User reviews

Beautifully shot, absorbing film about the close-knit Tucker clan - Sam (Zachary Scott), the handsome dad who loves being a farmer, Nona (Betty Field), a good wife and mother who always seems to look well-groomed in spite of her hard work, two really cute kids, and then there's ornery old Granny (Beulah Bondi), she of the sharp tongue and stubborn will. In a gorgeously photographed scene where they are working for hire in the bright, sunlit fields picking cotton - the couple watches as their Uncle dies in the fields saying in his last breath "Grow your own crops", and they decide to do just that. Soon they have rented a property where they can raise cotton and be their own masters, so to speak - well, the house turns out to be nothing but a broken-down, ramshackle shack, the whole place needs loads and loads of work - but one good thing" it has "good earth". Troubles ensue - trouble with the neighbors, trouble getting food, sickness troubles, weather troubles, oh brother!

Well, this is an excellent, heartfelt, and well photographed film done in an unusual, distinctive style. The actors who play the Tucker family do a good job in making this actually seem like a real family and make you want to root for them - but it is Beulah Bondi as cantankerous Granny who really steals this film for me - I really enjoyed her scenes and thought they added a little spice to this! The hardships this clan has to go through can be hard to watch sometimes, but the story is involving and the film is quite memorable.

THE SOUTHERNER is notable for giving ZACHARY SCOTT his first real chance to shine as a promising new movie actor headed for stardom, teaming him with the always reliable BETTY FIELD as the wife of a dirt poor farmer in this Depression-era saga, uplifting despite the adversity of their situation due to Jean Renoir's fine direction.

"Grow your own crop," Scott, a Texas farmer, is told by his dying uncle. He struggles with his family to do just that--and THE SOUTHERNER becomes a tale of survival against the cruel twists and turns of nature. BEULAH BONDI is the stubborn Granny whose bark is worse than her bite, but she does tend to get annoying in her whining ways.

Working the land and making farmland self-supporting is never an easy matter and it gets plenty of negative treatment here with the odds against the struggling family at every turn. J. CARROLL NAISH and NORMAN LLOYD as hard-nosed neighbors make themselves utterly unlikeable (but believable) as Scott's uncooperative neighbors, unwilling to spare some milk for him when his son is ill. PERCY KILBRIDE comes to his rescue with a rented cow and later becomes his father-in-law, marrying BLANCHE YURKA.

But there are still hardships ahead, including a severe storm that destroys all the crops, serving to emphasize the man against nature theme of the entire story. Everything is destroyed but the human spirit.

Scott, Field and Bondi give heartfelt performances, with Bondi a bit over-the-top as Granny. It's not in the same class with THE GRAPES OF WRATH but it does create a sympathetic portrait of farmers who work the land.

Based on a novel called "Hold Autumn in Your Hand", it stands the test of time largely because of the performances.

An employee named Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott)frequently working for others is hired some land and he decides along with his family, -his wife (Betty Field), granny (Beulah Bondi)and two sons - attempt farming for themselves. The family finds hardships on their way and they'll have to fight against the elements,ills, poorness, distresses and a selfish neighbor (J. Carroll Naish) living with his daughter (Nash) and niece (Norman Lloyd) .

This is a rural drama about a survival fight amid all disgraces and terrible elements. It's a naturalistic drama splendidly played and magnificently staged. From the tale 'Hold Autumn in your hand' by George Sessions Perry and writing by William Faulkner though he appears uncredited. It's proceeded in similar style to ¨Grapes of wrath¨ by John Ford based on John Steinbeck novel . First rate performances by all star cast. Special mention to Belulah Bondi as sympathetic and and grumpy granny. And Norman Lloyd as roguish nephew, he's a veteran player still acting , who joined the original company of Orson Welles-John Houseman Mercury Theatre and after that he was hired to Hollywood to play as secondary actor in Alfred Hitchcock movie and other ones and made him an associate producer. Neo-realist and evocative cinematography by Lucien Andriot. Sensible and imaginative musical score by Werner Janssen.

The flick is excellently directed by Jean Renoir. He said about 'The Southerner' gave him more pleasure than any of his other Hollywood work. Renoir was voted the 12th greatest director of all time . Furthermore, Orson Welles frequently cited him as the greatest movie director of all time. He was son of the famous impressionist painter Auguste Renoir. After his French classics (Rules of game 1939, Human beast 38, La Marseillase 36, A day in the country 36, Boudu saved from drowning 32), he was brought to USA by American producers, directing awesome films in Hollywood (Woman on the beach 1947 , The diary of a chambermaid 46, The Southerner , The land is mine 43, Swamp water 1941). Later on, he returned to France , going on film-making classic movies (Elusive corporal 1962, Picnic on the grass 59, Testament of Dr Cordelier 59, Golden coach 52, The river 1951). Rating : Better than average, well worth watching.

Here we have the movie that Jean Renior considered his favorite of all his American efforts. It's truly a forgotten gem from this great director.

It involves the Tucker family, a hard-working but poor clan who toil in the cotton fields as day workers. The family is led by Sam, played by Zachary Scott, accompanied by his lovely wife Nona played by Betty Field. They are accompanied by Beulah Bondi's ornery Granny Tucker, two small children and a frisky little dog. They represent the best of America's hard-working poor, with Sam and Nona truly being dedicated to each other and their family.

We are introduced to them as they pluck cotton beneath the burning sun, hauling huge sacks stuffed with the crop. Suddenly an elder member of the family falters and he is quickly aided by his nephew and his wife, Sam and Nona. Sam takes his uncle's load of cotton, telling him that he'll finish his row. Nona Tucker stays with the old man as he languishes in the fields, flies buzzing around him as he sweats and wheezes. Sam soon rushes back after delivering his cotton, and Nona informs him that his uncle "isn't doin' too good." They give the old guy water, and urge him to hold on, but with his dying breath he tells his young relatives, "...grow your own crop." This advice Sam truly takes to heart, and soon asks his sympathetic boss to let him farm a piece of land on a kind of rent-to-own deal. Sam and Nona's experiences making a life on this fallow piece of land are the focus of the movie.

Truth be told, I've always found talented Betty Field to be one of Hollywood's most unsung and under-appreciated actresses. She seems to generate some vague aura of tragedy, with subtle underpinnings of a quiet sexuality. Her voice has a low register, which also can have a beautiful clear resonance that is unique and memorable. Betty Field was the main reason I was so excited to finally be able to view "The Southerner." And I certainly was not disappointed! Her Nona and Scott's Sam are extremely believable as soul mates and married lovers, and there is a certain erotic electricity in there quiet scenes together.

Zachary Scott'character is earnest, sensitive and ultimately heroic, and his presence lends a quiet soft-spoken American spirit to the proceedings and he voices a soft Southern accent to perfection. His Sam Tucker is intelligent, brave, and determined, and the movie really gives him the opportunity to demonstrate his strength and prowess. Scott is wiry and strong, and his performance is athletic and inspiring. One can easily believe him to be the kind of man who would inspire the love and dedication of his wife and family. His obvious intelligence, goodness and his determination help make his long and difficult journey extremely involving. After a major catastrophe, when Sam experiences dark feelings of hopelessness, Zachary Scott truly conveys the reality of a common guy who questions all his decisions and abilities.

Jean Renoir's ability to capture the distinctly American essence of these characters is remarkable for a director from Europe. He certainly has a fascination and love for the land, and uses the landscape to reinforce the emotional high points of the film. In one remarkable scene, when the couple's young son battles an illness, Nona runs from the family's house into the freshly plowed field, crying as her husband follows her. She throws herself down onto the dirt and hugs the soil as she weeps, and confesses her innermost feelings. Renoir seems to almost turn the dirt and mud of this field into a third character in the scene.

But yes, there are a few elements in "The Southerner" that must disqualify it from masterpiece status. One disconcerting thing was the Hollywood makeup on Betty Field, who was never without mascara and lip gloss even when picking cotton or burning brush off a field. She certainly looked lovely, but also inappropriate for the movie. And the expert character actress Beulah Bondi has some moments where Renoir allowed her to perhaps play it a little too broadly. She's much of the comic relief in the film, and serves this purpose well, but her crotchetiness does begin to grate somewhat. And unfortunately the superb Blanche Yurka is underused as Sam's mother, and she appears so suddenly that it seems some of her scenes must have been cut. Percy Kilbride plays a thankless role as Yurka's suitor, and his screen time could have been used more efficiently.

But other supporting player deliver wonderful little turns in the film. There's Charles Kemper as Sam's rotund best friend and city slicker, Tim. He's likable and warm, and the narration that opens the film is his. He is perhaps the polar opposite of Sam in appearance and philosophy, and lends a voice to the advantages of city living. Then we have J. Carroll Naish as a terse and bitter neighbor who supplies much dramatic impact in his scenes with good guy Sam. The deliberate and thoughtful interplay between these two characters is packed with tension and foreboding. Norman Lloyd as Naish's nasty lowlife farmhand gives a unique performance and seems to bring an almost animalistic quality to his character. Also Dorothy Granger is both frightening and sad as a drunken barroom floozy who doesn't run from a fight.

"The Southerner" could probably be considered "The Grapes of Wrath, Lite." But to view it that way certainly underestimates its own power, and its relevance even today. Stripped to its essence, the movie could be the tale of any close-knit family who struggles to survive and to flourish in an uncaring world. Renior's talent, with the help of a great cast, makes "The Southerner" an impressive portrait of the struggles and rewards of American farm life. It has the ability to resonate in the memory because of both its Hollywood artistry and its gritty Southern strength.

"The Southerner" is a very good film starring Zachary Scott, Betty Field, Beulah Bondi, Norman Lloyd, J. Carrol Naish, and Blanche Yurka. It's the story of a man, Sam Tucker, working as a cotton picker along with his wife and parents. As his father lays dying in the field, he tells his son to own his own land. Sam quits his job and makes arrangements to work the land of his former boss, with the goal of ownership. He's not welcome by his closest neighbor (Naish) and the house on the land is nothing but a shack. The family nearly starves during the winter; the daughter can't go to school because she doesn't have a coat; his son falls ill with "spring sickness" (probably rickets). Nevertheless, Sam and Nona (Field) keep working, Sam knowing that working the land and feeling the sun is the only way he can live.

This is a very absorbing film. You not only see, but feel the struggles of the family and how hard they work no matter the odds, with strength and determination.

Betty Field was a good choice as Nona - she's plain and tired-looking, with a bright smile. The devotion she has to Sam and he to her is very touching. As a couple, she and Scott are very effective. Beulah Bondi is very good as the irascible, annoying, wizened grandmother either complaining or predicting doom and gloom. Naish gives an excellent performance as a jealous and unhelpful neighbor, and Norman Lloyd is appropriately slimy as his worker. It's always hard to relate the skinny Lloyd, who usually played villains, with the older, revered Dr. Auschlander in "St. Elsewhere" - he's had quite a career. As of this writing, he's 93 and still working.

Zachary Scott is okay as Sam but it's not a comfortable fit. The part required more warmth, more depth, and more internal grit; it's a Henry Fonda role. Still, for not being Scott's normal type of sophisticated or villainous part, he handles it well.

A good film, beautifully directed by Jean Renoir, who was nominated for an Oscar. There are some stunning cinematic moments as well. Worth watching for sure.

It's the story of the poor cotton-picking Tucker family in Texas. Uncle Pete dies in the field. With his dying breath, he tells his nephew Sam Tucker (Zachary Scott) to work his own field. Sam listens to the advice. He and his family struggle to make it work on their own despite a bitter neighbor and many setbacks.

It's a fine southern perseverance movie. I'm actually surprised with the southern anger during its time. There are a few apples in the cast of characters but Tuckers are fine grounded people to root for. I think the poverty clashed with southern pride. The French director probably didn't help. As a movie outside its baggage, it's a fine inspirational drama. Henry Devers is a little too obvious. He can be bitter without playing up his meanness. Grandma has some funny moments but the movie does need more comedy. It can get a bit monotone. All in all, it's a compelling straight forward drama.

It's not Grapes of Wrath, and some of the plot is contrived and unsatisfying. It's also predictable -- if you know there's some time left, you know another awful thing has got to happen.

But it's hard not to come away from this story of struggle for the bare necessities without thinking how spoiled we now are. Christmas is just over. I heard whining on the airplane about the cabin being a little hot for a few minutes, and someone was howling because they couldn't next sit to their friend. At home, the grandnephews get a ridiculous amount of presents. How much more meaningful even just one would be to a poor child! And I think back to my own ire at dinner one night being delayed for a couple of hours, while at any time I could have had a snack to keep me going from enough leftover food to feed an army.

You do have to think that our material wealth and ease have at the same time diminished us.

I saw this film on a Saturday morning and loved it. It's about a man, his wife, their two children and the grouchy grandma, who are dirt poor (and I mean that literally) farmers. It's based on the book by George Sessions Perry called "Hold Autumn in Your Hand," but the movie and the book are completely different in style and manner. I personally like the movie more, as it showed the family's togetherness much better than the book. A wonderful Renoir film (I think my favourite of all his) and definitely a must see. The courage of the family is really touching. I gave it a...10/10.

Two fine actors who were not served by the movies as well as they should have been are featured in this low-key drama. At least in Betty Field's case it seems it was by her own choice that she did not go further in films since she preferred the stage but Zachary Scott probably due to his rather angular looks and his skill at playing disreputable cads was typed in that capacity. Here however he plays a decent, honorable working farmer giving a fine performance matched every step of the way by Betty. Renoir's direction is subdued but finely judged. The whole picture is a worthwhile view for those who enjoy serious family dramas with accomplished actors.

I have a copy of this movie and have watched it several times. Most of my family has as well. My father has a speaking part in the movie. His name is Isadore J. Blanco and is the 17 year old that is featured while working out in the field. My father passed away On Veterans Day November 12, 1996. He was a wonderful human being and it's a joy to be able to see and hear him speak as a teenager.

Many of the younger generation do not know of the lives of these poor field working families. Many of the older children did not complete elementary school because working to put food on the table was much more important. Survival was what drove these families. Many young men later enlisted in the military to better their lives.

Renoir was still a master and had definitely not lost his touch when he made this saga about a year in the life of a desperately poor farming family trying to make it. The only thing that mars it, keeping it from rating a 10, are the cutesy-poo children and the saccharine music on the soundtrack, making it perfectly clear exactly how you were supposed to feel at any given moment. I suppose these were necessary nods to Hollywood conventions of the time. Kudos must go to Zachary Scott for the courage of his performance in the lead. An underrated actor, Scott was nearly always cast playing lounge lizards and other assorted slimeballs. Here he appears without his mustache and is almost unrecognizable. Given that Scott aspired to a career as a Gable-type leading man, this role was not a good career move. But it is definitely the performance of his career, and along with the equally outstanding performance of Betty Field, makes the film. Incidentally, I could have done without the over the top performance of Beulah Bondi as Granny; throughout the film I kept hoping Scott would strangle her.

Zachary Scott and Betty Field are Sam and Nona Tucker. You'll recognize Percy Kilbride... he was Pa Kettle, in a thousand Ma & Pa Kettle films. In the story, the tuckers have always worked for others, but they decide to work their own land, farming cotton. It's a man versus nature story. Like moby dick. Or maybe the story of Job getting tested in the bible. Granny is played by beulah bondi... was nominated for two films i'm not familiar with, Human Hearts and Gorgeous Hussy. And of course, was in Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Scott was famously one of joan crawford's film husbands in Mildred Pierce. Southerner and mildred were the third and fourth film roles for him! Sadly, scott died quite young at 51 of a brain tumor. It's good! Family fights to survive, in spite of all the odds. Imdb tells us this was filmed from september to november of 1944, when most folks were off to war, so scott was borrowed from warner brothers to make a united artists film..was nominated for three oscars: sound, music, and director: Jean Renoir. Based on the book Hold Autumn in your Hand, by George Perry.

The opening shot amounts to a wonderfully compelling hymnal to the land and those who toil there, while the rest of the movie attempts to follow through with that noble theme. There's no doubt that this is one of the most laudable movie projects to come out of the decade. But for all the earnest concern, there's still too much of the theatrical for my liking. I know, the film is generally hailed by critics, and there's much to be said for its consistent down-and-dirty look at the plight of the southern share-cropper. But there's also a staginess to many of the characters and scenes that blemishes director Renoir's naturalistic approach.

Consider Beulah Bondi's over-the-top turn as Granny. She's supposed to offer amusingly caustic comments on events as relief from the rigors of the plot. The trouble is that both she and the camera rub our nose in the role. They just as well have hung a sign around her neck saying "crusty old woman". The bad make-up job doesn't help either and serves as a constant reminder that the Tuckers are after all only a make-believe family. Since she's a central character, the flaws in her wild eye-rolling performance are hard to ignore.

The other acting is fine, especially from Scott in the lead role as Sam. However, both he and wife Nona (Field) are more stereotypes than multi-dimensional people. He's the noble, tireless worker, and so is she. Together, they are unwavering in their support of each other and the farm. And when Sam does waver after the flood, it's Nona providing the strength to persevere. Thus, it's the whole family and not just Sam plowing the field that will make the farm a success. That's a good point for the script to make. The trouble is that Sam and Nona are simply too good to be believable in the face of all the adversity. At least one breakdown scene where the emotional toll of the wrenching burdens is expressed would have added a more human dimension. Writer Renoir is simply too insistent on the nobility of the two characters, turning them more into symbols than complex real people.

On the other hand, the hostile neighbor Devers (Naish) is the most interesting of the characters. His dark resentful nature would appear to come from uncredited co-writer William Faulkner who specialized in such Gothic personalities. The real agonizing story of what it means to start up a farm is told by the embittered old man in what I take to be the movie's central scene. He's made a success, but that success has made him hard and mean, and now he lives in fear of anyone rising above him. I wish the screenplay had not betrayed that dark impact for the price of a big fish in what strikes me as a very implausible turn- around scene on the riverbank.

The film's virtues are pretty obvious. There's a real effort at showing rural poverty and its effects on people, never a Hollywood biggie. When little Daisy lovingly puts on the crude blanket-coat, I was reminded of a world so easily passed over in a nation of commercialized malls. Ditto the well-done possum feast, where the simple act of eating means so much more. And especially when the family and we gather around the little hearth fire to peer into the glow through eyes much more ancient than our own. These are indelible scenes that transcend the movie screen and alone are worth the price of the movie.

Maybe it took a European auteur outside the usual studio framework to want to deal as honestly as possible with such a non-commercial theme. But the location shooting and insistence on the unglamorous, even down to the very unHollywood barfly, add up to what looks like an effort at honest depiction. Of course, Renoir's well-known humanism and rollicking humor show up in the party scene in what amounts to a folk celebration of life and community. Then too, there's that telling scene between Sam and Tim (Kemper) where each comes to appreciate the contributions of the other in supplying the community's needs. Whatever the film's regrettable flaws, the message remains a powerful one that needs constant retelling, especially in our own cynical times. Too bad Renoir didn't stay on this side of the Atlantic. His influence on our own movie-makers would have pushed them in a much needed direction.

Texas cotton-picker Zachary Scott (as Sam Tucker) watches his uncle die in the fields and decides to take the old man's advice, "Grow your own crop." Fully aware of the challenge ahead, Mr. Scott takes his family to live as sharecroppers on a farm he hopes will become profitable. Scott, attractive wife Betty Field (as Nona), their two pre-teen children and cranky old Beulah Bondi (as "Granny") move into a dilapidated shack on the property. We never know what is holding the rickety structure up; built to fall, the leaning shack looks like it wouldn't stand up during a light breeze. The family's struggle becomes even more difficult than Scott imagined. Most notably, his son becomes deathly ill due to lack of milk and vegetables. There is no help from nasty J. Carrol Naish (as Devers), who lives next door. Far from neighborly, Mr. Naish won't even give a cup of milk to save the boy's life...

This may be masterpiece-maker (see 1937's "La Grande Illusion") Jean Renoir's most admired "Hollywood" effort, if not his greatest produced in the US. One of the year's most acclaimed films, "The Southerner" won awards from the highly-regarded "National Board of Review" (Best Director) and Venice Festival (Best Film). While less frequently noted, Zachary Scott finished at #8 in the "New York Film Critics" poll as the year's Best Actor. The star also supported Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce" (later in 1945). Scott was at a career peak and his failure to receive an "Academy Award" nomination is somewhat surprising. Scott's performance for Mr. Renoir is excellent; it even helps to balance some of the film's more off-putting, cartoonish qualities. Veteran cinematographer Lucien Andriot contributes to the poetic bleakness, and Renoir's production designer Eugene Lourie shows his usual skills.

******* The Southerner (4/30/45) Jean Renoir ~ Zachary Scott, Betty Field, Beulah Bondi, J. Carrol Naish

The Southerner (1945)

This is such a deliberately sentimental, salt-of-the-earth story, filmed with intelligence but no particular innovation, it's hard to believe the same director made one of my favorite movies, "Rules of the Game," with all its energy and sophistication. Can it be even as relevant as it seems to want to be, six years after the depression ended, and everyone's attention on the war, the bomb, and the returning soldiers with no jobs? In fact, the more you watch it the more it seems like a parody--but to make a tongue-in-cheek movie about something this earthy would be a kind of slap at the soul of the country.

So what's to be though, or said? It almost has the documentary feel of a Flaherty film (from twenty years earlier). The heartfelt and rather sympathetic tone is offset (for me) by the obvious types played out--the terribly good neighbors and the backwards mean ones, the struggling good wife and the struggling good husband (both smart and stubborn and beautiful). You can have your preferences, of course, but if I compare to "Grapes of Wrath," as one example, I see a whole different kind of movie making, from acting style to photographic intensity to a story with complexity as well as sentimental warmth.

But let's look at the other hand. This is not a slick Hollywood film. It was produced (funded and controlled) by the director himself, and he was able to keep what I call a European feel to the filming, something more honest. And the themes may well come from the huge trauma of Renoir's own life, having escaped from Europe and made an anti-Nazi film but felt adrift. This is his first straight American film, and he may in fact not know his subject directly, but only through the FSA photographs, LIFE magazine stories, and the book that it was based on, a pop fiction bit of pulp fiction in its own way.

Heartbreak, bad weather, and ever transcendent human compassion merge together in this well made but imperfect film, sometimes regarded as Renoir's best American effort. Take it on your terms.

It's too bad this film is always being compared with John Ford's production of "The Grapes of Wrath." While they both cover general ground, they are quite different structurally. "The Southerner" is almost plot less, relying on slices of early American life as homesteaders struggle to keep their farms intact.

Apparently the critics are divided on this one, many calling it one of Jean Renior's greatest achievements, while others feel it only slightly above average. Admittedly, attention to innovative stark realism is paired with some rather predictable stock situations. All in all though for me, it's an engrossing film, and an honest one.

A great point of interest is Zachary Scott, in his second screen role. Minus his characteristic mustache and playing a simple "tiller of the soil," he seemed strangely cast. We're so used to his ultra-slick, amoral roles, that seeing him in this film is rather startling. Not to say he wasn't good at it. There's just something about his angular face and sharp, thin nose, that suggests he ought to be more in a tailored tux than wrinkly overalls.

Reading Scott's bio was informative: not a particularly happy life and career, despite his impressive seventy total credits. I got the feeling that Warner Bros. simply didn't know what to do with him, following "Mildred Pierce" and "Flamingo Road." Maybe they felt he was so convincing in these sinister roles that the public wouldn't buy him as other types. Whatever the case, his private life seemed rather glum and lacking vitality. (Could also be his first name may have been a downer in the long run.) The supporting cast of "The Southerner" is fine, and the film remains a strong depiction of early rural life in America.

During his American exile period Jean Renoir turned out some really interesting films. The best of these is The Southerner which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Director. This film is clearly the ancestor of that Sally Field classic from the Eighties, Places In The Heart.

The Southerner is the story of a poor white family in the rural south named Tucker. Zachary Scott who wants very much to farm on his own land takes an option from Paul Harvey and plants cotton on it. He was advised by friend Charles Kemper that it's a whole lot easier to be working in a factory or working as a farmhand on someone else's land as you're guaranteed a paycheck and you won't starve.

But that goes against that great frontier tradition of 40 acres and a mule and the people who homesteaded and developed their own land. It's an ingrained American dream, not like the Europe where Jean Renoir was taking a hiatus from due to World War II.

In fact The Southerner is a great tribute to Renoir's ability to soak up American culture and values. He really depicts the rural American South quite well. What's not shown here are black people, but in point of fact they would not be sharecropping near any poor white people at that time. Still the lack of them is a major flaw in the film.

Both Zachary Scott and Betty Field do a great job at playing these very simple, but indestructibly sturdy Tuckers. Their two children live with them as well Scott's ancient grandmother Beulah Bondi, made up to way beyond her years even then. J. Carrol Naish has a nice part as a bitter neighbor who resents the fact that Scott might just make a go of it on land that cost him a couple of family members. Former silent star Estelle Taylor plays Naish's daughter and old time vaudevillian Jack Norworth has a small role as the local physician.

Norworth's part is involved with Scott and Field's son coming down with pellagra, common among the poor people of the south who did not get a decent diet. Fresh milk every day went a long way and that's the reason that schools started giving out milk to the children way back in the day and still do.

Besides a nomination for Renoir, The Southerner also received Academy Award nominations for Best Music Scoring and Best Sound. Sad to say for Renoir his film did not get to take any Oscars back to France when he returned.

The Southerner ought to be seen back to back with Places In The Heart which has black people very prominent in the cast and does not shy from racial issues. Still even with that major flaw The Southerner is a deserved film classic.

Zachary Scott overcomes his lack of screen presence to deliver a career best performance as the cotton-picker who dares to farm his own patch of land in Jean Renoir's slice-of-life drama. Nature, and a bolshy neighbour, takes offence at Scott's nerve and threaten to demolish his dream - but leave wife Betty Field's hair and make-up intact. Decent enough, but it lacks bite.

A depressing film detailing a family's struggle against the elements of nature.

The film marked a change of pace for the usual suave, devious Zachary Scott. The same year as this picture, he was absolutely memorable as Monty Berrigan, Joan Crawford's n'eer-do-well second husband in the fabulous "Mildred Pierce."

I kept waiting for Scott to have a break out scene in this film but that never quite happened. A bar room brawl as shown in the film was silly at best.

Betty Field does her best as his suffering wife, but is hampered by the unusually weak screenplay.

Nonetheless, there is a standout performance by Beulah Bondi as Granny. I think that Irene Ryan tried to imitate her in a comic way years later in "The Beverly Hillbillies." Whoever did the makeup on Bondi deserved some sort of accolade.

The young son is plagued with the "spring sickness" in the film. That's what seems to plague the entire film.

That fabulous Blanche Yurka, so magnificent as Madame De Farge in 1935's "A Tale of Two Cities" briefly appears at Scott's mother. It's a shame to have seen this great American actress reduced to the part that she had. Obviously, under contract, she had to do it. Her brief appearance totally lacked the luster that she was so capable of. Imagine, her marrying Percy Kilbride (the old Pa Kettle in the film.)

If the author wanted to write about a farmer's battle with nature, he should have read "Giants in the Earth." What a great book that was.

J. Carrol Naish's part had the potential to be quite good but again it was under-written.

This picture could have been far more exciting with better writing.