A slice of the farming life and the hardships that lie therein from director Jean Renoir, who earned his only Academy Award nomination for his effort; he also wrote the screenplay from a Hugo Butler adaptation of George Sessions Perry's novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand. This slightly above average drama also received Oscar nominations for Werner Janssen's Score and Jack Whitney's Sound, Recording. Though the story lacks the edge and grittiness of director John Ford's essential film version on John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1940), the images do give it a similar feel.Zachary Scott plays Sam Tucker, a hard working laborer that's ready to try and go it alone as a cotton sharecropper on some abandoned land owned by his employer Ruston (Paul Harvey). Betty Field plays his equally tough, dependable, and supportive wife Nona. The Tuckers have two small children (Jay Gilpin and Jean Vanderwilt), and his disagreeable crotchety old Granny, played by Beulah Bondi, reluctantly goes along (because she has no choice!), complaining all the way.The family faces various setbacks and challenges, from a dilapidated shack that will have to serve as their home, an ornery neighbor named Devers (J. Carrol Naish) and his hired hand Finlay (Norman Lloyd), to their son's sickness and bad weather. But they survive it all and hang together because of their love for one another, honest efforts, and help from Sam's oldest friend, a city bachelor named Tim (Charles Kemper). Percy Kilbride plays a friendly local merchant who later falls in love and marries Sam's mother (Blanche Yurka), who'd come to help with the Tucker children. Estelle Taylor plays Lizzie, Noreen Nash is the more neighborly Becky Devers, Jack Norworth plays Dr. White, and Nestor Paiva is a bartender who gets in a skirmish when he tries to cheat Tim. Sam's Uncle Pete (Paul Burns) provided the Tuckers with some assistance.

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.

A poor farmer struggles to keep his family fed after leaving the security of working as a farmhand to develop his own farm. Renoir tells his tale in a simple, realistic style that is very effective; it is impressive that despite being a Frenchman he is able to capture the spirit of the American South. As the farmer, Scott gives a very natural and nuanced performance; it is unfortunate that he was not able to parlay this role into a better career. Field is terrific as the devoted wife who tirelessly works the field alongside her husband, while Bondi is amusing as the eccentric granny. Other notables in the cast are Naish as a grumpy neighbor and Kemper as Scott's city buddy.

Southerner, The (1945) **** (out of 4) Jean Renoir's classic tale of a cotton picker (Zachary Scott) who moves his wife (Betty Field) and children to a run down farm in hopes that they can grow their own cotton and make for a better future. Their first year doesn't go as planned as the family must struggle with no food, illness, natural disasters and a mean spirited neighbor (J. Carrol Naish). This film has quite a few faults including being oversentimental and featuring a poorly written part of grandmother but I still loved nearly every minute of this film due in large part to the three stars. I'm not overly familiar with Scott or Field but they really impressed me with their performances here. Their parts aren't anything we haven't seen already in previous films but they still manage to make their characters seem real and fresh. Naish gives the best performance I've seen from him as the feisty neighbor who doesn't give the poor family a chance. Renoir's direction is right on the mark and for a foreigner, he captures the southern spirit quite well.