| Tycoon | |
| Director: | Richard Wallace |
| Producer: | Stephen Ames |
| Starring: | John Wayne Laraine Day Cedric Hardwicke |
| Music: | Leigh Harline |
| Cinematography: | W. Howard Greene Harry J. Wild |
| Editing: | Frank Doyle |
| Studio: | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Distributor: | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Runtime: | 128 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $3.2 million[1] |
| Gross: | $2.5 million (US rentals)[2] |
Tycoon is a 1947 American Technicolor romantic drama film directed by Richard Wallace and starring John Wayne, Laraine Day and Cedric Hardwicke. It was produced and distributed by RKO Pictures. It is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Charles Elbert Scoggins.
Johnny Munroe (John Wayne) travels to South America to build a mountain railroad tunnel for Frederick Alexander (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), a wealthy industrialist. Complications arise when Alexander insists upon a shorter, more dangerous passage and when his daughter Maura (Laraine Day) develops a romantic interest with Johnny.
Maureen O'Hara was originally cast as Wayne's leading lady, but RKO put her in Sinbad the Sailor instead.[3] Set in the Andes, the film was originally intended to be filmed at RKO's Estudios Churubusco in Mexico City but at the last minute production was shifted to Lone Pine, California.[3]
Though successful, the film did not earn back its huge production costs of RKO's most expensive production up to that time.[4] It ended up losing $1,035,000.[5]