Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Roy Rowland

Writers:

George Victor Martin (novel)
Dalton Trumbo (writer)

Release Date:

September 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Plot:

Life in small town Wisconsin. Selma and Arnold, aged 7 and 5, pal around together between their two farms...

Plot Keywords:

Editor | School Teacher | Barn | Wisconsin | Calf

Cast

Edward G. Robinson	...	Martinius Jacobson
Margaret O'Brien	...	Selma Jacobson
James Craig	...	Nels 'Editor' Halverson
Frances Gifford	...	Viola Johnson
Agnes Moorehead	...	Bruna Jacobson
Morris Carnovsky	...	Bjorn Bjornson
Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins	...	Arnold Hanson
Sara Haden	...	Mrs. Bjorn Bjornaon
Greta Granstedt	...	Mrs. Lars Faraassen
Dorothy Morris	...	Ingeborg Jensen
Arthur Space	...	Pete Hanson, Arnold's Dad
Elizabeth Russell	...	Mrs. Kola Hanson
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Lars Faraassen
Charles Middleton	...	Kurt Jensen, Ingeborg's Dad
Francis Pierlot	...	Fuller Junction's Minister

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:S | USA:Approved | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Rowland V. Lee Ranch - Fallbrook Avenue, Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The trailer for this film includes a specially shot scene of 'Margaret O'Brien' visiting with Spencer Tracy. Tracy tells the child star he never wants to make a movie with her because she's too good for him!

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the opening scene, during the two-shot of Selma Jacobson and Arnold Hanson, he can be seen mouthing her lines as she says them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Forecast (1945)

Brought up right.

I'm normally a pretty sensitive guy but rare is the time, especially with movies these days (I'm in my early 40s), that I feel joy or sorrow or anything at all, for that matter, at a movie. I think most of them are made by people who have nothing to say.

This film is different. I actually found myself a couple times with tears rolling down my cheeks and I was happy to have that feeling. And there were times that my heart soared here too.

I must first say that I have always loved Edward G. From Little Caesar to The Sea Wolf and more, this is an actor's actor. He is authoratative here for sure, but in a tender and fair way. It made me see him in a completely different and more sympathetic light. He is a real "little guy" here. When he balks

at physically punishing his daughter for being selfish with the roller skates, I wish I could make every parent today see that scene.

Strange as it may seem, Agnes Moorehead is an idea match wife for Edward G.

Known for "Bewitched" or Orson Wellesian weirdo-type characters, we usually

see her as kind of a cold loser whose life has passed her by. She is so credible and so good here, you can see a light shine from within. When she expresses

pride in the children, it is real. Robinson and Moorehead are what make this

movie real and are the forces of good who influence children to grow up right.

Now a word about the courtroom scene when the girl offers her calf and

everyone starts offering increasingly valuable parts of the farm to give to the stricken farmer. To say this scene reflected communism is like saying It's a

Wonderful Life reflects communism. It's totally ridiculous. It is Capra-corn of the highest order and is just one of many scenes in a movie performed by people

who believe every word the screenwriter wrote, directed by a person of vision and written with a heart.

So if you are a bit more sentimental and want a film that is real and has a heart, and is far enough removed from all the ADD and ritalin and child abuse we

have now, this one will make you forget about the regrettable way things go

today and the way things should be.