One of only a few films I am aware of from the classic Hollywood era that is devoted to dramatizing the plight of poor white farmers in the southern US during the early 20th century. Others I can think of include: "Tobacco Road", "The Grapes of Wrath"(both directed by John Ford),"Sergeant York"(in part), and "The Yearling", none of which feature cotton growing in the humid South, as does this film, and all of which have a higher profile in recent times than this film, despite its several Oscar nominations. This is an engaging story, with conflicts over whether to try to make it as an independent farmer or to look for an easier and more predictable factory job. clearly, Pa Tucker prefers the country environment.We have mostly 3 generations of Tuckers living under the same leaky roof, including cantankerous Granny, who is often a pain, but can give some insights on the problems she experienced in her younger days as a farm wife as these relate to their present situation. As she related, near starvation and sickness have taken a heavy toll of her extended family over the years. One of the serious problems she is familiar with is 'spring sickness', which is hinted to be pellagra, a common vitamin (niacin) deficiency in the South of those times, caused by too much reliance on corn products, mostly corn meal mush, in their diet. Native Americans had long ago discovered how to prevent this problem by treating the corn with wood ashes, but European settlers never figured out that this treatment was important when their diet was too limited to corn products. The doctor rightly recommended that they include more vegetables and, in the short run, milk, in their diet. Presumably, the latter supplied needed calcium and additional protein, as one of the important symptoms of severe pellagra is skeletal demineralization. In the film, only the boy develops pellagra symptoms, but actually it was much more common among women and girls, as they tended to receive less varied nutrition than men.
Back to the story: The Tuckers have rented unusually fertile bottom land to grow their cotton and kitchen garden crops. Unlike Cooper, in "Sergeant York", they don't have to deal with frequent rocks and steep hills. Unlike the Joads, in "The Grapes of Wrath", they don't have to deal with persistent drought, dust storms, and being displaced by mechanized corporate agriculture.Unlike the Baxters in "The Yearling", their crops aren't eaten by wildlife, although domestic stock do make a mess of their veggie garden at one point. But, they do learn that farming on rich bottom land encompases the life and career-threatening risk of occasional devastating floods and hurricanes. Meanwhile, some physical altercations while in town provide some comic relief.
J. Carrol Naish played Devers, the Tucker's hard bitten, not often sympathetic, older neighbor.Naish was an excellent, sometimes charismatic, character actor, often playing Native Americans, Italians or Latinos, including Mexican Santa Anna in "The Last Command" and Sitting Bull in "Anne Get Your Gun", and later in "Sitting Bull". He played ethnics in several Fox and MGM musicals, where he served primarily for comic relief. I most remember him as the charmingly irreverent Italian Bayou fisherman in the musical drama "The Toast of New Orleans"
Betty Field looks too apple pie fresh as a supposedly dirt poor ignorant southern farm wife. Besides, she was primarily raised in New England. Otherwise, she is fine as the leading lady. Zachary Scott, a native Texan, comes across as more believable in his role. Beulah Bondi, as granny, came across as the most authentic of the Tuckers. She apparently played a rather similar role in the film "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine". Unfortunately, she lost out in her most coveted role, as Ma Joad, in "The Grapes of Wrath". Thus, her role in the present film somewhat makes up for that lost opportunity. With all their problems, the Tuckers come across as spunky and optimistic in their precarious situation, quite different from the decadent downtrodden Lesters in "Tobacco Road", also in a vary precarious financial situation.
