Southern melodrama that has Gary Cooper seeking revenge on tobacco plantation owner Donald Crisp, who ran his family out of town years before. Tawdry stuff with ample amounts of unintended comedy, mostly from the poor Southern accents. Last film from great cinematographer Karl Freund. After this he would work strictly in television for the rest of his career. It's a good looking movie, if nothing else. Also the last movie on Lauren Bacall's contract with Warner Bros., where she had been since her debut. She's the best part of this. Coop is fine, I guess. Patricia Neal, an actress I've never fully gotten the appeal of, is awful here. Bacall out and Neal in surely was a sign of the times at Warner Bros. and pretty much the industry as a whole. The movie stars they were making from this point on just weren't as glamorous as before. Not a lot of likable characters in this one. Aside from Bacall, there's Jack Carson. Everybody else is a villain or villain-approximate.
Review of Bright Leaf
