters; however, it received many negative reviews due to its difference from Bellamann's version. The novel was very graphic in terms of sexuality, including homosexual references and multiple instances of incest, thus exploring the emotional effects on the victims and their peers. Many critics have noted that this film suffered as a direct result of the Production Act due to forced censorship, director Sam Wood, was forced to delete, downplay or completely change parts of the film regardless of their significance to the overall plot. Theatrical posters and trailers helped generate anticipation and excitement for the film before its release, as the trailer opened with a big, bold, scroll "The extraordinary book of the year becomes the most talked about film in the nation" in which the words highlights that might help fill the mood are in italics, while dramatic scenes, like Cassie running to Parris or just watching Cassie act frantically while at home. “Secrets” is a concept that was exploited on the Kings Row posters; this shows how essential they were to the plot... middle of paper... Cago Tribune wrote a piece about the film in July 1942 and quickly agreed with Crowther of the Times about the film . He refers to Kings Row as an "uninteresting [and] sad two-part melodrama" connoting dissatisfaction and goes on, like Crowther, to criticize the acting. Kings Row was full of successful actors and actresses, but critics believed they couldn't even elevate the film due to how much it had been transformed due to the production code. Regarding the film specifically, Woods and Casey Robinson, the screenwriter, were forced to eliminate suggestions of homosexuality, references to incest and physical abuse. These forms of domestic trauma were all key elements that helped build the foundation of the novel, and their absence arguably changed the entire plot of the film. However, all of these omissions were the result of