Swamp Water

Watchable and very forgettable. So, in high brow film critic tongue, it's just sort of bleh, you know?

The film really only shines when Walter Brennan is on camera.

In many ways, quite a bit different from the run of films Renoir made in France the decade prior. This is much more "Hollywood" in its close-ups and studio sets. However, the bits filmed in the swamp add a measure of atmosphere that is very much in keeping with Renoir's emphasis on portraying his characters within their environments. There are also dark edges here that don't quite come through in the overall tone--a result of the studio, I suspect.

As others have noted, Renoir produced a few images and moments that are largely absent from his oeuvre, but dramatically it is only mildly engaging at best due to the obvious weaknesses in the script and a studio imposed ending that rings false. In lesser hands, it would have been junk, although this viewer suspects that Ford might have been more attuned to the regional particularities and setting of this kind of story.

Good acting, even better swamp atmosphere. Just wish the story was more gripping, for it had all the elements for a truly dark and depressing tale. Instead everything ends up a little too convenient to really set the emotions high. But with such an ensemble of actors and Jean Renoir behind the camera of his first Hollywood picture, Swamp Water (1941) is a interesting film.

Viewed June 29, 2017. Has a level of murky cynicism that one generally doesn't associate with the director - images like a wooden cross rising out of the titular water, topped with a human skull, are a warning that this is brand new territory for Renoir. The script, however, is a mess, total B material bogged down by a studio-assembled happy ending that makes little sense, and scenes of local color that aren't as charming as their meant to be.

This was supposedly taken out of Renoir's hands after the first cut and given a new terrible happy ending, but you can still sense the French director's dark melancholy and pessimism in the characterisation and some few excellent scenes. My favourites of the weirdest: A mounted skull on a stick opening the film, Baxter presented as a mute animal - dirty and biting - and crazy eyes Walter Brennan.

Andrews never felt right to me. The character is somewhat dim, but Andrews doesn't play it that way. Huston and Baxter are good but underutilized. Surprisingly, it's Brennan who I wanted to see more of. He displays a range and depth that shows off his abilities more than his usual roles. It's a character with a complex morality. As for the story, it has a few speedbumps but for the most part it's pretty engaging. The photography is a bit uneven, but overall, I was quite taken with this film.