Caught some of this on TV. Compared to the '47 classic Hollywood version, which I have seen many times over the years, it comes across as a more realistic portrayal, in some respects, of the likely people in this backwoods central Florida habitat of the post -Civil War. It's 30 min. shorter than the original, in its adaptation of the '38 popular novel of the same name. Both were shot in color, and both clearly were shot on location in the real habitat described in the novel. The actors seem more realistic as backwoods pioneers, lacking the glamor of Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, and cherry-cheeked Claude Jarmin, as the main characters. Claude, although new to Hollywood, was the final choice in a nationwide hunt for the perfect child to play Jody. Clearly, he was younger and more child-like than Wil Horneff, who played Jody here. Despite many criticisms of Claude's acting and characterization at the IMDb site for that film, I find him much more endearing than Wil. On the other hand, Peck's Penny comes across as from too genteel a background to be satisfied with such a hard-scramble life. Peter Strauss seems a much more believable Penny. Jean Smart plays a more vocal and animated, less traumatized, Ora than Jane Wyman's largely silent character, who seemed resigned to the fact that Jody, as the last remaining of 4 children she birthed, would likely also die before reaching maturity. Thus, through most of that film, she was set on withholding her motherly affection toward Jody, having seen it wasted on her other 3 children. The actors who here portrayed the distant Forrester neighbors portrayed them as generally more uncouth than in the original.
The traumatized encounter with Slew foot: the marauding bear, was equally well done in both films: a difficult shoot....The implication that the deer liver treatment of the rattlesnake bite was probably effective enough to allow Penny to barely survive it's effects is suspect. I assume this was a local folk remedy that the novel author picked up, but I doubt if it is effective, even if applied soon.
As far as the screen play, taken from the novel, is concerned, I find it difficult to believe that there weren't other deer in the forest who would be as destructive of the their crops as Flag, not to mention probable feral swine. However, the point is well taken that cherished pets and habits must sometimes be discarded when they become a severe threat to your well being.
