The Cabin in the Cotton

This film is probably most important because it showcases two stars - Bette Davis and Richard Barthelmess - whose careers are traveling in opposite directions. Barthelmess actually headlines here, but he is a silent star whose career is on the decline, and he has a hard time getting parts after 1934. Bette Davis is a star on the rise, in only her first year of her contract with Warner Bros. where she will become a major star.

Unlike many silent era stars, Barthelmess' problem was not his voice but his acting style. He was just a little too wooden to turn in a truly dynamic performance, and this film is no exception. The story is pretty interesting - Barthelmess plays Marvin Blake, a sharecropper's son who is educated by the plantation landowner and ends up keeping his books. His loyalty is torn between the planter who is sponsoring him, and whose daughter attracts him, and the sharecropper families with whom he grew up. The planter owns everything and is always charging high fees and interest via the company store and thus cheating the sharecroppers out of what they need. The sharecroppers have cooked up a plan to short the planter some of their cotton and sell it themselves and reap the rewards.

It's really hard to take sides in this film because everyone seems so unsympathetic - both sides are stealing from the other without any remorse or much redeeming value for that matter. It is worth a look if you can find it, although it is not yet on DVD.

Michael Curtiz was none too happy having Bette Davis thrusted upon him when he was directing October 1932 "The Cabin in the Cotton." Producer Darryl F. Zanuck saw some spunk in the young actress that the Hungarian director failed to see. Besides a lead in George Arliss' 1932 "The Man Who Played God," Davis' roles were minor playing mostly meek characters. Her part as Madge Norwood called for a head-strong, devious sexpot that the director felt demanded a more hardened, experienced actress.

"Are you kidding?" huffed Cortez to Zanuck when he was told Davis was going to be the lead in his film. "Who would want to go to bed with her?" Having no choice in the matter, the director expressed throughout the shoot his lack of confidence in her right to Davis' face. He described loudly so everyone could hear that she was a "lousy actress," and followed up under his breath that she was a "nothing, no good sexless son of a b" when filming her love scenes with actor Richard Barthelmess. Davis, though sensitive to his insults, let his comments slide off her. "Mr. Curtiz," said Davis years later, "was a monster as he was a great European moviemaker. He was not a performer's director. You had to be very strong with him. And he wasn't fun. Cruelest man I have ever known. But he knew how to shoot a film well." Hard to believe, but the two ended up making seven films together.

"The Cabin in the Cotton," focused on the confrontation between a plantation owner in the Deep South and his sharecroppers. The script was adapted from a 1931 Harry Kroll novel of the same name. Barthelmess stars as Marvin Blake, a sharecropper's son whose ambition is to get a school degree instead of remaining in the fields picking cotton all day. Davis is Madge, the plantation owner's daughter, a free spirit who sides with her father. To be fair, the book and the Warner Brothers' picture doesn't take sides; both are ripping each other off. The farmstead owners are more secretive and clever by cooking the books, while the sharecroppers are visibly stealing from the plantation owners.

In one sense, "The Cabin in the Cotton" is a transformative movie transitioning from Hollywood's silent era to sound films. Davis in later years talked frankly about one of silent movie's greatest actors, Richard Barthelmess, and his acting style. "He did absolutely nothing in the long shots, followed basic stage directions for medium shots, and reserved his talent for the close-ups," noted the actress. "In that way it was necessary to use his close-ups almost entirely." Meanwhile, Barthelmess, 37, said of the 24-year-old Davis, "There was a lot of passion in her, and it was impossible not to sense that. One got the sense of a lot of feeling dammed up in her, a lot of electricity that had not yet found its outlet. In a way it was rather disconcerting - yes, I admit it, frightening."

Modern film reviewer Stacia Jones wrote, "Bette Davis' Madge is one of the few reasons to watch this film. Highly sexual and confident, Madge smokes, parties, and when leaving the car of a rich boyfriend, breezily tells him, 'Better luck next time!' She's modern in both style and acting. Her appearance is in stark contrast to Barthelmess' aged silent movie star look."

Davis, quoting directly from Kroll's novel, said one of the more famous lines comedian impersonators of hers loved to mimic. Madge, leaving her father's store, says energetically in her Southern drawl to Marvin, who works there and whom she is attracted to, "I'ld like ta kiss ya, but I just washed my hair."

In the deep south, the Blakes are a poor tenant farming family picking cotton for wealthy landowner Lane Norwood. The father sends his only son, Marvin Blake (Richard Barthelmess), to school and works himself to death. Lane's daughter Madge Norwood (Bette Davis) hires Marvin for her store and keeps him with his studies.

This is a pre-Code drama. I would like a more specific time and place to nail down the situation. There are some brutal subject matters although this movie is not about the black folks. I've seen Barthelmess before. He retired after the war. His acting style in this reminds me of the silent era. It stands out from the others and is a little awkward, but that does fit his character. Of course, the bigger name is Bette Davis. Sometimes, I do wonder if screen presence is more recognition than acting power. In this case, Bette is playing the sassy flirt which allows for some big acting.

The problems of Capital and Labor are well explored in this tight little drama set amongst cotton tenant farmers and their landlords. Striking cinematography and excellent direction, from Michael Curtiz, combine with a first-rate and intelligent screenplay to create a memorable film. The two sides are well presented, both good and bad, and, although the solution for reconciliation is never really explained, the result opens up areas for debate that are still relevant today.

The performances from everyone are very fine - the supporting cast is an extraordinary group of unique faces and personalities. And then there is Bette Davis, in one of her first roles, looking sensational (platinum blonde) and being very naughty - an implied nude seduction is a highlight - as is that famous line. She eats poor Richard Barthelmess for breakfast, spits him out at lunch, and devours his remains for dinner. Barthelmess' performance is wonderful - he was one of the best actors of the silent era and here is strong in one of his rare talkies. He is so good that he almost makes you forget that he is far too old for the idealistic boy straight out of school that he is supposed to be playing. Great film - see it.

The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Set in the South, this melodrama from Warner deals with the rich plant owners who continue to get everything they want while the poor "tenants" continue to grow poorer and not being able to feed their children. Marvin Blake (Richard Barthelmess) grew up as one of the poor kids but after getting an education thanks to land owner Norwood (Berton Churchill) he's put in the middle of the two sides. THE CABIN IN THE COTTON isn't a complete success but the cast is so good and the direction by Michael Curtiz is so on the mark that you can't help but be entertained. The biggest thing going for the film are the performances with Barthelmess leading the way in his part as the man caught in the middle. I thought the actor did a very good job at being torn by the two sides and you really believe everything that his character is going through. Dorothy Jordan is good as the poor girl who loves him and Bette Davis is grand as the Southern Belle who's also after him. Davis is incredibly beautiful here and she fits the role perfectly and especially the now famous line dealing with her refusing to kiss because she's just washed her hair. Churchill is also very effective in his role as is David Landau, Tully Marshall and Henry B. Walthall. The biggest problem with the film is that it's quite predictable from start to finish. Also, there's a prologue saying that the producers aren't taking sides in the matter and that they're presenting this film "as is" it is in life. Well, I think having all the poor people being whites was a bit unfair and I do think this takes away from the film. Still, fans of the stars will still want to check this out.