Bright Leaf

Stultified costume drama from Warners, weakly directed by Michael Curtiz and uneasily cast. In the South during 1894, with the waning tobacco industry being led only by the cigar, a kicked-around tobacco farmer looking for respect teams with an eager inventor and a confidence man to make the cigarette the most readily-available form of smoking, open to anyone with a few cents. Playing loosely with the facts surrounding the real-life rivalry between tobacco tycoons Washington Duke and George McElwee, the film is undone by smoke-screen romance and a jumbled, stuffy narrative--not to mention by Gary Cooper's leaden performance in the lead. Cooper, consistently in a foul mood, sits atop his horse looking down at everyone, so why would disreputable bad-girl Lauren Bacall or Patricia Neal, the trouble-loving daughter of the Major--Cooper's rival--even give him the time of day? Jeff Corey trumps them all as Mr. Barton, the brains behind the scheme that makes everybody rich; Donald Crisp is also solid (as usual) as the Major. Technical aspects well up to par, but the characters are a dreary lot. ** from ****