Destino de sangre

Rural drama quite mellow, but well done, helped by a good casting. Betty Field at maybe her best performance at movies pictures; John Wayne at his first film in color after the grandiose The Stagecoach; Harry Carey in the Priest; Beulah Bondi at one of her characteristic works playing an embittered woman; the very used by master John Ford, War Bond. And, last but not least, an splendid photography in wonderful Technicolor. I though it was a western and I find instead a strange community making whisky clandestinely at Ozark Mountains Region, Arkansas,who remind me some people I meet in a trip to North of England, near Kyle of Lochals, very reluctant to contact with foreigns. I like the 80% of the film, that was made with conviction, professionalism and care by excellent craftsman Henry Hathaway. It is is a bite too much melodramatic and out of date, but interesting. I give it an seven.

The Henry Hathaway-directed 1941 Shepherd Of the Hills is worth seeing if for nothing else its color, which is as glorious and gorgeous as one will find in a film. Each outdoor shot is like a landscape painting. Along with Gone With the Wind and The Four Feathers, this is the finest use of color I have seen in a movie, and it should be used as a textbook on how to shoot a film in color. Otherwise, the picture is just a pleasing and old-fashioned revenge tale, adapted from a now forgotten novel, and set in the Ozark Mountains at about the turn of the twentieth century. It is nicely written in the idiom of the mountain folk, and features John Wayne in an early, rare non-western role, which he handles proficiently. Betty Field is his spunky love interest in what would now be an Amy Madigan part. Miss Field is lovely in a non-conventional way; she shines as never before or since. The combination of her quiet, almost mousy beauty in an otherwise talky, assertive role is fascinating to watch. Also on hand are Beulah Bondi, Ward Bond, Marc Lawrence, who gives an amazing performance, and Harry Carey, whose pleasantness and plainness I find tiring, though I suppose he's well-cast. There's a ritualistic feeling to the film, with its clearly defined notions of good and evil, the almost formally informal dialect the characters use, the leisurely, strolling pace by which the story unfolds, all contribute to its pastoral quality. The chief problem is that there's no suspense. One senses early on how the thing is going to end, and the characters behave as one would expect.

THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS was made into a silent film in 1919. Harold Bell Wright, the author of the story, was a popular novelist of the day, and a number of his stories were turned into films. He usually concentrated on stories regarding people who lived in mountainous regions (one hesitates to call them hillbillies as they are usually shown to be non-stereotypes). As was mentioned in another of the comments here, Wright also wrote the story that was the basis for the Henry Fonda / Fred MacMurray film THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE.

John Wayne is not the central figure of this film, although considered the star nowadays. In reality this film should be considered one of the best in the career of Harry Carey Sr. A leading movie cowboy actor in the silent period and early sound years, Carey had slowly moved into character parts after 1933. Possibly his best recalled non-western role is the Vice President of the United States in MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. As a Western star, he proved to be Wayne's own model of the perfect western film actor. In fact, in the shooting of John Ford's THE SEARCHERS, Wayne purposely honored Carey by copying a mannerism he had (holding his arm with his hand in a particular position) in Wayne's last visible moment in that film.

In the movie Wayne is a member of a family centered around James Barton and Beulah Bondi (Wayne's blood aunt), and his cousin Marc Lawrence. Bondi has never forgiven Wayne's father for abandoning the family, and indirectly causing the death of her sister. She has instilled in Wayne a hatred of the father. At the same time, the death of the sister is tied to the other tragedy of the family - that Lawrence is a mute. He has been unable to speak since he survived the fire that killed his aunt (Wayne' mother). The only one who occasionally stands up against Bondi's vicious hatred is Barton, but he admits in his best scene in the film that he really lacks the nerve to openly condemn her behavior.

This is a great film for character actors. Besides Barton, Bondi, and Lawrence, please take note of Marjorie Main in one of her most prescient performances. She is blind, and she requires expensive surgery to have a chance for the restoration of her sight. At a critical moment Carey will lend her the money for that surgery. When her eyesight is restored everyone in the community rejoices, until Main recognizes somebody in the crowd she did not expect to ever see again. Her comment when she reveals this person's identity, and realizes the tragedy she may have unwittingly caused, is devastating in it's simplicity and ironic truth.

Carey is a newly arrived rancher in the area, who (as witness his assistance to Main) gets involved trying to do good for his neighbors. And all usually benefit. Yet he too has his secrets, and they nearly rip him and several others apart.

THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS is a movie about redemption and forgiveness, and it's cast shows the difficulties faced by common people when presented with these seemingly simple acts of behavior. All of the stars of the movie gave first rate performances in it, and for Wayne it was the first big follow-up to his overnight success in STAGECOACH. But the best performance remains Carey's, who in the end has to commit an act of violence in order to try to save his last chance for acceptance from those who count the most.

Fine adaptation of Harold Bell Wright's novel; lots of Hollywood character actors in this one. Marjorie Main, Fuzzy Knight, Ward Bond, John Qualen, and a whole slew of others.

John Wayne plays the son of a woman wronged, at least in the eyes of the Ozarks people, whose only purpose in life is to kill the father that disgraced his mother and himself. Harry Carey Sr. plays the stranger, Mr. Howitt, who comes to the hills and leaves nothing but kindness and friendship in his wake. Betty Field is luminous as the girl who loves Wayne, but can't stop him from avenging his mother's disgrace. Beulah Bondi is Wayne's bitter and self-deceiving aunt, who raised him after his mother's death, and continually feeds his hate for his father. Marc Lawrence is the revelation in this film; known mostly for gangster roles, he is marvelous as the handicapped cousin of Wayne, and the catalyst for Bondi's eventual repentance.

A wonderful, period film in gorgeous color, with a beautiful soundtrack. Harry Carey is so good in this that I'm surprised he isn't a more well known actor.

I just caught this little gem on AMC. I missed the opening credits so I had no idea who directed it. As the film progressed, I was like "This has GOT to be a John Ford film." After all, it features John Wayne, Harry Carey, Ward Bond and lots of wonderful Ford like shots. A wonderfully photographed and directed film. It even has Marjorie Main in a character role that's a total departure from her normal, boisterous parts we all know and expect from this great actress. Then I looked it up here at the IMDb and saw that it was Henry Hathaway's film. I never thought of Hathaway as a bad director by any means, but wow! This simply has the look of a well crafted classic beginning to end. Highly recommended.