The Yearling (1946)

Lack of good storyline.

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Watching this film was a tribute to the way films "used to be," a ode to another time. That I liked about this movie was the way it looked at life straight in the eye, without attempting to "pretty it up" by representing farm life in the 1860's anymore that it was, a hard, difficult slog where many people labored and died, quietly, tragically, and without fanfare. It was those pioneers who built this country, and when I experience the current hardships of this damnable economy, it pales in comparison to what these characters experienced in everyday life. I thought the casting was impeccable, and the choice of the boy equally so, giving another deserving actor a chance to play a little boy other than Roddy McDowall, the quintessential star child of his generation. I love the way this film dealt with the often harsh realities of life in such a simple and beautiful way, capturing both the hardships and natural beauty of our country the way it was. But by far my favorite line in the entire movie was spoken by Greg Peck, when he summed up existence in this way: "Life is about losin' and getting,' and getting' and losin.'" Amen.

Once a Confederate soldier, Penny Baxter (Gregory Peck) settled on a farm in Florida with his wife Ora (Jane Wyman) in 1878. Their 11 year old son Jody lives an idyllic life except for his hard pessimistic mother. Ora is still haunted by the death of her three other children. Jody wants a pet but Ora refuses. When a rattlesnake bites Penny, they kill a doe and use its organs to draw out the poison. Jody adopts the doe's orphaned fawn with Penny's insistence. Jody's sickly friend Fodderwing dies and he names it Flag for him. Flag grows quickly destroying the crops. Penny tells Jody to take Flag out and shoot it.This is old fashion sentimentality. It's about pioneering heroics and a coming-of-age story. Peck is the solidly superior man. Wyman is the troubled wife. All the "Pa"s from Jody do get a little tiresome. It's every other word from that kid. The Technicolor in the Florida woods looks beautiful. There are some amazing wildlife scenes. They can't make dogs fight a bear anymore. Some have called it a tear jerker. It's a little too broadly sentimental for that. I kept thinking that the deer should probably be tie down at night. This is a movie of a certain time.

Clarence Brown directed this adaptation of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' award winning novel set in 1870's Florida, where the Baxters(played by Gregory Peck & Jane Wyman) are pioneer farmers, with their son Jody(played by Claude Jarman Jr.) When Mr. Baxter is forced to kill a dear for survival, it leaves behind a young fawn that will surely die on its own, so Jody takes it home as a pet, naming it Flag. Things are fine for awhile, but as Flag grows up, it starts to eat their valuable crops, threatening their livelihood, which is already in trouble because of a long rain drowning the crops as well. Jody must face a harsh decision that will bring much sorrow, but one that must be made...deeply moving film with superb acting, especially from Jarman, whose heartbreak is devastating, making this film difficult to bear, but is must viewing(at least once) for all animal lovers.

I like a good coming of age movie but this movie is just too melodramatic and sappy for my taste. I mean, just look at the movie its cover and it should tell you enough. However the movie was still a greatly compelling one, which was mostly due to its visuals.This movie simply has some superior Technicolor camera-work in it. The colors are incredible and it's simply beautiful all. It's not surprising that both the cinematography and the art-direction won an Academy Award for this movie. It sets the right tone for the movie its atmosphere and the soul and heart of the movie its story.Well, the movie still mainly has a good main plot-line in it, that tells a good story but it's just that everything around gets presented a bit too over-the-top in terms of its drama. Nevertheless the story for most part will still work out as a compelling one, though it probably will not grab or touch you emotionally.it's pretty nice that this movie has some many great actors in this as well. They surely help to uplift the movie and make it a perfectly watchable one. This movie was one of Gregory Pecks's earliest roles and although it also was far from his best or most memorable one, it shows some of the things to come, from his future acting career. The child-actor Claude Jarman Jr. was also pretty good and credible enough in his dramatic role. I wasn't too fond of Jane Wyman but that had more to do with her character than her acting skills really.The story tends to get a bit messy at times, when it starts to drift away and tries to put too much emotions and drama stuff in it but luckily the movie knows how to restrain itself for most of the time and it keeps its main focus on the father-son relationship of the movie. So it's a pretty well directed movie as well, despite all of the complaints I'm still having about this movie.Certainly a good but above all beautiful movie to look at.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/