20 years later, the National Film Board of Canada remade this well loved Sinclair Ross story with R.H. Thompson and a bit more action. However, the original black and white video, with it's low-key, realistic cast of simple farm folk and their emaciated visitor(Thompson is much too muscular for the role of the sickly musician) is a much more vivid account of what life on the prairies during the Dirty Thirties was like. The earlier film seems to be the easier of the two to locate through film catalogues. It is directed by Stanley Jackson, a jack of all trades for the NFB(he was the voice of the nerdy, nervous depositor in the Oscar nominated animated short "My Financial Career"). The film begins with a banner announcing the setting: a farm in Northern Saskatchewan. Indeed, the newer version seems to be set on the bare southern part of the province. The pine filled scenery of the 1963 version is also much truer to Sinclair Ross's life, having grown up in the Prince Albert area. I prefer the original film version but you decide. Watch them both or, better yet, read the short story. Sinclair Ross's character development and symbolism are lacking in both video versions.
