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.

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 Walter Brennan plays an overbearing, out-of-date father to three daughters who fear him---going out of his way to alienate those who would help him.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.

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.

Charming little farm family drama, made more so by Wood's incandescent performance. Her emotions from joy to alarm are so infectious, it's hard not to be moved. That scene of acceptance into 4H is a little marvel of the kind of uninhibited joy that somehow gets lost on the way to adulthood. True, at times she's a little much, yet it's hard not to believe she's actually feeling what she's conveying, sort of an untutored version of the Stanislavski method, at least as I understand it. I also like Marguerite Chapman's unsmiling farm girl. She's certainly a long way from the expected eye-batting coquette when handsome David Barkley (Paige) comes calling. There's a feeling that the responsibilities of surrogate motherhood are making her old beyond her years. It's an unusually realistic, if rather dour, performance.

Despite the warm family overtones, the script is far from sappy. Catch how Dad (Brennan) manipulates the family's democratic process. He wants the image of democratic equality at the same time he works it for his own advantage. There's a larger lesson here that remains topical for our own time. Also, note how Dad opts for short-term financial advantage over longer-term conservation by cutting down the hillside trees. Those roots provide long-term flood protection, but don't provide the immediate cash he needs. Thus, his motives are understandable, yet when rain comes, calamity results. We continue to be confronted by the environmental issue of short-term advantage versus long-term security; at the same time, the screenplay raises this concern long before its like became a national issue.

The values here may be conservative, but they're hardly hidebound. Catch Rev. Benton's (Stone) Sunday morning sermon. It's really a recognition of the importance of science as both a source of knowledge and a potential benefit to our lives. The message is also a long way from the type of dogmatic conservatism that sees the Bible as the last word on either worldly wisdom or natural history. Then too, the values of 4H and the family farm are as relevant now as they were then, perhaps more so now that the hard lessons of industrial farming have entered our food supply. My general point is that the movie may be dated in some ways, but the screenplay remains an intelligent one even 60 years later.

Unfortunately, the version I last saw (on TMC) was edited and failed to include the now notorious bridge scene referred to by other reviewers. It also failed to include at least one other important scene I recall from an earlier version. So viewers should be alert to edited versions. Nonetheless, the movie is generally under-rated and combines both solid entertainment values with a well thought out message that makes for very worthwhile viewing.

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.