El valle de las sombras

This film was a nice showcase for Ida Lupino--who normally was in second-tier films or played supporting roles in most of her films. Here, despite a relatively low budget, she has a nice opportunity to show her acting prowess.

The film is set in rural America. A road crew with convict labor is working near Lupino's home. She lives with her parents--an ineffectual and sickly mother (Fay Bainter) as well as an often cruel and moody father (Henry Hull). The father sees the foreman of the road crew (Wayne Morris) as a likely candidate to take his 'stupid' daughter off his hands--so he tries very hard to convince the two to spend time together. Odd, then, that instead of Morris, Ida falls in love with one of the convicts--one who has escaped and befriended her (Dane Clark). Much of the movie is spent with Clark hiding and meeting Lupino on the sly.

The plot is okay but the best part of the film is clearly Lupino--who plays a brow-beaten young woman extremely well. A great film? Nah...but for lovers of classic cinema, one well worth seeing.

I unfortunately caught only a part of this film on TCM and I will look for it again to see the beginning. But I was stunned by its beauty and especially the cinematography, so I wanted to add my comments as a "Hear! Hear!" to the comment above.

Thank goodness there's a Turner Classic Movies. These Warner Brothers classics are gems I'd never have known otherwise. This film is visual poetry.

I had to turn to imdb.com in order to find out who the cinematographer and director were. Beautiful. One doesn't realize often enough what there was at Warner Brothers. Personally I get a thrill when I hear that introductory music.

Ida Lupino (Libby) plays the socially isolated daughter of Henry Hull (Cliff) and Fay Bainter (Ellie). They live in the middle of the nowhere and Lupino is the glue that keeps the family together as her parents don't speak to each other and live on separate floors. She acts as a go-between. One day, after wandering through the woods, which is her only enjoyment in life, she stumbles across some convicts who are building a road. One of them, Dane Clark (Barry) takes her fancy. Can these two misfits get together? Wayne Morris (Jeff) also takes a shine to Lupino and her father wants to encourage this relationship. Lupino has other ideas.

The cast are good with the central performance of Lupino leading things along as she develops a relationship with Clark and we see her change into a happy girl. However, this is ultimately an unhappy story that you will probably be able to predict. It does provide tense moments, though. Personally, it was too obvious for me and I would have preferred a different ending. It's still worth keeping onto.

Why this isn't on tape is a mystery. I saw this movie in first-run as a teenager. My friends and I sat in the theatre for 15 minutes afterward, crying our eyes out. The love story and the struggles of the two main characters are heart-wrenching. So well acted, Ida Lupino was an actress who never was truly recognized. She was perfect in this role. My friends and I had a movie-star crush on Dane Clark afterwards. He too was a better actor than he was credited for.

Try to see this movie! You'll never forget it.

How can we get this on VHS (or DVD)?

The new Pacific Coast highway is being built and a meadow is being sacrificed from Henry Hull's farm for the job though he got some good money for it. Looking at the place it's kind of depressing and hopefully he'll fix the place up.

It's probably most depressing for Ida Lupino in one of her best films Deep Valley. She's a shy withdrawn girl with a stammer and she doesn't have outlets for socialization. She lives on said farm with her parents Hull and Fay Bainter who is one of those women perpetually sick. With a road crew under the direction of engineer Wayne Morris all of them at the farm actually lighten up with the arrival of human contact.

The crew on the road is convict labor and one of them, Dane Clark is a person of violent temper which is why he's there on a manslaughter rap. He escapes during a landslide and the whole county under sheriff Willard Robertson is on the hunt.

The shy and and backward Lupino discovers Clark and befriends him. She just wants to see the world and Clark is really a tragic figure, as socially regressed as she except that his temper makes him lash out.

Though some of the character development of the supporting players isn't quite well rounded when director Jean Negulesco is concentrating on his stars Lupino and Clark he's got a winner in Deep Valley. Color cinematography might have really given this film a boost, especially the outdoor scenes. On the other the black and white does accent the tragic elements of the story so take your choice.

This is definitely one of Ida Lupino's five best roles. For her fans Deep Valley is a must.