Marvin Blake (Richard Barthelmess), the son of a sharecropper, gets his education funded by the landowner (Berton Churchill) and is torn between loyalties. The filmmakers want to portray the problems of the sharecropping system as ambitiously as possible, but it is essentially just another soap opera, a film chiefly remembered for one thing, a famous line uttered by Bette Davis. She’s entertaining in an early part as the blond, slutty daughter of the landowner. Barthelmess is OK (although 20 years older than his character) and his dilemma is interesting to follow.
1932-U.S. 77 min. B/W. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Novel: Harry Harrison Kroll. Cast: Richard Barthelmess (Marvin Blake), Dorothy Jordan (Betty Wright), Bette Davis (Madge Norwood), Hardie Albright, David Landau, Berton Churchill.
Quote: “I’d like to kiss you, but I just washed my hair.” (Davis)
