El rey del tabaco

I think that Warner Brothers liked the performance that Gary Cooper gave in Edna Ferber's Saratoga Trunk which was released under their auspices a few years earlier. So when Cooper signs with Warner Brothers, Bright Leaf which is about the tobacco industry which has an Ferber like quality to it seemed perfect for him.

It didn't turn out that unfortunately. Brant Royle may be the most unsympathetic character Gary Cooper who was THE archetypal screen hero ever played. He's come back to his home which is in a valley in the tobacco growing country of North Carolina looking for vengeance on Donald Crisp the tobacco baron who ruined his father. All he has as the family heir is a closed factory. But when Crisp refuses to take an interest in Jeff Corey's new cigarette rolling machine, Cooper latches on to Corey and with medicine show doctor Jack Carson to sell the product, the three form a partnership.

Lauren Bacall who runs the town's house of joy with Gladys George helps kick start the firm with a financial investment. She likes Cooper well enough, but he's got eyes on Patricia Neal who is Crisp's daughter. Neal is a southern to the manor born heiress like Bette Davis in Jezebel and Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind. Those are high maintenance women and Cooper finds out just how high maintenance she is before the film concludes.

Though this is a Gary Cooper film, the female co-stars really steal this film from the men. Neal and Bacall are whom you watch and remember from Bright Leaf and of course Gladys George who is never bad in anything.

Though Bright Leaf is about a typical Edna Ferber empire builder the ending is anything like what you would find in a Ferber novel. Bright Leaf is a bit too melodramatic for my taste, but fans of the stars should find it good.

Gary Cooper plays Brant Royle, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks who sets out to conquer the cigarette market at the turn of the century, whatever the cost. He's pitted against the Southern Aristocracy who've owned the market for generations. His only ally is Lauren Bacall, as the town "bad girl", but that doesn't stop him from pursuing the daughter of his worst enemy: Patricia Neal as the cool embodiment of aristocracy.

It's fairly heavy going through most of the film. There is some technical stuff about the tobacco business, but mostly it's about Royle's emotional conflicts: Love vs. social climbing; his conscience vs his business sense; what to do when achieving your dreams isn't enough; loyalty vs expedience; etc. It's all rather slow and humorless, not at all gripping.

Cooper is a good enough actor to keep you watching through all this even though his character is basically unlikeable, but Patricia Neal is the best reason to watch the film. The best moments of the film, the only ones that make it worth watching, are when she drops the icy mask of aristocratic poise and reveals her true character and motivations. That part it genuinely gripping. Bacall is likeable, but doesn't make an equal impact, and doesn't really seem to belong there. Perhaps it's because she looks terrible in the period wardrobe (19th century clothes were not designed for tall, skinny women).

It's also historically interesting to see a movie about the tobacco industry made before they found out about nicotine causing cancer. Nobody seems to think cigarettes are anything but a harmless indulgence and a cash cow.

Stultified costume drama from Warners, weakly directed by Michael Curtiz and uneasily cast. In the South during 1894, with the waning tobacco industry being led only by the cigar, a kicked-around tobacco farmer looking for respect teams with an eager inventor and a confidence man to make the cigarette the most readily-available form of smoking, open to anyone with a few cents. Playing loosely with the facts surrounding the real-life rivalry between tobacco tycoons Washington Duke and George McElwee, the film is undone by smoke-screen romance and a jumbled, stuffy narrative--not to mention by Gary Cooper's leaden performance in the lead. Cooper, consistently in a foul mood, sits atop his horse looking down at everyone, so why would disreputable bad-girl Lauren Bacall or Patricia Neal, the trouble-loving daughter of the Major--Cooper's rival--even give him the time of day? Jeff Corey trumps them all as Mr. Barton, the brains behind the scheme that makes everybody rich; Donald Crisp is also solid (as usual) as the Major. Technical aspects well up to par, but the characters are a dreary lot. ** from ****

... and fortunately I am not a post-war audience because I liked it a great deal.

It's got a pretty familiar outline among melodramas - a man run out of town (Gary Cooper as Brant Royale) by the local king of tobacco Major James Singleton (Donald Crisp), decides to get revenge by backing the development of a cigarette manufacturing machine and grinding Singleton to financial dust. All the while he is entranced by Singleton's daughter Margaret (Patricia Neal), a bloodless creature, while ignoring the girl who has loved him all along, the true blue Sonia (Lauren Bacall).

Its charm is in its casting. Never has Gary Cooper played somebody so unlikeable and so far from the heroic characters he typically played such as Alvin York and Will Kane - the latter character being one he hadn't even portrayed yet. Lauren Bacall balked at playing both the proprietor of a bawdy house AND having a southern accent. The screenwriters thus made her Polish, I guess to explain her rather mild New York accent in a North Carolina setting???

Patricial Neal is a standout. Throughout the piece she moves and stands stiffly, appearing as a mannequin or a music box dancer, only smiling - also stiffly - when she can think of some kind of trouble she can cause. Thus even in movement she is in sharp contrast to straight shooter Sonia. Finally there is Jack Carson - he's a patent medicine salesman who Brant cavalierly makes a partner at the beginning of his entreprises, and he turns out to be a loyal friend. This is something I've noticed about director Michael Curtiz - He certainly knew how to give good roles to and get good performances out of Warner Brothers contract player Jack Carson.

I'd recommend this one. I think it has redeemed itself over time from being the "doomed masterpiece" it was once called.

Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal starred in 1949's "The Fountainhead", an adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel about an architect who refused to sacrifice his integrity or principles. A year later, the same two starred in this film, "Bright Leaf", a period piece in which Cooper plays a damaged man who becomes successful in the tobacco industry. In "The Fountainhead", Cooper is a strong man of principle, but he is probably the weakest part of that film, perhaps because he did not understand the film (as he himself admitted), perhaps because the role did not suit him. I think Cooper better understood his role in "Bright Leaf". His character, Brant Royle, feels more authentic. But Royle is not a man of principle. He is a caricature--the uncaring, destructive capitalist. He is a man with a chip on his shoulder and as far from a man of principle as one can get.

"Bright Leaf" actually has more in common with the movie "Giant", in which Rock Hudson and James Dean play warring oilmen. But "Giant' is a much better film. Cooper, like Hudson, is headstrong. And Dean's character is like Brant Royle--a man with a chip on his shoulder, who only wants payback for perceived slights. But "Giant" is a bright and shining production, where "Bright Leaf" is a dingy film of sordid intents.

There is a bright moment in "Bright Leaf"--near the end of the film, when Royle discovers the true intentions of his wife, Margaret. In that scene, Patricia Neal virtually glows as she burns with the intensity of her revealed emotions.

But otherwise, this film is only as compelling as a grudge match between two self-absorbed and boring factions. It's not the director's fault; the writing defines these characters and drives them. It's not a horrible film, but it falls short of "The Fountainhead", which--even with the miscasting of Cooper--contains a striking story of principles.