Cuori incatenati

Interesting character studies of a Maine farm family and the young woman they take in without knowing her background. The villian of the piece is from the upper classes, although not without some redeeming characteristics. The movie's climax is set on ice flows on a raging river and had me totally caught up in the action (felt pretty cold, too!) A good chance to see Henry Fonda before he had fully settled into his familiar persona.

One of the things that struck audiences about the fresh faced Henry Fonda in the first years of his acting career was the fact that his persona, rather than his acting, represented the spirit of America. In films like this one, you don't go away thinking what a great actor Henry Fonda was, but you do feel that he embodied how Americans saw themselves at that time. It's almost as though nature had imposed itself upon him and made Henry Fonda the victim of hero worship. I personally don't think that he brought anything to this film except a fresh face. He was noticed by John Ford who also saw in him the face of America, and exploited it in subsequent productions.

D.W. Griffith's "Way Down East" was an amazingly good film for 1920- -especially with its amazing ice floe sequence near the end. However, even by late silent standards, the film was a bit old fashioned and could stand to be remade. In 1935, Fox Studio got around to making a sound version and it's still a decent film about hypocrisy and gossip.

A young woman is cruelly tricked and abused by an evil cad and she seeks a job in a small town. Things seem just fine and the son (Henry Fonda) falls in love with her. However, she also has an evil past she's afraid to tell everyone and when the gossip-obsessed jerks in the town learn PART of the story, they automatically assume the worst and drive the woman to her near death.

This is an entertaining film and has held up pretty well. Some of the acting is a bit overwrought but generally a well made film and one that most would probably prefer over the original. The finale, just like the original, is stunning. My only real complaint is Andy Devine's small role--which is annoying and unnecessary.

This one is from Fox and director Henry King. In late 19th century Maine farm country, a young woman named Anna (Rochelle Hudson) arrives at the farmhouse of the Bartlett family looking for work as a maid. She's hired by the stern patriarch Squire Amasa (Russell Simpson), and proves a great help to his wife Louisa (Spring Byington). It isn't long before the Bartlett's son David (Henry Fonda) has fallen in love with Anna, but she's hiding a dark past that may prevent their future together.

This can't match up to the silent version, but it has its good qualities. Hudson proves to be a good actress in a more demanding role than many she had at the time, and Fonda, in his first year in movies, is handsome and believable as a farm boy in love for the first time. The film's greatest asset is the tremendous supporting cast of great bit players, many of whom you'll know the faces of if not the names. Wicked Witch Margaret Hamilton has one of her better parts as the town gossip who's chasing after store-owner Slim Summerville, and Al Lydell is a hoot as an ancient old man always looking for a handout of liquor or tobacco. The end scenes set on a frozen river don't match up to the silent version, but that one almost killed the stars of the film, so perhaps it's better that they were a little more safety conscious this time, even if the results left something to be desired.

The ending is amazing. How simply and accurately the snow storm reflects the human affairs. You cannot but think of King Lear - that is what a Henry King movie is, a stair to the classics. But this time there is an American happy ending - we sincerely hope the world has changed to the better since Shakespeare's time 500 years ago.