Ice Palace

Edna Ferber's sprawling novels and populous plays were naturals for never-mind-the-quality-feel-the-width Hollywood (and occasionally produced such happy results as Giant, Dinner at Eight or the numerous versions of Cimarron and Showboat). This monster about the founding of Alaska, however, was well and truly betrayed, freezing into a series of icy confrontations between man of progress Burton and simple rival Ryan amid the Warners studio snow. Soap specialist Sherman had already logged the entry of Texas into the Union in 1951's Lone Star.