Le maître de la prairie

In this rather talky piece set on America's frontier , a St. Louis woman (Katharine Hepburn) marries a New Mexico cattle baron , Col. James B. 'Jim' Brewton (Spencer Tracy) who is seen as a tyrant by the townsfolks . This western starts with St. Louis resident Lutie Cameron (Katharine Hepburn) marrying New Mexico cattleman after a brief courtship . When she arrives in "Salt Fork" she meets her recent husband and she learns that results to be an ambitious magnate owner who exects force to keep homesteaders off the government owned land he uses for grazing his cattle , the so-called Sea of Grass . Then Lutie, rebelling against the tyranny of his hubby . As she finds herself torn between her children (once grown-ups : Robert Walker , Phyllis Thaxter) and husband. Spencer Tracy Cattle baron . . ruthless, rugged! Katharine Hepburn. Fiery . . . Fascinating gal from St. Louis! Robert Walker. Gun-shooting and gambling fool! Melvyn Douglas. He knew women! Soft words, Soft looks! .It takes only one indiscretion to fill a woman's life with adventure, danger and heartache! . Big As Its Stars!

This "MGM" stirring drama Western with plenty of lyric images deals with victory of civilization and defeat of feudal spirit represented by a proud land baron who is deemed by the locals to be a tyrant .However , being more a soap opera drama than a typycal Hollywood Western . It contains some impressive and spectacular scenes on the raid with lots of riders towards homesteaders wagon train and cavalry arrival , though using some rear-screen projections and vast stock of process footage , especially when Spencer Tracy is riding on horseback .The picture is full of largest-of-life characters with awesome interpretations from the nice cast . Pandro S Berman's lusty effort that bears a certain resemblence to epic Western : King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (1946) a classic film of the 40s and over-budgeted movie in almost 5 million . The Sea of Grass (1947) starred by the great Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy team has the performance acting honours whisked from under its nose in this enjoyable drama and the guilty is the early deceased actor Robert Walker . Sensational main cast as Spencer Tracy playing the stubborn cattleman at his best , and Katharine Hepburn as the obstinate wife who has difficulty reconciling her husband's beliefs and passions with her own . All of whom backed by magnificent secondary cast , such as : Melvyn Douglas as the suitor who falls for Lutie/Hepburn , Robert Walker as rebellious and violent son , Phyllis Thaxter as the good daughter , Harry Carey is effective as a friendly doctor , Robert Amstrong of King Kong , Morris Ankrum as a honest solicitor , Edgar Buchanan , James Bell , Ruth Nelson , Robert Barrat , Russell Hicks , Trevor Bardette , among others .

It displays a moving and emotive musical score by composer Herbert Stothart . As well as atmospheric and adequate cinematography in black and white by Harry Stradling Sr , shot on location in the Great Plains. Elia Kazan directs with his customary force , though overtalking and packing some flaws and shortcomings , getting big success at box office . In fact , this was the most profitable of all the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn films . The stunning director Elia Kazan made notorious and successful films . As ¨Pinky¨ (1949) , was one of the first films in mainstream Hollywood to address racial prejudice against black people. ¨A streetcar named Desire¨ (1951), an adaptation of the stage play which he had also directed , received 12 Oscar nominations, winning four, and was Marlon Brando's breakthrough role. In 1954, he directed his biggest hit : ¨On the waterfront¨ (1954), a film about union corruption on the New York harbor waterfront. In 1955, he directed ¨John Steinbeck's East of Eden¨ (1955) , which introduced James Dean to movie audiences.

The Sea of Grass (1947) rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable but inferior than other Elia Kazan films.

Considering that Sea of Grass is helmed by a director who's not familiar with the western milieu it's amazing that it comes off as well as it does. Elia Kazan is so much better in an urban setting like On the Waterfront. Yet Tracy and Hepburn do make this work on some levels.

John Wayne in McLintock and Spencer Tracy in Sea of Grass have the same view of the prarie. Both films take the side of the cattle rancher as opposed to the farmer. Certainly other films like Shane make the farmer the good guy. But events here show that Tracy was right about the prarie as his arch rival in politics and love, Melvyn Douglas, ruefully points out.

Tracy and Wayne also have spousal problems, although certainly Wayne handles his with a tad more humor. One thing that Maureen O'Hara does and Katharine Hepburn doesn't is share his vision of the prarie. She befriends the farmer family nearby and that is what causes the rift between her and Tracy.

McLintock is a comedy and Sea of Grass is a western soap opera. Kazan was lucky in casting folks like Edgar Buchanan and Harry Carey who knew their way around a western. Robert Walker was taking some tentative steps toward a similar role in Vengeance Valley. He only appears in the last half hour of the film as the kid with dubious paternity, but you will remember him.

Katharine Hepburn would have to wait another 28 years before doing another traditional western in Rooster Cogburn. Eula Goodnight is certainly light years from Lutie Cameron. Colonel Jim Brewton though is the same type cattle baron as G.W. McLintock.

I think the film is more for fans of soap opera than for fans of westerns. And certainly it's for fans of Spence and Kate.

Why do I get the feeling some folks know little about Spencer Tracy? For example, Kazan's alleged quote of "Tracy did not like horses and horses did not like Tracy either" (per Ciment's book). Excuse me, but how could a man who loved to play polo, which Tracy did and did a lot in his younger days and against studio wishes, not like horses? I've played polo and if you don't like horses (and they don't like you) you won't be playing the game more than once or twice. Maybe the quote was made for the more obvious reason: to justify Kazan turning out a movie that was below his abilities? If true that one of Kazan's excuses for the painful experience of directing the movie was not filming on location, I can't totally disagree, but then again a good many great films were not filmed on location, so this excuse only holds so much water. And how can one think that the movie is a "cattlemen vs. homesteaders" film? That's the setting, and it is the trigger of the conflict between the main characters, which leads to the betrayal, which is the center piece of the story, but that certainly isn't the movie. I grant you, it's not one of Tracy's best, but he does the best he can with the lame Marguerite Roberts' script. Even if this movie had been shot on location, it doesn't change the glaring fact that a bad script is still a bad script. If you believe Tracy was sleepwalking, then you have to also believe Kazan was on life support and Roberts was dead, from the neck up, while scripting this one. If Tracy's at fault for anything, it's for trying to save the film, which is more than it deserved.

The Sea Of Grass is slow moving and talky, but not as bad as many have portrayed it. If I told you without cluing you in on the title I had a top-production 1947 MGM picture staring Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and Melvyn Douglas, you would be expecting a glossy white telephone movie with a love triangle and lots of high melodrama from the three stars. That's essentially what you get here, only replace the white telephones with elk antler hat racks, the swank park avenue apartments with rambling ranch houses, and the busy New York street scenes with a dusty, one-horse, Nineteenth Century New Mexico town. The Sea Of Grass is a soap opera dressed up as a Western. If that is what you are expecting, instead of a traditional shoot-'em-up, you may be much more pleased with it.

The three stars deliver their usual stellar performances and three fine, textured character studies. Old, smoothie Douglas is particularly effective as a hard-edged attorney and later judge, cattle baron Tracy's stalwart opponent and Katherine's illicit lover, father of her second child. The large supporting cast shines, led by Edgar Buchanan and Harry Carry. Over rated Robert Walker is over-the-top as usual, but fun to watch. Production values are superb with terrific luminous, old nitrate black and white cinematography typical of the era, a rich Herbert Stodhart score, good, authentic costumes, great sets with some spectacular location scenery dovetailed in for long shots of Southwest grasslands and cliffs. Principally concentrating on relationships, the story moves along at a glacial pace, but the stars and an intelligent, if messy, script hold interest. Some of the dialog is a little preachy and overblown, but it is generally believable and satisfying. There is hardly any action until the last reels, and even then it is half-hearted and ultimately just peters out. The major subplot is the traditional Western theme of cattlemen versus homesteaders, but the eventual showdown comes early and is anti-climatic. Nevertheless, the movie is engrossing and enjoyable for the acting and the production values. It is refreshing to see a movie about the Old West that concentrates on decent real people and their real life problems instead of just dwelling on brawls between lowlifes who hang out in brothels and saloons.

The Sea Of Grass is not bad, but not as good as it should have been with all it had going for it. Director Elia Kazan reportedly said he was ashamed of the picture, and he should have been. The overly slow pacing, lack of spark between Tracy and Hepburn (they were off-screen lovers!) , and other problems clearly resulted from his flabby direction. With three top stars at the peaks of their careers, an intriguing story, and a big budget, The Sea Of Grass should have been a much better picture. And it would have been if Raoul Walsh had directed it.

In Michel Ciment's book " Kazan par Kazan" which is actually a very long interview (à la "Hitchcock by Truffaut"),the director recalled how painful the filming of "sea of grass " was for him:first of all,he complained for a subject like that SHOULD have been filmed on location and we can find little fault with his opinion;besides ,he had to use the Tracy /Hepburn pairing,two actors he admired but who were miscast here;"Tracy did not like horses and horses did not like Tracy either" .His wife should have been a frail young girl,which Hepburn was not :"she was clever but she was part of the high society.." The one thing Kazan seemed to appreciate was her crying;but reportedly Louis B Mayer watching the rushes complained: her tears does not flow from her eyes ,but from her nose;it looks like snot!" Among all my movies this is the one I like the least" he concludes.

With hindsight,the film retains qualities and I do not think anyway that it is worse than the disastrous "last tycoon" which IMHO,is Kazan's absolute nadir.Hindsight displays its charms.Considering the limitations Kazan was working under,it's a wonder that the scene where Hepburn and Tracy are in front of the "sea of grass" listening to the noise and to the silence (of the Buffalos -now they are gone- and of the Indians -now in the reservations-) is really poetic.We can also save the scene of the storm ,where the farmer (David) has to fight his wealthy neighbor (Goliath).The historical context ,the end of the prairie of grass and the coming of the farmers ,is interesting.

Robert Walker's character ,an unstable boy ,predates James Dean in "East of Eden" by eight years:too bad the part is underwritten.The fact that he was born of adultery is almost passed over in silence ,except for one scene or two.

It is not my Kazan's favorite or even among my favorites,but it's a film to watch if ,like me,you are interested in the director's oeuvre..

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"Giant" Georges Stevens 1955