The Green Promise

Entertaining piece about a stubborn widowed farmer and his children (two girls, one boy and one grown woman) who buys a farm and ignores good advice of how to operate it. Natalie Wood plays youngest child Susan who wants to join the 4-H club and raise lambs. She is inspired by young neighbor Buzz who's success in raising cattle has allowed him to save enough money for college. Walter Brennan plays the father who shames her into thinking that she is selfish to want to achieve individual success outside of the family collective. Natalie gives her usual charming and polished performance and holds the weaker parts of the film together. At times her style is a bit melodramatic, but the film is played so low-keyed, that her over-the-top emotions (a trademark) liven things up. No doubt about it, she is the star of the film. Marguerite Chapman plays the grown child, Deborah Matthews, who is afraid to date the handsome land agent because her father expects her to work the farm and not have a life of her own. She does have some grit and stands up to her father from time to time. The Green Promise is a biblical reference that is delivered nicely by Reverend Benton (Milburn Stone) and drives home the film's themes of putting pride aside and allowing others and themselves to achieve their individual potential. There are scenes of the kids fishing on a fallen tree trunk that are reminiscent of Norman Rockwell and in fact the entire film, written by Monte Collins, is more of a time capsule of the conservative American spirit of that period. It's the type of film Walt Disney made with larger budgets and in color (SO DEAR TO MY HEART, FOLLOW ME BOYS), but the limits of black-and-white film gives it a dust-bowl feel a little inappropriate to the story and setting. Hollywood was filled with Communist themes from such writers as Dalton Trumbo (who penned the similar OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES) so it's interesting to see such a film for contrast. Far from a classic, fans of Natalie Wood, the 4-H club, and films of this type will find it of interest.

This movie seems like one of those 'family on a farm' B-movies so common in the forties and fifties, about a little girl (or boy) with a horse, a dog, or in this case, baby lambs. It starts off as if it's a promotional film for joining the 4-H, but it gets better towards the end.

It stands out for two reasons: 1) the real star is Natalie Wood, who must have been about ten, and is totally convincing when she repeats the 4-H oath (oh, the nostalgia for the lost innocence of that era!) and 2) the ecological disaster that climaxes the film, with Natalie Wood again doing a great job in an exciting sequence as she fights her way home during a savage rainstorm and saves herself from drowning in the storm's raging waters. (She permanently injured her wrist in this sequence.)

A teenage Martin Milner(uncredited) appears briefly in the 4-H club meeting scene and warns us of ecological peril. Milburn Stone as the preacher is appropriately didactic in spelling out the message of the film.

I'll give it a 5.

William D. Russell directs this rather unusual screenplay about a widower farmer and his four children of various ages, who live under their pig-headed father's thumb. Pretending to have a democracy in his family, the farmer--who always gets the last word--doesn't see that his stubborn ways of operating a home and a farm are not always the right ways, and he often comes close to alienating his children with his rigidly unsentimental attitude. Upon moving into their newest ranch house, eldest daughter Marguerite Chapman is wooed by the handsome, eligible local agriculturalist, yet she acts frigid and suspicious of men; we are to assume this is the way her papa raised her, but possibility a more vulnerable approach might have drawn us closer to the character. Natalie Wood is the talkative youngest child, and she pulls off some very difficult key sequences in the film with charm and poise (being voted down by her father when she desires buying two lambs, going to the bank and asking for a loan, and diligently taking her oath after being invited into the 4-H Club). The picture isn't a total success...and for a while there, I wasn't sure what Walter Brennan was trying for as the patriarch; at times he's so stern, he's almost villainous. However, the locations and silvery cinematography are perfect, and there's a dandy of a thunderstorm in which little Natalie finds herself caught. A genuine oddity from RKO, and worthwhile despite its flaws. **1/2 from ****

Though this may not be one of the best movies of its time it certainly warms your heart. The plot is that of a widower with four children who seek to set up a farm using their last resources and the tribulations that follow. Walter Brennen plays to the hilt the autocratic father who professes to be democratic in all his decisions but has his own way by being overtly manipulative. Margurite Chapman plays the eldest daughter who surrogates for her mother to the siblings. She is torn emotionally behind a traditional approach emotionally and professionally as demanded by her father against the more scientific farming methods and modern values as professed by her knight in armour the Agriculturist Officer. The other two kids just play to stereotype as the nasty sister and the adolescent brother who is terrified by his father. It is Susan, beautifully played by a nine year old Natalie Wood who is the real star of this film. Her presence forces you to forget the weaker points of the film as you emote silently with her both in her pains and her happiness. The scenes where she bursts to tears as she is unable to agree to join a club as her father has forbiden it and the classic scene where she argues her case for a loan to a crusty banker (who incidentally has to cover up a smile) is great. The storyline may be weak but the acting is good and the picturisation of the storm sequences which include the heroic rescue of two lambs by Susan (allegedly which gave Natalie Wood a lifetime fear of drowning)is excellent. A great film to view with your family as it warms you up with thoughts of a long by-gone era.

Charming little farm family drama, made more so by Wood's incandescent performance. Her emotions from joy to alarm are so infectious, it's hard not to be moved. That scene of acceptance into 4H is a little marvel of the kind of uninhibited joy that somehow gets lost on the way to adulthood. True, at times she's a little much, yet it's hard not to believe she's actually feeling what she's conveying, sort of an untutored version of the Stanislavski method, at least as I understand it. I also like Marguerite Chapman's unsmiling farm girl. She's certainly a long way from the expected eye-batting coquette when handsome David Barkley (Paige) comes calling. There's a feeling that the responsibilities of surrogate motherhood are making her old beyond her years. It's an unusually realistic, if rather dour, performance.

Despite the warm family overtones, the script is far from sappy. Catch how Dad (Brennan) manipulates the family's democratic process. He wants the image of democratic equality at the same time he works it for his own advantage. There's a larger lesson here that remains topical for our own time. Also, note how Dad opts for short-term financial advantage over longer-term conservation by cutting down the hillside trees. Those roots provide long-term flood protection, but don't provide the immediate cash he needs. Thus, his motives are understandable, yet when rain comes, calamity results. We continue to be confronted by the environmental issue of short-term advantage versus long-term security; at the same time, the screenplay raises this concern long before its like became a national issue.

The values here may be conservative, but they're hardly hidebound. Catch Rev. Benton's (Stone) Sunday morning sermon. It's really a recognition of the importance of science as both a source of knowledge and a potential benefit to our lives. The message is also a long way from the type of dogmatic conservatism that sees the Bible as the last word on either worldly wisdom or natural history. Then too, the values of 4H and the family farm are as relevant now as they were then, perhaps more so now that the hard lessons of industrial farming have entered our food supply. My general point is that the movie may be dated in some ways, but the screenplay remains an intelligent one even 60 years later.

Unfortunately, the version I last saw (on TMC) was edited and failed to include the now notorious bridge scene referred to by other reviewers. It also failed to include at least one other important scene I recall from an earlier version. So viewers should be alert to edited versions. Nonetheless, the movie is generally under-rated and combines both solid entertainment values with a well thought out message that makes for very worthwhile viewing.