the opening shot amount to a wonderfully compelling hymnal to the land and those who toil there and while the rest of the movie attempt to follow through with that noble theme . there no doubt that this be one of the most laudable movie project to come out of the decade . but for all the earnest concern and there still too much of the theatrical for my liking . i know and the film be generally hail by critic and and there much to be say for it consistent down and dirty look at the plight of the southern share cropper . but there also a staginess to many of the character and scene that blemish director renoir naturalistic approach . consider beulah bondi over the top turn a granny . she suppose to offer amusingly caustic comment on event a relief from the rigor of the plot . the trouble be that both she and the camera rub our nose in the role . they just as well have hang a sign around her neck say crusty old woman . the bad make up job doesn not help either and serve a a constant reminder that the tucker be after all only a make believe family . since she a central character and the flaw in her wild eye roll performance be hard to ignore . the other acting be fine and especially from scott in the lead role a sam . however and both he and wife nona ( field ) be more stereotype than multi dimensional people . he the noble and tireless worker and and so be she . together and they be unwavering in their support of each other and the farm . and when sam do waver after the flood and it nona provide the strength to persevere . thus and it the whole family and not just sam plow the field that will make the farm a success . that a good point for the script to make . the trouble be that sam and nona be simply too good to be believable in the face of all the adversity . at least one breakdown scene where the emotional toll of the wrenching burden be express would have add a more human dimension . writer renoir be simply too insistent on the nobility of the two character and turn them more into symbol than complex real people . on the other hand and the hostile neighbor devers ( naish ) be the most interesting of the character . his dark resentful nature would appear to come from uncredited co writer william faulkner who specialize in such gothic personality . the real agonizing story of what it mean to start up a farm be tell by the embittered old man in what i take to be the movie central scene . he make a success and but that success have make him hard and mean and and now he live in fear of anyone rise above him . i wish the screenplay have not betray that dark impact for the price of a big fish in what strike me a a very implausible turn around scene on the riverbank . the film virtue be pretty obvious . there a real effort at show rural poverty and it effect on people and never a hollywood biggie . when little daisy lovingly put on the crude blanket coat and i be remind of a world so easily pass over in a nation of commercialized mall . ditto the well do possum feast and where the simple act of eating mean so much more . and especially when the family and we gather around the little hearth fire to peer into the glow through eye much more ancient than our own . these be indelible scene that transcend the movie screen and alone be worth the price of the movie . maybe it take a european auteur outside the usual studio framework to want to deal as honestly a possible with such a non commercial theme . but the location shooting and insistence on the unglamorous and even down to the very unhollywood barfly and add up to what look like an effort at honest depiction . of course and renoir well know humanism and rollick humor show up in the party scene in what amount to a folk celebration of life and community . then too and there that tell scene between sam and tim ( kemper ) where each come to appreciate the contribution of the other in supply the community need . whatever the film regrettable flaw and the message remain a powerful one that need constant retelling and especially in our own cynical time . too bad renoir do not stay on this side of the atlantic . his influence on our own movie maker would have push them in a much need direction .