Come and Get It

An aging lumber tycoon tries to relive his youth after meeting the hauntingly beautiful daughter of an old friend.

Based on the sprawling novel by Edna Ferber, COME AND GET IT is a fascinating love story, filled with action & tenderness and some very good acting. The production values are on a high order, with the authentic logging sequence especially exciting.

Boisterous, brash & bold, Edward Arnold portrays the brawling two-fisted lumberjack who pushes himself to the top of the heap, trampling on his one great love in the process. Although completely unbelievable as a young man during the first three-quarters of an hour, this is not a problem as he is never anything less than enjoyable in the role.

Miss Frances Farmer, playing a tenderhearted floozy and her own ambitious daughter, has the best film of her career. She is nothing less than radiant and her obvious talent makes her bizarre personal history all that much more tragic.

Wonderful Walter Brennan plays Arnold's jovial Swedish pal, in a performance that would catapult him out of cinematic anonymity and earn him the first of his three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor. Seemingly able to play any kind of part - as long as the character was middle-aged or elderly - during his 46 years in movies & television Mr. Brennan would become one of America's most beloved character actors. He died in 1974 at the age of 80.

Almost obscured by the oversized talents around him, Joel McCrea wisely turns in an understated performance as Arnold's quiet, intelligent son (he invents the disposable paper cup!). His years of solid successes in front of the cameras were adding up and he would soon become a major Hollywood star.

A quartet of fine actresses fill smaller roles: Mary Nash as Arnold's neglected wife; Andrea Leeds as his adored daughter; Mady Christians as Brennan's sturdy, sensible niece; and Cecil Cunningham as Arnold's intuitive, sharp-tongued secretary. That's porcine Edwin Maxwell once again playing a bad guy, this time the crooked owner of a lumber camp saloon.

The song which is used as the theme for Miss Farmer's characters is ‘Aura Lee,' (written in 1861 by W. W. Fosdick & George R. Poulton) a very popular strain on both sides during the War Between The States. Decades later, in the 1950's, Elvis Presley would use the tune for one of his biggest hits, ‘Love Me Tender.'

If you wonder why the inimitable Howard Hawks would state that Frances Farmer was the finest actress he ever worked with, simply take the time to watch "Come and Get It" and see the two totally distinct characters Frances creates in her dual performances as Lotta Morgan (mother) and Lotta Bostrom (daughter). The two women speak differently, sing differently, walk differently--they are two incredible, and individual, creations. The rest of the film unfortunately does not rise to the level of Farmer's performance(s), but it is enjoyable on its own terms in its somewhat sordid tale of a man pursuing the daughter of his long-lost true love. All of the performances are uniformly excellent, the production design is outstanding, and the second unit direction includes some thrilling logging scenes. And while Walter Brennan may have given the Academy Award winning performance from this film, it is the luminous Frances Farmer whose work here elevates her to the ranks of screen legend and who remains lodged in the memory long after the film has ended.

Old fashioned to be sure, but this film version of the Edna Ferber novel boasts some great film acting by Edward Arnold and Frances Farmer (in a dual role).

Story has the ruthless Arnold working his way up in the Wisconsin lumber business, grabbing at everything in sight, including saloon gal Farmer. He seems to care about nothing but getting ahead. When he gets the chance to marry the boss' daughter (Mary Nash), he dumps Farmer and moves on.

Twenty year later, he has it all plus two children: Joel McCrea and Andrea Leeds. By chance he runs into old pal (Walter Brennan in his first Oscar win) who married Farmer. She's dead but her daughter (Farmer again) lives with him along with a niece (Mady Christians). The daughter is a dead ringer for the mother, and Arnold decides to move in on her (in a last gasp at youth).

But when the daughter meets McCrea, it's all over for Arnold. The father and son have a confrontation and the old man sees the light.

This film offers some of the best acting of any 30s film. Edward Arnold is superb, and his final scene is just plain chilling. Farmer is glorious in her dual role, her best chance at film stardom (that never happened). Also solid are McCrea, Brennan, Leeds, and Nash. Supporting cast offers Cecil Cunningham as the wise-cracking and wise secretary.

The film may set a Hollywood record in listing THREE directors. Both Howard Hawks and William Wyler are listed as co-directors while Richard Rosson is credited with the timber scenes (which are great).

Worth a look for Frances Farmer and Edward Arnold!

Behind every film there is usually a story and this one is certainly no exception. Howard Hawks departed the production two-thirds of the way through(whether he quit or was fired is debatable) and a reluctant William Wyler was instructed by Samuel Goldwyn to complete it. As the Director's Guild was as yet not recognised by the studio, both directors were given credit. If two directors were not enough, the tree-felling sequences were handled by Richard Rosson. These scenes are spectacular but guaranteed to have conservationists rolling on the floor and foaming at the mouth.

It would seem that the film was shot in script order and the rumbustious early scenes have Mr. Hawks written all over them whereas Mr Wyler's more subdued tone is evident later on. Both directors disowned the finished product and despite some telling scenes the film represents neither of them at their very best. Gregg Toland is behind the camera(Rudoph Maté for the tree-felling) and the soundtrack to the characters' lives is supplied by the Civil War ballad 'Aura Lea', later reincarnated as 'Love me Tender.'

It is the splendidly spirited performances that carry it through notably those of Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, here making filmic history as the first actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar and the ill-fated Mady Christians whilst Howard Hawks' 'discovery' Frances Farmer is utterly luminous. Of all the stars that fell from the Hollywood firmament, the tragic Miss Farmer was surely one of the most dazzling.

No need to repeat the plot. Fortunately Arnold delivers a rousing performance. His big personality as the lumber tycoon helps distract from certain paunchy shortcomings as a screen lover. Seeing him in passion clinches with a nubile young Farmer takes some getting used to. Happily, Farmer also shines, especially in the saloon girl part, before giving way to a more routine turn as the daughter.

According to film historian David Thomson, Farmer's performance was affected by Hawks' replacement by Wyler as director. Apparently, she and Hawks were more than sympatico off the set. So, Thomson's account goes, Hawks brought on writer Furthman to slant the film towards his beauteous blonde, thus causing novelist Ferber to complain to head honcho Goldwyn, resulting in Hawks' departure and a feud between Farmer and Wyler. I mention these behind-the-scenes shenanigans to maybe account for some of the plot's half-digested elements and Farmer's noticeable downturn.

Nonetheless, it's still a compelling movie, thanks mainly to Arnold's dominating presence that holds the various threads together. I also like the logging footage, which lends a dramatically realistic air to Glasgow's empire. Then there's Lotta's haunting rendition of "Aura Lee", which evidently Farmer herself crooned. However, I'm still trying to figure out the title that appears to have little resemblance to the storyline. But however you cut that or the purported intrigues, it's still a dynamic movie.