Wild Oranges

When a windblown newspaper spooks the horses pulling John Woolfolk's carriage, his wife is thrown out and killed. He tries to escape his grief by taking to the high seas only to find reason to love again when he encounters an emotionally damaged young woman, the granddaughter of a reclusive southerner on the Georgia coast. But their happiness depends on his finding a way to defeat a deranged and murderous man whose lust for her and threats of violence have turned her and her grandfather into psychological hostages.

Although "Wild Oranges" is a lesser known King Vidor film, its uncompromising realism makes it more satisfying and less dated than some of his more stylized and prestigious later productions. I will never forget the image of Woolfolk trying to revive his dead wife, her eyes open and unresponsive.

Frank Mayo and Virginia Valli give honest, understated performances as Woolfolk and his new-found love in this 1924 film whose atmospheric evocation of evil lurking in a coastal swamp (images of Spanish moss waving in the breeze were shot on location in Florida) is somewhat reminiscent of the finale in the 1961 film "Cape Fear."