Stigmatized from infancy by the fate of his criminal father, a man is bruised and bullied until one night, in a fit of rage, he kills his most persistent tormentor. As the police close in around him, he makes a desperate bid for the love of the dead man’s fiancée, a schoolteacher who sees the wounded soul behind his aggression.
Direction
Borzage turns a swamp into a cathedral of dread.
Cinematography
Expressionist shadows that would make German directors weep.
Acting
Gail Russell's wounded warmth against Dane Clark's coiled violence.
Director
Frank Borzage
Dane Clark
Danny Hawkins
Gail Russell
Gilly Johnson
Ethel Barrymore
Grandma
Allyn Joslyn
Clem Otis
Rex Ingram
Mose
Harry Morgan
Billy Scripture
David Street
Ken Williams
Selena Royle
Aunt Jessie
Harry Carey, Jr.
Jimmy Biff
Irving Bacon
Judd Jenkins
Lloyd Bridges
Jerry Sykes
Houseley Stevenson
Uncle Joe Jingle
Phil Brown
Elmer - Soda Jerk
Harry Cheshire
J.B. Sykes
Lila Leeds
Julie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gail Russell was a notoriously anxious performer; Borzage reportedly shot around her trembling by keeping her in soft focus and shadows, which accidentally perfects Gilly's fragile warmth.
This was Borzage's last major film—Republic Pictures' poverty row resources somehow produced his most visually ravishing work, a middle finger to studio-system logic.
US
