Producer: Henry Blanke. Copyright 16 June 1950 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Strand: 16 June 1950. U.S. release: 1 July 1950. U.K. release: 2 July 1951. Australian release: 20 September 1951.
SYNOPSIS: In a Southern state in the late nineteenth century, the possession of a cigarette manufacturing machine brings a tenant farmer's son into control of a tobacco empire.
COMMENT: Here's another film that doesn't deserve its poor reputation. The reason for this downgrading is of course that Hollywood was producing so many fine films in this period, the level of craftsmanship in a less-than-outstanding offering tended to be overlooked.
Mind you, Bright Leaf has all the makings of "grade A" romance: best-selling novel, period setting, sweeping backgrounds, self-willed characters, illicit romance. The difficulty is that despite some persuasive (Cooper, Bacall, Carson, Crisp) and indeed fiery (Patricia Neal) acting, the people in this saga remain stubbornly one-dimensional.
This fault is compounded by the tact that their particular traits are almost all unlikable. Royle's is a morose, vengeful figure at the center of an unlovely group of robber barons, con artists and connivers. Even Lauren Bacall's sweet eagerness is flawed by her profession and her hopeless love is so obviously foredoomed, it robs the script of a fair degree of romantic suspense. Crisp has a meaty part for once - and he makes the most of it - even though his character too is patently a mere pawn in the author's telegraphed chess game. It is Patricia Neal who excels, bringing such fire and vengeful malice to her role as to divert our attention momentarily from the mere mechanics of the plot.
Whatever the shallowness of the script, it has been most appealingly dressed up in full regalia. The Warner Brothers have outfitted it in their finest production values: Karl Freund's crisply grey-toned deep-focus photography, Victor Young's atmospheric score, Stanley Fleischer's enormously vistaed sets. Director Michael Curtiz is in his element with such big-budget props. The action and crowd scenes are handled with his usual power. If the more intimate episodes lack the same conviction, it is not for want of dramatic skill, simply the fact that the script is often so stubbornly synthetic.
Some of the support players are afforded excellent opportunities: Elizabeth Patterson is nicely cast as an independent-minded aunt, Jeff Corey is rightly long-suffering as a put-upon Yankee, Chick Chandler makes an amazingly sing-song auctioneer, while James Griffith limns an obsequious clerk to perfection. If the entertainment of the whole falls somewhat short of the sum of the parts, Bright Leaf is still one of the classier, flying high films of the year. Who can resist Cooper's Brant Royle, a truly tragic figure played with such assurance and conviction? (In many ways it's a typical role - well within the actor's range - but nowadays it has the fresh appeal of unfamiliarity.)
SYNOPSIS: In a Southern state in the late nineteenth century, the possession of a cigarette manufacturing machine brings a tenant farmer's son into control of a tobacco empire.
COMMENT: Here's another film that doesn't deserve its poor reputation. The reason for this downgrading is of course that Hollywood was producing so many fine films in this period, the level of craftsmanship in a less-than-outstanding offering tended to be overlooked.
Mind you, Bright Leaf has all the makings of "grade A" romance: best-selling novel, period setting, sweeping backgrounds, self-willed characters, illicit romance. The difficulty is that despite some persuasive (Cooper, Bacall, Carson, Crisp) and indeed fiery (Patricia Neal) acting, the people in this saga remain stubbornly one-dimensional.
This fault is compounded by the tact that their particular traits are almost all unlikable. Royle's is a morose, vengeful figure at the center of an unlovely group of robber barons, con artists and connivers. Even Lauren Bacall's sweet eagerness is flawed by her profession and her hopeless love is so obviously foredoomed, it robs the script of a fair degree of romantic suspense. Crisp has a meaty part for once - and he makes the most of it - even though his character too is patently a mere pawn in the author's telegraphed chess game. It is Patricia Neal who excels, bringing such fire and vengeful malice to her role as to divert our attention momentarily from the mere mechanics of the plot.
Whatever the shallowness of the script, it has been most appealingly dressed up in full regalia. The Warner Brothers have outfitted it in their finest production values: Karl Freund's crisply grey-toned deep-focus photography, Victor Young's atmospheric score, Stanley Fleischer's enormously vistaed sets. Director Michael Curtiz is in his element with such big-budget props. The action and crowd scenes are handled with his usual power. If the more intimate episodes lack the same conviction, it is not for want of dramatic skill, simply the fact that the script is often so stubbornly synthetic.
Some of the support players are afforded excellent opportunities: Elizabeth Patterson is nicely cast as an independent-minded aunt, Jeff Corey is rightly long-suffering as a put-upon Yankee, Chick Chandler makes an amazingly sing-song auctioneer, while James Griffith limns an obsequious clerk to perfection. If the entertainment of the whole falls somewhat short of the sum of the parts, Bright Leaf is still one of the classier, flying high films of the year. Who can resist Cooper's Brant Royle, a truly tragic figure played with such assurance and conviction? (In many ways it's a typical role - well within the actor's range - but nowadays it has the fresh appeal of unfamiliarity.)