Directed by:
Michael CurtizScreenplay:
Paul GreenCinematography:
Barney McGillCast:
Richard Barthelmess, Bette Davis, Dorothy Jordan, Hardie Albright, Berton Churchill, Dorothy Peterson, Russell Simpson, Tully Marshall, Henry B. Walthall (more)Plots(1)
After Southern tenant farmer Tom Blake dies, Lane Norwood, the owner of the cotton plantation, puts Tom's son Marvin through school, later hiring him to work in his store. The other sharecroppers suspect that Marvin is now on the side of the owners, but Marvin is torn between his loyalty to his family and his gratitude to Norwood. He is also attracted to both Betty Wright, the daughter of a sharecropper, and Madge, Norwood's daughter. Marvin learns that the farmers are stealing cotton from Norwood, but as he understands how hard their life is, he says nothing to his boss, who has taken Marvin into his own house to live. When a tenant shoots a planter, Marvin and Norwood join the hunt for the killer. Marvin is sickened by the lynching that follows. Burdened by their debts, the tenants burn down Norwood's store. Marvin reveals that he has kept a duplicate set of books which will prevent Norwood from being ruined, but the tenants beg Marvin to destroy them so they can start again without debts. Marvin refuses to give the books to the sharecroppers until one of them explains that Norwood's high interest rates were responsible for the overwork that killed Marvin's father. Caught in the middle, Marvin calls a meeting between the planters and the farmers and proposes a cooperative scheme for farming that will be fairer to the tenants without asking the planters to assume all the financial risk. When some of the planters refuse, Marvin threatens to expose the truth about the lynching. Finally everyone signs the trial contract, and Marvin looks forward to better times. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Richard Barthelmess
USA
Best movies:
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Way Down East (1920)
The Tingler (1959)
Bette Davis
USA
Best movies:
All About Eve (1950)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Little Foxes (1941)
Dorothy Jordan
USA
Best movies:
The Searchers (1956)
The Sun Shines Bright (1953)
The Wings of Eagles (1957)
Hardie Albright
USA
Best movies:
Bambi (1942)
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Saboteur (1942)
Berton Churchill
Canada
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Cowboy and the Lady (1938)
Dorothy Peterson
USA
Best movies:
Dark Victory (1939)
The Woman in the Window (1944)
Mr. Skeffington (1944)
Russell Simpson
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Power and the Glory (1933)
Dodge City (1939)
Tully Marshall
USA
Best movies:
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
Scarface (1932)
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages (1916)
Henry B. Walthall
USA
Best movies:
Wings (1927)
London After Midnight (1927)
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Edmund Breese
USA
Best movies:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Duck Soup (1933)
Platinum Blonde (1931)
Clarence Muse
USA
Best movies:
Double Indemnity (1944)
Love Crazy (1941)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Dennis O'Keefe
USA
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Fury (1936)
Florine McKinney
USA
Best movies:
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
One Hour with You (1932)
Jack Curtis
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Fred Toones
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Dodge City (1939)
Harry Cording
UK
Best movies:
East of Eden (1955)
Bernadette (1943)
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
Erville Alderson
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
Edison, the Man (1940)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
William Le Maire
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Frank Austin
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)