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Film at the Frick: The Valley of Decision

You've heard the tales (read: ruthlessness meets philanthropy) of the area's auspicious robber barons like Frick, Mellon and Carnegie. Now see a saga of steel tycoons and union workers come to life on the silver screen.

In the 1945 MGM film, The Valley of Decision, Marcia Davenport’s novel is brought to life by Hollywood legends Gregory Peck, Greer Garson, Lionel Barrymore, and Jessica Tandy, who star in this romantic drama directed by Tay Garnett.

Filmed on location in Pittsburgh, the Academy Award-nominated movie chronicles the life of a young house maid from a family of union workers who falls in love with the wealthy son of a Pittsburgh industrialist. Their romance is endangered when her family, all steel mill workers, go on strike against his father. Sound familiar?

Screened in conjunction with Steel: Pittsburgh Drawings by Craig McPherson, which is on view at The Frick Art & Historical Center through June 8, the film is part of the museum's ongoing series of public programs developed around Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday.

After the film, be sure to check out McPherson's finely detailed atmospheric renderings of urban and industrial environments and get a glimpse into the lives turn-of-the-century industrialists with a tour of Henry Clay Frick's mansion, Clayton.

The film is free and open to the public, and will be shown on May 14 at noon in The Frick Art Museum auditorium.