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''The Cabin in the Cotton'' is a 1932 American
pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...
. The
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
by Paul Green is based on the novel of the same title by
Harry Harrison Kroll Harry Harrison Kroll (1888–1967) was an American writer, illustrator and English professor whose students included Jesse Stuart. Kroll wrote the novel ''Cabin in the Cotton'' which was adapted into the film ''The Cabin in the Cotton''. The Univ ...
. The film perhaps is best known for a line of dialogue spoken by a platinum-blonde
Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
in a
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
drawl -- "I'd like ta kiss ya, but I just washed my hair."—a line lifted directly from the book. In later years it was immortalized by Davis impersonators and quoted in the 1995 film '' Get Shorty''.


Plot

Marvin Blake is a
sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
's son who wants to better himself by continued schooling instead of working in the fields under the heat in the
Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...
. Initially, greedy planter Lane Norwood is opposed to the idea and says he needs to work in his fields, but after the sudden death of his over-worked father, he grudgingly helps Blake achieve his goal and gives the young man a job as a bookkeeper when his vampish daughter Madge intercedes on his behalf. Blake uncovers irregularities in Norwood's accounts and soon finds himself embroiled in a battle between management and workers and torn between the seductive Madge and his longtime sweetheart Betty Wright.


Cast

* Richard Barthelmess as Marvin Blake * Dorothy Jordan as Betty Wright *
Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
as Madge Norwood * Hardie Albright as Roland Neal * David Landau as Tom Blake * Berton Churchill as Lane Norwood * Dorothy Peterson as Lilly Blake * Russell Simpson as Uncle Joe * Tully Marshall as Slick * Henry B. Walthall as Eph Clinton * Edmund Breese as Holmes Scott *John Marston as Russell Carter * Erville Alderson as Sock Fisher *William Le Maire as Jake Fisher * Clarence Muse as A Blind Negro * Harry Cording as Ross Clinton (uncredited)


Production

When producer
Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...
urged Michael Curtiz to cast Bette Davis as Madge Norwood, the director responded, "Are you kidding? Who would want to go to bed with her?"Stine, Whitney, and Davis, Bette, ''Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis''. New York: Hawthorn Books 1974. , pp. 36-38 Angry that he was forced to use her against his will, Curtiz fumed throughout the shoot, loudly deriding her as "a goddamned lousy actress" or calling her a "God-damned-nothing-no-good-sexless-son-of-a-bitch!" under his breath during her love scenes with Richard Barthelmess.''The Cabin in the Cotton'' at Turner Classic Movies
/ref> In later years, Davis observed, "Mr. Curtiz, I must say, monster as he was, was a great European moviemaker. He was not a performer's director . . . You had to be very strong with him. And he wasn't fun . . . He was a real ''BASTARD''! Cruelest man I have ever known. But he knew how to shoot a film well."Chandler, Charlotte, ''The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography''. New York: Simon & Schuster 2006. , pp. 83-84 She went on to make six additional films with Curtiz, including '' The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex'' in 1939. Davis liked Barthelmess personally but was stymied by his acting style. "He did absolutely nothing in the long shots, followed basic stage directions for medium shots, and reserved his talent for the close-ups. In that way it was necessary to use his close-ups almost entirely." Barthelmess said of Davis, "There was a lot of passion in her, and it was impossible not to sense . . . one got the sense of a lot of feeling dammed up in her, a lot of electricity that had not yet found its outlet. In a way it was rather disconcerting - yes, I admit it, frightening." Davis later confessed she was a virgin when she made the film. "Yes, that's absolutely true. No question about it," she added for emphasis. "But my part called for me to exude raging sexuality. Well, if they had known I was still a virgin, they wouldn't have believed I could carry it off. They wouldn't have trusted me if they'd known, but no one asked. It was assumed that a young actress had lived a bit of a loose life."


Critical reception

In his review in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Mordaunt Hall described it as "a film which seldom awakens any keen interest . . . Richard Barthelmess gives a careful but hardly an inspired performance. His general demeanor lacks the desired spontaneity and often he speaks his lines in a monotone . . . Michael Curtiz is responsible for the direction, which is uneven, and sections of the narrative are rather muddled."''New York Times'' review
/ref> ''The Cabin in the Cotton'' was one of nine 1932 releases in which Davis appeared. Still relatively unknown, she managed to draw the attention of many critics with her performance. In the ''
New York American :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
'', Regina Crewe described her as "superb."
Richard Watts, Jr. Richard Watts Jr. (1898–1981) was an American theatre critic. Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Watts was educated at Columbia University. He began his writing career as the film critic for the '' New York Herald Tribune'' before assuming t ...
of the ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...
'' stated, "Miss Davis shows a surprising vivacity as the seductive rich girl," and '' Variety'' declared that her "rising popularity is the film's best chance for business." Davis also caught the eye of director John Cromwell, who was impressed enough to cast her as Mildred in his 1934 film '' Of Human Bondage'', which went on to cement Davis' reputation as one of the best actresses of the era.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabin in the Cotton, The 1932 films 1932 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films based on American novels Films directed by Michael Curtiz Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Films produced by Hal B. Wallis First National Pictures films 1930s American films