The Tender Years

In 1880s Indiana, Joe E. Brown is the local pastor. His son finds a lost dog and adopts it. However, it turns out to belong to someone else, and Brown returns it, despite the man using it for pit fighting. He and his son steal the dog, and Brown must go on trial rather than return the animal, rather than subject it to cruelty.

Brown, after a four-year absence from the screen, gives a good, comedy-free performance as the stiff-backed, kindly parson, proving yet again that just about anyone who can give a good comic performance can give a good straight one, although the converse certainly isn't true. Although the sentimental tone of the movie palled on me by the end, a competent cast and good camerawork by Henry Freulich kept me going painlessly through the end. With Josephine Hutchinson, Charles Drake, Griff Barnett, and a very handsome boxer dog.