Way Down East

This one is from Fox and director Henry King. In late 19th century Maine farm country, a young woman named Anna (Rochelle Hudson) arrives at the farmhouse of the Bartlett family looking for work as a maid. She's hired by the stern patriarch Squire Amasa (Russell Simpson), and proves a great help to his wife Louisa (Spring Byington). It isn't long before the Bartlett's son David (Henry Fonda) has fallen in love with Anna, but she's hiding a dark past that may prevent their future together.

This can't match up to the silent version, but it has its good qualities. Hudson proves to be a good actress in a more demanding role than many she had at the time, and Fonda, in his first year in movies, is handsome and believable as a farm boy in love for the first time. The film's greatest asset is the tremendous supporting cast of great bit players, many of whom you'll know the faces of if not the names. Wicked Witch Margaret Hamilton has one of her better parts as the town gossip who's chasing after store-owner Slim Summerville, and Al Lydell is a hoot as an ancient old man always looking for a handout of liquor or tobacco. The end scenes set on a frozen river don't match up to the silent version, but that one almost killed the stars of the film, so perhaps it's better that they were a little more safety conscious this time, even if the results left something to be desired.