Un grito en el pantano

When I happened to come upon this film on TV, Constance Smith was on the screen. Immediately, I thought of Jean Peters because the resemblance was so great. I even thought she WAS Jean Peters, although the eye color and absence of the turned up tip of the nose gave me reason to doubt my initial impression. Lo and behold, who did I find was also in the film - Jean Peters! I did not see any reference in the film to the resemblance between the two, but I wonder if they were cast together because of this resemblance (admittedly, a subjective impression on my part). Perhaps there was an unstated implication that Jeffrey Hunter was attracted to Jean because of her resemblance to his "fiancee", played by Constance. In any event, a very good, if relatively unknown film, even as a remake of the generally more highly rated film it's derived from (with Walther Brennan in both!).

This film was based on the earlier "Swamp Water" - both great films. The earlier film also starred Dana Andrews and John Carradine. I loved all the Walter Brennan movies as well as his character, Grandpa Amos, in the TV series "The Real McCoys", which starred another late and great actor, Richard Crenna, as Luke.

I saw this movie in original release and have always wanted to see it again. It is beautifully acted by the entire cast, especially Walter Brennan. As usual, he was always an asset to any movie. The setting of the swamp gave the movie adventure,suspense and beauty. This is one classic that should be restored to its original state.

A remake of "swamp water " ,Renoir's first American movie ,"lure of the wilderness 's is an estimable one ;the star of the movie is the swamp water ,and if it was filmed in black and white in the first version, color landscapes are a feast for the eye .Twelve years later , Walter Brennan plays the same part as in the French director's work .

But the characters are not cardboard; Jim and Laurie are outcasts , but they are not that much anxious to come back to "civilization" because the dice are loaded and the father won't have a fair trial ; Ben runs into them by chance ;he,too ,is some kind of orphan, for his father has thrown it out of the house when he told him he intended to come back to this doomed swamp where many a man got lost .So Jim becomes a surrogate father to him , his life comes now to resemble his/theirs,not the other way about ; and Jean Peters (who would also play an indian opposite Lancaster in Aldrich's " Apache" (1954))is a better "wild " girl than Ann Baxter .

The ball is an important scene because it's the first (timid) attempt to take Laurie back to the community ;as a fugitive outlaw's daughter she does not stand any chance to be accepted by the well-to-do people;the film is as much a man clearing his name as a younger 's initiation rite : the graves he digs is not for Harper ...

Here is an unusual story about a girl and her father, who take refuge in the Georgia swamps as they try to evade a linching mob. The father (excellently played by Walter Brennan) had been wrongly accused of murder in a small neighboring town. The girl (who turns out to be the beautiful -and quite athletic - Jean Peters)grows up in the swamps, away from civilization, until a man (handsome Jeff Hunter) arrives at their campsite looking for his stray dog. Of course the two young actors eventually fall in love, but even this is believable and interwined into the action and adventure of this highly intersting film. Director Jean Negulesco offers us a well balanced and magnificently edited film that deals with prejudices and lies - which can be abundant in any small town. Very well acted by Peters, Hunter, et all...who award us with quite authentic southern accents, for a change.