El valle de las sombras

A down-trodden girl, a mutt dog, and a criminal fugitive on the run. Sounds a lot like 1941's High Sierra, even down to lead actress Ida Lupino. But it doesn't matter that these elements got recycled, because Deep Valley is a really watchable 90 minutes of Hollywood melodrama. Sure, it's hokey at times, especially the weepy ending that's squeezed for all its worth. But the movie is also a testimonial to the demandingly high standards of Hollywood studio production-- scope out the great farm house that almost looks like Katrina hit it, and the road project that looks so real, I expect it was. There's also the exquisite b&w photography from cameraman Ted Mc Cord, along with expert direction from studio ace Jean Negulesco. But most of all, it's the absolutely luminous performance from Lupino in the central role. Was there anyone ever better at playing soulful parts. Here, her stuttering, long-suffering farm girl whose only joy is her dog and the great outdoors, is enough to move the Rock of Gibraltar, and is surely Oscar-worthy. Speaking of the outdoors, it's also a measure of the film's underlying romanticism that the lovers seek refuge in the liberating openness of nature, and away from the blessings of civilization. For each has been brutalized by societal forces larger than themselves. Dane Clark is very good too, even if he never got past second fiddle to John Garfield-- then too, his strictly blue-collar personality was a poor fit for the upwardly mobile 1950's, and by that white-collar decade, he was gone. Anyhow, this super-slick film again demonstrates how wonderfully vital B-pictures of the studio era could be, and is well worth a look see.

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)?

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 was nearing the end of her Warner Bros. career when she did 'Deep Valley' with Dane Clark, Wayne Morris, Fay Bainter and Henry Hull. Sensitively directed by Jean Negulesco (who did 'Johnny Belinda'), she is a repressed farm girl with a speech impediment who befriends an escaped convict (Dane Clark). She blossoms as romance slowly develops, his love helping her to emerge from her shell, away from her bickering, embittered parents (Hull and Bainter).

A forgotten film, it derives much of its power from Ida Lupino's intense, believable performance in a strongly sympathetic role as the girl who is cured of her affliction by the love of a convict. It has the same kind brooding atmosphere that director Jean Negulesco would bring to 'Johnny Belinda' the following year. Variety called it "a first-class melodrama marked by distinctive performances". Jack Warner was so impressed, he wanted Lupino to extend her contract but she refused, tired of being treated as a second-class Bette Davis. She turned her back on the studio, intent on finding artistic freedom elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the film itself has become one of those "lost between the cracks" kind of things instead of being released to video. It was a bit too bleak and perhaps too downbeat to achieve any sort of popularity at the box-office and it's really too slim a story to sustain a one hour and forty-four minute running time. However, Ida's luminous performance makes it worth catching. Wayne Morris is wasted in a supporting role but Dane Clark does well with the male lead.