Too much of everything

Powerful

Beautiful, moving film.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

Yes, this is a story of coming of age, maturity and the realization that your childhood may be over; with these great themes, I was very much disappointed with this 1946 film.Claude Jarman Jr. was constantly whining here. I also got tired of the constant "paw," "maw," etc. After a while, I expected a backdrop of the Kentucky back woods.The film was a departure for Jane Wyman in her usual sympathetic roles. Here, she was an embittered woman. Frontier life was apparently too much for her. She is also quite nasty; unlike Gregory Peck, who does so well in his usual understanding roles.How about taking the deer and going far away with it? You knew it was going to follow you.Obviously, Jarman realizes that his childhood is over in the film. He could have met up with Jean Brodie; after all, her prime was done for as well.

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/

Following the Civil War, a family struggles to make ends meet in the Florida wilds. This film has a lot going for it, including beautiful Technicolor cinematography, an engaging story, and fine acting by Peck as the father. In his film debut, Jarman is quite effective as the son who adopts a fawn, leading to emotional turmoil. On the down side, the dialog is corny and the Southern accents are so thick that subtitles are needed. It is surprising that this is regarded as a great family film because it contains disturbing scenes of animal violence and puts too much emphasis on killing and deaths, making it unsuitable for pre-teens.