A tenant farmer's son is caught in the middle of owner-tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner's seductive daughter.A tenant farmer's son is caught in the middle of owner-tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner's seductive daughter.A tenant farmer's son is caught in the middle of owner-tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner's seductive daughter.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
William Le Maire
- Jake Fisher
- (as William LeMaire)
Frank Austin
- Tenant Farmer
- (uncredited)
Trevor Bardette
- Bit part
- (uncredited)
Harry Cording
- Ross Clinton
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
With all the emphasis on Bette Davis in this film, it is easy to overlook the musical interest. I counted four different musical groups, each assigned to a different "class". There was the marching band at the funeral (black used at a poor white event), the jug band (white, at the poor white party), the jazz band (black, at the rich white party), and the blues singer. This is a surprisingly rich array of styles.
Interestingly, only the blues singer (Clarence Muse) is credited.
Interestingly, only the blues singer (Clarence Muse) is credited.
10olet
For those who are looking for a thoughtful and socially relevant Hollywood film, Cabin In The Cotton is it. The movie is rather quaint, even compared to other films of its time, but that's part of its charm.
The subject matter is unusual, in that both the struggling sharecroppers, and the wealthy land owners are portrayed as flawed individuals. Bette Davis performance as Madge gave her an early career opportunity to impress critics. Unlike her future roles, though, it isn't large or challenging. There is enough there to allow her to be a vulnerable,spoiled, and sexy minx. She also has eccentric dialogue and a glamorous wardrobe. Richard Barthelmess, in the lead role, as well as the supporting players, give very authentic performances. The cinematography is striking,giving the film a realistic rural atmosphere. A powerful and intelligent scene near the end reminds us that, in any profession, the necessary relationship between labor and management will always be a difficult battle.
The subject matter is unusual, in that both the struggling sharecroppers, and the wealthy land owners are portrayed as flawed individuals. Bette Davis performance as Madge gave her an early career opportunity to impress critics. Unlike her future roles, though, it isn't large or challenging. There is enough there to allow her to be a vulnerable,spoiled, and sexy minx. She also has eccentric dialogue and a glamorous wardrobe. Richard Barthelmess, in the lead role, as well as the supporting players, give very authentic performances. The cinematography is striking,giving the film a realistic rural atmosphere. A powerful and intelligent scene near the end reminds us that, in any profession, the necessary relationship between labor and management will always be a difficult battle.
Corny Pre-Coder about a peckerwood (Richard Barthelmess) on a Southern plantation who is torn between the poor cotton pickers and the greedy plantation owner, all while falling for the owner's seductive daughter (Bette Davis). Davis is the whole show here, giving a fun performance that borders on camp. Even her straight lines seem humorous thanks to her risible Southern accent. The movie's most memorable scene is when Bette drawls "I'd like to kiss you but I just washed my hair" and runs away while a sexually frustrated Richard Barthelmess stares after her. Barthelmess is just short of terrible in this, doing all of his acting in close-ups of his constipated face. Berton Churchill, Erville Alderson, and Russell Simpson are all good in supporting roles.
It's a film that's hard to take seriously at times but, if you stick with it, there is a decent 'message movie' here, the kind Warner Bros. excelled at in the 1930s. The interesting thing about the movie's pro-labor rights message is that, while the plantation owner is a villain, so are the poor workers. They include a slimeball who forces Barthelmess' widowed mother into marrying him in an unsettling scene. Their leader's another piece of work, gleefully planning to blackmail Barthelmess into helping them. So no "white hats and black hats" here; just different shades of despicable. But it's not a movie you watch for the story as much as for the performance of a young and attractive Bette Davis. She's really a treat to watch. My favorite scene is when Bette invites Barthelmess up to her room to seduce him. It's both sexy and unintentionally funny. Which pretty much sums up Bette Davis in this movie and why you just have to see it for her.
It's a film that's hard to take seriously at times but, if you stick with it, there is a decent 'message movie' here, the kind Warner Bros. excelled at in the 1930s. The interesting thing about the movie's pro-labor rights message is that, while the plantation owner is a villain, so are the poor workers. They include a slimeball who forces Barthelmess' widowed mother into marrying him in an unsettling scene. Their leader's another piece of work, gleefully planning to blackmail Barthelmess into helping them. So no "white hats and black hats" here; just different shades of despicable. But it's not a movie you watch for the story as much as for the performance of a young and attractive Bette Davis. She's really a treat to watch. My favorite scene is when Bette invites Barthelmess up to her room to seduce him. It's both sexy and unintentionally funny. Which pretty much sums up Bette Davis in this movie and why you just have to see it for her.
The workingman's studio, better known as Warner Brothers, did most of its social commentary films with an urban setting. Which in itself makes The Cabin In The Cotton a very unique product to come out of this studio. It's not a bad film, could have been better in delivering its message with a lighter hand. But what the Brothers Warner did was go back on an old standby.
Watching The Cabin In The Cotton this morning put me in mind of a much better film in which Preston Sturges satirized the making of films like these. If you remember in Sullivan's Travels, director John L. Sullivan played by Joel McCrea wants to make films like these, the epic he wants to do is entitled Oh Brother Where Art Thou. But in order to sell it he's advised to make sure it has 'a little sex'.
Which brings me to why The Cabin In The Cotton is remembered today at all. It's because of what Bette Davis brings to the film, a little sex. This film was a big milestone in her career as she plays the hedonistic daughter of that old southern planter Berton Churchill who keeps his sharecroppers, black and white, in virtual peonage.
The lead Richard Barthelmess plays a bright young sharecropper's son and Churchill takes an interest in him, sending him to school to be educated because he has no son to help run the old plantation. What he does have is one sexpot of a daughter to keep Barthelmess on the side of the rich and privileged instead of finding true love with one of his own class in Dorothy Jordan.
Churchill has been systematically exploiting the sharecroppers with high interest and cheating them on price. They in turn have been stealing cotton and selling bits of it on the black market. Henry B. Walthall and Russell Simpson have been leading the quiet peasant's revolt which threatens to get open and nasty. I'd have to say that the ending of the film has a forced and obvious conclusion both romantically and socially, but you'll have to see it for yourselves to find out.
The Cabin In The Cotton is a dated, but historically valid film about conditions in the old Confederacy before the New Deal. But the sex that Bette Davis brings to her role is timeless.
Watching The Cabin In The Cotton this morning put me in mind of a much better film in which Preston Sturges satirized the making of films like these. If you remember in Sullivan's Travels, director John L. Sullivan played by Joel McCrea wants to make films like these, the epic he wants to do is entitled Oh Brother Where Art Thou. But in order to sell it he's advised to make sure it has 'a little sex'.
Which brings me to why The Cabin In The Cotton is remembered today at all. It's because of what Bette Davis brings to the film, a little sex. This film was a big milestone in her career as she plays the hedonistic daughter of that old southern planter Berton Churchill who keeps his sharecroppers, black and white, in virtual peonage.
The lead Richard Barthelmess plays a bright young sharecropper's son and Churchill takes an interest in him, sending him to school to be educated because he has no son to help run the old plantation. What he does have is one sexpot of a daughter to keep Barthelmess on the side of the rich and privileged instead of finding true love with one of his own class in Dorothy Jordan.
Churchill has been systematically exploiting the sharecroppers with high interest and cheating them on price. They in turn have been stealing cotton and selling bits of it on the black market. Henry B. Walthall and Russell Simpson have been leading the quiet peasant's revolt which threatens to get open and nasty. I'd have to say that the ending of the film has a forced and obvious conclusion both romantically and socially, but you'll have to see it for yourselves to find out.
The Cabin In The Cotton is a dated, but historically valid film about conditions in the old Confederacy before the New Deal. But the sex that Bette Davis brings to her role is timeless.
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.
*** (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.
Did you know
- TriviaBette Davis said in an 1987 interview with Barbara Walters that "I'd like to kiss you but I just washed my hair" was her all-time favorite movie line. In 1977, she had used it in her acceptance speech when she won the American Film Institute (AFI) Lifetime Achievement Award, except she used the word "love," instead of "like": "I'd love to kiss you, but I just washed my hair."
- GoofsMs. Madge enters the Dry Goods store owned by her father (at about 10.78 minutes), and asks Marvin to a party that begins at 8:30. While Madge is running to her home after saying the famous line,"I'd like ta kiss ya but I've just washed my hair," she tells him the party is at 8:00. So the party goes from 8:30 to 8:00 for no reason.
- Crazy creditsPROLOGUE: FOREWOOD: "In many parts of the South today, there exists an endless dispute between the rich land-owners, known as planters and the poor cotton pickers, known as tenants or 'peckerwoods'. The planters supply the tenants with the simple requirements of every day life and in return the tenants work the land year in and year out. A hundred volumes could be written on the rights and wrongs of both parties, but it is not the object of the producers of 'The Cabin in the Cotton' to take sides. We are only concerned with an effort to picturize these conditions."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963)
- SoundtracksOld Folks at Home (Swanee River)
(1851) (uncredited)
Written by Stephen Foster
Played during the opening credits
Reprised on guitar as background music
- How long is The Cabin in the Cotton?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Die Hütte im Baumwollfeld
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 18m(78 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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