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.

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.

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.

Interesting film about the plight of planters vs. share croppers in 1930s South. Richard Barthelmess plays a share cropper's son who is good at school and is sponsored by a planter (Berton Churchill). Although the boy becomes a bookkeeper for him he 's caught between the two worlds and the two girls from each side of town: the planter's daughter (Bette Davis) and a share cropper's neighbor (Dorothy Jordan).

As the war between the planters and croppers increases, Barthelmess is caught in a moral dilemma. He knows the croppers are stealing cotton and he knows they burned down the local mercantile (owned by the planter) because they think they've destroyed the the records. But Barthelmess has an extra set.

The film is a little slow and maybe too old fashioned but the subject matter is interesting and of course the film features Davis' famous line, "I'd like to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair. Bye!" Aside from that the film offers Barthelmess in his last starring role and good performances by Churchill and Henry B. Walthall as a crippled cropper.

Also co-stars David Landau, Virginia Hammond, Russell Simpson, Tully Marshall, Dorothy Peterson, Hardie Albright, and Clarence Muse.

Worth a look

Cotton-picking farm boy Richard Barthelmess (as Marvin Blake) is saddened by the sudden death of his father, who was conflicted by young Barthelmess' growing fondness for higher education. In order to support his poor family, Barthelmess goes to work for the sharecroppers' miserly plantation owner, Berton Churchill (as Lane Norwood), who also pays for his schooling. Alas, an educated Barthelmess causes political trouble for his fatherly employer.

Barthelmess is really too old to be playing a school-age kid. The costume, lighting, and make-up do not hide the strain. Fortunately, Barthelmess, a fine actor, would follow this with some more suitable roles, like "Heroes for Sale" (1933). "The Cabin in the Cotton" has good direction (by Michael Curtiz), an interesting story, and a finely-wizened supporting cast. Barthelmess' leading ladies are sweet Dorothy Jordan (as Betty Wright) and sassy Bette Davis (as Madge Norwood). Ms. Davis, who delivers the memorable line, "I'd like to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair," is outstanding.

***** The Cabin in the Cotton (10/15/32) Michael Curtiz ~ Richard Barthelmess, Bette Davis, Dorothy Jordan, Berton Churchill