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Too much of everything

Great Film overall

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Jean Renoir the director of La Bete Humaine and Grand Illusion arrived at our shores in 1941 looking for employment in his field. I don't think anything in his life ever prepared him for doing a story such as Swamp Water with characters as American as you can get. In fact watching Swamp Water I would swear it was something directed by John Ford. Renoir probably got a few pointers from him by studying Ford's work or even in conversation.These rustic folks from the Okefenokee Swamp could have come out of work like Tobacco Road or The Grapes Of Wrath. Renoir certainly had an eye for scenery and an ear for speech idiom like he'd been born here. He also assembled a group of players who were perfectly cast by 20th Century Fox. Several of them in fact were veteran members of the John Ford Stock company.Young Dana Andrews son of Walter Huston and stepson of Mary Howard defies his father to go looking for his prized hound dog in the swamp and comes across the notorious Walter Brennan who was convicted of murder but escaped and has been living in the Okefenokee for several years. It's not easy but the two of them bond and become trapping partners. Of course Brennan can't come out of the swamp lest he face the hangman.Andrews also finds out that Anne Baxter is Brennan's daughter living under an assumed name. She becomes a problem because Andrews is keeping company with the flirtatious Virginia Gilmore, a swamp vixen if there ever was one. We also learn the truth about the murder Brennan is accused of.Renoir did some actual shooting in the Okefenokee and 20th Century Fox did a fine job in blending it with studio footage. The ensemble cast is first rate, but the one who stands out for me is Virginia Gilmore. Her character is definitely one that you would find more in French cinema. I guess Renoir had to bring something from France for his American masterpiece.And it is a masterpiece. And you'll swear it's a John Ford film.

Swamp Water is directed by Jean Renoir and adapted to screenplay by Dudley Nichols from the novel written by Vereen Bell. It stars Walter Brennan, Walter Huston, Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, Virginia Gilmore, John Carradine, Eugene Palette, Ward Bond and Guinn Williams. Music is by David Buttolph and cinematography by J. Peverell Marley. Dana Andrews plays Ben, a young man who while searching for his dog out in the Okefenokee Swamp happens across fugitive Tom Keefer (Brennan). With Keefer swearing his innocence, the two men become friends and hunting partners. But it's not long before suspicions are aroused back in town...Renoir's first American film is ultimately a lesser light from his output. Not helped by the interference from 20th Century Fox supremo Darryl F. Zanuck, Renoir still managed to craft a film of visual atmospherics that neatly cloak a salty observation of backwater inhabitants. Renoir purposely keeps the pace sedate, choosing his moments when to insert tenderness or peril into the morally murky play, his sense of character building a treat to observe. The swamp itself, actual location filming a major bonus, is the key character on show. It's a place feared by the locals because of the dangers that lurk there, but of course the swamp and its critters are nothing compared to the humans back in town...All told it's very good film making, from cast performances, visuals and narrative worth, but you just come away knowing it should have been so much more. That it could have had an edge to keep you perched on the end of your seat throughout, and to then deliver a coup de grâce instead of the tacked on happy finale that we get. Something which of course wasn't of Renoir's doing... 7/10

I wish I could remember when I saw this film on TV, but being a Renoir fan I was curious about it. The mood, the overall feel of the movie, was unusual and haunting. Given the cast, the acting was wonderful. It may not have done much for the tourist trade in the Okeefanokee swamp, but-- who knows?-- maybe it did. The film describes a style of life that was far from my experience, but it was believable. I recall loving Walter Huston's role. Comparing him in the Treasure of Sierra Madre where he seems shrunken and wizened, his large stature here shows what a towering presence he was on the screen. I have wanted to see this film again myself and keep looking for it on NetFlix.

Backwoods trapper protects fugitive at same time he courts fugitive's daughter and feuds with his stepfather, while authorities close in.Considering the talent involved (director Renoir, screenwriter Nichols), the movie's a disappointment. I know this is a minority opinion; however, in my view, the movie's pulled down by two factors—excessive theatricality (mainly Andrews & Gilmore) and phony rustic dialog. Hollywood was always at its dialog riskiest when putting words in the mouth of either the noble primitive or the backwoods illiterate. Here, it's the latter and I defer to reviewer Terrell 4 who cites good examples. The trouble is these two negative factors opened a distance between me and the screen, such that I couldn't suspend my disbelief. It was always a movie I was watching, not participating in.That's not to say there aren't positive features. Walter Brennan appears a natural for his role and again shows why he was one of Hollywood's finest, most versatile actors. (Leonard Maltin who thinks Brennan miscast must be holding a grudge.) And I like Mary Howard as Hannah. She projects a quiet dignity and kindness just right for the role. Also, the location shots of the Okefenokee lend an authentic air. But, I would suggest to folks who like this film that they catch up with Frank Borzage's 1948 film Moonrise. The theme of outcasts among a backwoods swamp is quite similar to here, but the poetical treatment is, I believe, consistently superior.In passing—Renoir's 1945 film The Southerner may have been inspired by the defects he couldn't undo in this film (Swamp Water was assigned him, he didn't choose it). The 1945 movie is also about the rural South, but much less artificial, without either the theatrical acting or the corn-pone dialog. Certainly, it's much closer to his usual style, and more of what would be expected of a world-class moviemaker.