Tap Roots (1948)

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Alan Le May (writer)
James H. Street (novel)

Release Date:

25 August 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

Morna Dabney is engaged to soldier Clay MacIvor in the days before the War Between the States. Morna's...

Plot Keywords:

Civil War | Confederacy | Based On Novel

Cast

Van Heflin	...	Keith Alexander
Susan Hayward	...	Morna Dabney
Boris Karloff	...	Tishomingo
Julie London	...	Aven Dabney
Whitfield Connor	...	Clay McIvor
Ward Bond	...	Hoab Dabney
Richard Long	...	Bruce Dabney
Arthur Shields	...	Reverend Kirkland
Griff Barnett	...	Dr. McIntosh
Sondra Rodgers	...	Shellie Dabney
Ruby Dandridge	...	Dabby
Russell Simpson	...	Big Sam Dabney

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Walter Wanger Productions

Trivia:

Lux Radio Theatre version aired 27 September 1948, starring Van Heflin, Susan Hayward, and Richard Long in their original roles.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Set in 1860, dynamite (invented in the mid 1860s) is used in the film.

Not another GWTW, but OK

The other comment is quite good in that I can find little with which to disagree. True, there is a weak script, but then, there were a lot of them floating around Hollywood in the late 40s. Van Heflin was one of those actors who was hard to pigeonhole. He could play villains or heros. His role in Patterns was a classic. Here, as the illegitimate son of a "powerful" individual-- we're never told who, he tries to conjure up some of the dash of Gable from years before but winds up looking like a cross between Rhet and Billy Goat Gruff. Susan Hayward's performance is weak, compared to some of her later roles, as is blustering Ward Bond. Whitfield Conner is charming, as he was in the few roles he left us but largely immemorable. And, then there was Karloff: here, out of heavy make-up as a Native American (we called them Indians back then)but still wide-eyeing it and looking mysterious. (I remember as a kid when he gets shot, the audience sighing their disapproval; but the writers snuffed him anyway). All in all, the film is not GWTW, and, in my view nor should it be. It was a bit of late 40s costume fantasy and certainly worth the $.32 I paid to see it in '48. I loved it then and loved when I saw it on the late show, years later. It's entertaining and should not be taken beyond its face value. It does not pretend to be a classic and will not be taken as such. But, I found it entertaining both as a kid and as an adult (or big kid, as my wife insists).