Quando a Primavera Voltar

This is such a great movie, I wish I could find it on video or DVD. It's been a very long time since I have seen it. It left quite an impression though. It's funny, heartwarming and very enjoyable. It is a great family show.

For some reason whenever I hear the word 'Spring' I inevitably think of the movie 'Come Next Spring' which I remember seeing as a teenager. I thought Ann Sheridan & Steve Cochran were near the end of their careers and this was their swansong and did they know how to capture the whole essence of a small town community going through a crisis. It is warm, gentle and has a loving nature running all through it as though they all knew that the studio was near the end like a lot of the cast in their careers. Even the song I can still remember. Worth a remake? No impossible. It was the film that got away but luckily I have a good memory!

The cast of this movie, Ann Sheridan, Steve Cochran, Walter Brennan have all made movies that are better known, but they've rarely been better than they are here.

I've never heard of the director, but he manages to pull a good performance out of the usually dreadful Sonny Tufts. Here he plays a tough, semi-bully (but not totally bad) adversary to Steve Cochran.

Other's have written the plot outline so I won't repeat it. One of my favorite scenes is Walter Brennan's drunken confession to Matt (Steve Cochran) about his birth certificate and his sober morning after contradiction! It's nearly as funny as Brennan's false teeth running gag in 'Red River'.

Ann Sheridan role was much like Sally Field's in 'Places In The Heart', totally different from her wise-cracking oomph-girl roles in the 30's and 40's.

I've never understood why Steve Cochran failed to become an A star. Like Robert Mitchum, he could play hero or heavy equally well. Reading his mini-biography, Cochran's own real life story (and death) would make a great noirish movie.

Sherry Jackson was a fine child star. Her performance as John Wayne's tomboy daughter in 'Trouble Along The Way' was equal if not better than her touching performance in this movie. She developed into a stunningly beautiful woman and then dropped from sight. She had a fine turn in the original Star Trek as a sexy-sad android.

'Come Next Spring' is very much like the better known 'Picnic' and I think it's just as good.

I've never forgotten the very last scene which still chokes me up when I think of it.

Charming piece of Americana affords Steve Cochran a nice change of pace from the brooding thugs he normally played. While he certainly had the physique and dangerous air required for those roles there was also an underlying gentleness to his screen presence that is well utilized here. He is well matched with Ann Sheridan, an actress with her own tough persona. Her careworn appearance in the film matches well with her role as a no nonsense farm woman and as always she offers a high quality performance. Their tentative dance of reconciliation after a long period of estrangement and nice touches that help add to the flavor of small community life make this most worthy picture one to check out.

A beautiful tale of redemption, with delightful colors ,a deliciously old-fashioned atmosphere and moving performances by Ann Sheridan and Steve Cochran (all sweetness and light: not the usual tough guy).

It's not an action-packed movie, but rather a depiction of simple rural life where all people stand together when they are struck by a disaster ; sentimentality is kept to a minimum level and the rapport the prodigal father has with his children goes straight to the heart ; it's suitable for the whole family ,just like the "little house" TV series except that Charles Ingalls was always a goody-two-shoes.

I'd tone things a bit for the long rumble which is mostly filler ,but the final pictures make up for it.