Le blé est vert

Bette Davis offers an interesting, more restrained performance than usual as Miss Moffat, the schoolteacher determined to help a brilliant student (John Dall) reach his full potential. Although handsomely photographed, the film has the look of a photographed stage play with its studio-bound outdoor sets--but the performances are all so vibrant that they become more important than any other ingredient.

John Dall is excellent in what was his first major role, as is Joan Lorring as Bessie (the girl who takes his mind off his studies). Nigel Bruce, Mildred Dunnock and Rosalind Ivan create fully rounded performances under Irving Rapper's sensitive direction. But it is Davis, of course, who holds the spotlight with one of her most tasteful performances--intelligent and yet full of feeling and emotion.

As I said earlier, all of it shows its stage origins and the singing of the Welsh miners is a bit too perfect for reality--but the film is both entertaining and thought-provoking, dealing as it does with some serious issues. Ahead of its time, in its out-of-wedlock theme.