THE SOUTHERNER (1945)

Cast

Plot

The master of cinematic naturalism goes to America! Jean Renoir's tale of a family hitting hard times in the dustbowl of the US is beautifully realised. Zachary Scott plays a sharecropper who decides that, if his family is to survive the depression, he needs to go it alone. Buying his own land and tools he sets to work, but is soon faced with the obstinate fact that nature is at best indifferent, at worst devastatingly cruel. Crisis follows catastrophe as, with a proud ethic that is constantly under pressure from reality, he struggles on. The dialogue is a bit awkward at times, as is the performance of the cackling matriarch who rocks on the porch throughout, but Renoir's stylistic strength and some truly sublime photography more than carry the film. The subplot of a legendary big fish that eludes capture is a nice touch too. Adapted from the novel Hold Autumn in Your Hand by George Sessions Perry.