The Green Promise

This movie seems like one of those 'family on a farm' B-movies so common in the forties and fifties, about a little girl (or boy) with a horse, a dog, or in this case, baby lambs. It starts off as if it's a promotional film for joining the 4-H, but it gets better towards the end.

It stands out for two reasons: 1) the real star is Natalie Wood, who must have been about ten, and is totally convincing when she repeats the 4-H oath (oh, the nostalgia for the lost innocence of that era!) and 2) the ecological disaster that climaxes the film, with Natalie Wood again doing a great job in an exciting sequence as she fights her way home during a savage rainstorm and saves herself from drowning in the storm's raging waters. (She permanently injured her wrist in this sequence.)

A teenage Martin Milner(uncredited) appears briefly in the 4-H club meeting scene and warns us of ecological peril. Milburn Stone as the preacher is appropriately didactic in spelling out the message of the film.

I'll give it a 5.

When I first started watching this film, I assumed it would be a schmaltzy family film. However, as it progressed, I realized it was the story about a nasty old man who dominated his family...and the attempt by some of them to break out from under his thumb. I do think many WILL see it as a family film but with me being a father, I sure wanted to bust this guy in the nose!

Mr. Matthews (Walter Brennan) and his children arrive in town and they buy a farm. One of their neighbors is David Barkley (Robert Paige) and he's a college educated agricultural agent. But Matthews is a stubborn old guy and refuses to listen to Barkley--choosing to use his old tried and true methods. Likewise, he doesn't listen to his children but dominates them. He pretends everyone in the family gets a say but uses emotional blackmail to get his way every time. When Matthews is badly hurt and his children have to run the farm, the oldest, Deborah (Marguerite Chapman) decides to loosen up the reins and try new methods. When her father eventually learns of this, he tries to sabotage her efforts--all to prove he was right after all.

One of the beneficiaries of Dad's injury is little Susan (Natalie Wood). She's wanted to raise lambs and join 4-H but he vetoed this because...well...because he could! Now with Dad laid up in bed, Susan tries to prove she can raise sheep on her own.

Fortunately, everything works out by the end of the film....and I stopped hating Matthews! It is a nice little film...just try to ignore Matthews' boorishness that occasionally rears its ugly head. Also, try to ignore the kid in the Aunt Jemima costume at the party! My how times have changed!

Though this may not be one of the best movies of its time it certainly warms your heart. The plot is that of a widower with four children who seek to set up a farm using their last resources and the tribulations that follow. Walter Brennen plays to the hilt the autocratic father who professes to be democratic in all his decisions but has his own way by being overtly manipulative. Margurite Chapman plays the eldest daughter who surrogates for her mother to the siblings. She is torn emotionally behind a traditional approach emotionally and professionally as demanded by her father against the more scientific farming methods and modern values as professed by her knight in armour the Agriculturist Officer. The other two kids just play to stereotype as the nasty sister and the adolescent brother who is terrified by his father. It is Susan, beautifully played by a nine year old Natalie Wood who is the real star of this film. Her presence forces you to forget the weaker points of the film as you emote silently with her both in her pains and her happiness. The scenes where she bursts to tears as she is unable to agree to join a club as her father has forbiden it and the classic scene where she argues her case for a loan to a crusty banker (who incidentally has to cover up a smile) is great. The storyline may be weak but the acting is good and the picturisation of the storm sequences which include the heroic rescue of two lambs by Susan (allegedly which gave Natalie Wood a lifetime fear of drowning)is excellent. A great film to view with your family as it warms you up with thoughts of a long by-gone era.

It reminded me of those 16mm films we were shown in grade school--this one on the benefits of land conservation and belonging to the 4-H Club. Actually, it was sort of disturbing. Walter Brennan plays an overbearing, out-of-date father to three daughters who fear him---going out of his way to alienate those who would help him. Unfortunately, the arc of his character is more like a straight line with a sharp hook at the end, as he sees the error of his ways in the last 60 seconds of the film. A plus was seeing young Natalie Wood 2 years past her "Miracle on 34th Street" work. Points up what a difference a good story and direction can make. Both Brennan and Wood were ill-used in this filmstrip with sound.

The Green Promise is a commercial for the 4-H clubs which despite the ever shrinking number of family farms there are still enough kids growing up on same to provide a spring of new members. But this film is a time capsule which shows some of the problems of rural life around 1949. A lot of those same problems exist today because the things that Mother Nature can throw at you when you make a living from the land don't change at all.

Walter Brennan plays a serious version of his later Grandpappy Amos McCoy role. He's the father of four children, the grownup Marguerite Chapman and youngsters Ted Donaldson, Connie Marshall and the youngest Natalie Wood. Brennan is old fashioned and stubborn and not willing to listen to advice about new agricultural methods. Especially when they come from smart alecky young county agent Robert Paige. Paige knows his stuff, but he's a bit too sure of himself to suit Brennan and Chapman in the romance department. Of course she comes around in every way.

The star here is young Natalie Wood and she plays the part like a young Margaret O'Brien. In fact when I tuned the film on I wasn't sure I wasn't watching Margaret O'Brien, the only clue that puzzled me was that Ted Donaldson was too old be an older brother for O'Brien. Young Natalie is sweet and engaging and I defy anyone not to empathize with her concern for her young black lambs whom she is raising as her 4-H project.

The kids from 4-H pitch in with helping hands (that is one of the four Hs after all) to save the farm from the elements and the stupidity of man which I won't go into. All in all they're wholesome All American kids and a real advertisement for the group.

And The Green Promise is also an advertisement for the 4-H clubs in the USA. It's a nice family film without great production values and Natalie Wood is exceptional.