Watch Bright Leaf For Free

Admirable film.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Brant Royle (Gary Cooper) returns to what was once his father's tobacco farm before Major James Singleton (Donald Crisp) bought the father out in a foreclosure in his bid at concentrating all the prime tobacco land under his ownership. The film boils down to a contest between Crisp's Old South and Cooper's New South over the invention of the machine by Jeff Corey as John Barton that enables the mass manufacture of cigarettes, a direct challenge to the cigar industry, which occurs as the nineteenth century recedes into the twentieth. In on the initial investment in what would become the cigarette craze are Lauren Bacall as what appeared to be a higher class prostitute and Jack Carson as a traveling con-man. Patricia Neal as Singleton's only daughter is the most memorable part in the film which seems to want to come down on Cooper's side but turns him into a raving capitalist monopolist who always had a desire for Neal and another desire to get even with her father, which leads to pretty high dose of melodrama.

Southern melodrama that has Gary Cooper seeking revenge on tobacco plantation owner Donald Crisp, who ran his family out of town years before. Tawdry stuff with ample amounts of unintended comedy, mostly from the poor Southern accents. Last film from great cinematographer Karl Freund. After this he would work strictly in television for the rest of his career. It's a good looking movie, if nothing else. Also the last movie on Lauren Bacall's contract with Warner Bros., where she had been since her debut. She's the best part of this. Coop is fine, I guess. Patricia Neal, an actress I've never fully gotten the appeal of, is awful here. Bacall out and Neal in surely was a sign of the times at Warner Bros. and pretty much the industry as a whole. The movie stars they were making from this point on just weren't as glamorous as before. Not a lot of likable characters in this one. Aside from Bacall, there's Jack Carson. Everybody else is a villain or villain-approximate.

I want to begin by countering a few comments in other reviews: 1. That Gary Cooper is too old for the part. Really? Why? Mature people don't have a romantic life (and BTW, it's mentioned that he's been away a long time)? 49 is too old to become a businessman? In reality, it's more likely a mature man who has learned some lessons in life will see how to begin a business. And, he needs to be a son's age to Singleton (Donald Crisp). Nope. Age works fine here.2. That this film is inspired by "Gone With The Wind". Why? Because it takes place in the South (30-some years after the war)? Because in one line the Civil War is mentioned? This film could have just as easily taken place in New England where tobacco was also grown, and that would have had nothing to do with GWTW. Any film that has anything remotely to do with the Civil War is not related to GWTW. And later in the film it is 1900.3. One reviewer said "The Fountainhead" (Cooper's and Neal's previous film pairing) was unwatchable. Really? Yes, it failed at the box office. But critics have taken a new look at the film, and many have given it rather positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, that film gets an 83% rating, which is darned good.Let's face it...some of the negativity about this film is because it is about tobacco. Times have changed. When this film came out, smoking was quite popular, cigarette commercials were about to be the major sponsors of many television shows, and no one thought much of anything about smoking being dangerous to health.Are there problems with the plot here? I don't really think so. It's rather simple, really. A man whose father was defeated by the local big shot comes back and -- for several reasons -- goes up against the local (and now old) big shot. Not that uncommon a concept. He romances the old man's daughter, making the old man hate him even more. Rather logical, and sets up a second conflict for the main characters. Meanwhile he can't stay away from a not so upright woman in the town, but can't be serious about her, either. Pretty common behavior. And it all comes down to revenge upon revenge, a jilted lover, and suicide.Now in terms of the acting, let's start with Cooper. Cooper pretty much plays Cooper. Someone suggested Kirk Douglas could have played the role better. Actually, I agree. But then it would have been a very different movie, even if everything else had remained the same. Cooper does fine here, and Cooper does what Cooper always did.Lauren Bacall was fine here, also, and I say that as a person who is not a fan. Her role as a hard-as-nails madam turned wealthy stock holder is quite tasty. It's Patricia Neal that seemed quite out of place to me...until the end...when we see what her character is really all about.In terms of Jack Carson, he plays the best friend who can't get the girl. It works. Donald Crisp is perfect (wasn't he always?) as the old "major" from another era who is fighting the younger generation.Don't get me wrong. It's not a "great" film. Pretty standard, in fact. But good and dependable entertainment...providing you stop seeing things that aren't there. And frankly, to those who dislike the film, frankly I don't give...oops, back to GWTW.

I too have seen this movie many times & whenever possible. I have seen nearly every Gary Cooper movie. This is by far his best performance! The combination of star power, story and character interplay is flawless. If you have never seen a Cooper movie, see this one first. I'm also a huge fan of Donald Crisp. Again, a tremendous performance (though a slight step back of How Green Was My Valley). Never been a big Patricia Neal fan but, again, a great performance. Just another great job by Bacall. This is nearly in the EPIC category as movies go. Somewhat loosely based on the history of the tobacco industry/progression, it chronicles the rise in popularity & proliferation of cigarettes. This is truly a hidden gem that most movie fans are unaware of, but should be. And if that weren't enough, it was directed by the great Michael Curtiz.