The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)

A tenant farmer's son is caught in the middle of owner-tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner's seductive daughter.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Paul Green (screen play) (as Professor Paul Green), Harry Harrison Kroll (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Richard Barthelmess, Bette Davis, Dorothy Jordan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Barthelmess	...	Marvin Blake
Dorothy Jordan	...	Betty Wright
Bette Davis	...	Madge Norwood
Hardie Albright	...	Roland Neal
David Landau	...	Tom Blake
Berton Churchill	...	Lane Norwood
Dorothy Peterson	...	Lilly Blake
Russell Simpson	...	Uncle Joe
Tully Marshall	...	Slick
Henry B. Walthall	...	Eph Clinton
Edmund Breese	...	Holmes Scott
John Marston	...	Russell Carter
Erville Alderson	...	Sock Fisher
William Le Maire	...	Jake Fisher (as William LeMaire)
Clarence Muse	...	A Blind Negro

Storyline

Sharecropper's son Marvin tries to help his community overcome poverty and ignorance. While working in the general store he learns that the owner has been cheating his tenants. He is in love with owner's daughter, Madge, but sides with the tenants in his threat to expose the planters and their cheating.

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Plot Keywords:

romantic rivalry | romantic triangle | tenant farmer | sharecropper | cotton | 

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Taglines:

EVERY 2 YEARS BARTHELMESS MAKES HISTORY! 1920--"BROKEN BLOSSOMS" 1922--"TOL'ABLE DAVID" 1924--"BRIGHT SHAWL" 1926--"PATENT LEATHER KID" 1928--"WEARY RIVER" 1930--"DAWN PATROL" 1932--"CABIN IN THE COTTON" (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

TV-G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Bette 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."

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Goofs

Ms. Madge enters the Dry Goods store owned by her father ( at about 10.78 minutes), and asks Marvin to a party that begins at 8:30. While Madge is running to her home after saying the famous line,"I'd like ta kiss ya but I've just washed my hair," she tells him the party is at 8:00. So the party goes from 8:30 to 8:00 for no reason.

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Quotes

Madge: Cigarette?
Marvin Blake: No Thanks.
Madge: Don't drink, don't smoke... you'll be a preacher yet, won't you Marvin, or something different...? But you'll have to get loose from them.

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Crazy Credits

Foreword In many parts of the South today, there exists an endless dispute between the rich land-owners, known as planters and the poor cotton pickers, known as tenants or 'peckerwoods'. The planters supply the tennants with the simple requirements of every day life and in return the tennants work the land year in and year out. A hundred volumes could be written on the rights and wrongs of both parties, but it is not the object of the producers of 'The Cabin in the Cotton' to take sides. We are only concerned with an effort to picturize these conditions.

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Connections

Featured in The Love Goddesses (1965)

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Soundtracks

She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain When She Comes
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played by the jazz band for the "Peckerwood Wiggle" dance at Madge's party

User Reviews

"Come up to my room for a minute. I want to talk to ya about sumthin'."

Corny Pre-Coder about a peckerwood (Richard Barthelmess) on a Southern plantation who is torn between the poor cotton pickers and the greedy plantation owner, all while falling for the owner's seductive daughter (Bette Davis). Davis is the whole show here, giving a fun performance that borders on camp. Even her straight lines seem humorous thanks to her risible Southern accent. The movie's most memorable scene is when Bette drawls "I'd like to kiss you but I just washed my hair" and runs away while a sexually frustrated Richard Barthelmess stares after her. Barthelmess is just short of terrible in this, doing all of his acting in close-ups of his constipated face. Berton Churchill, Erville Alderson, and Russell Simpson are all good in supporting roles.

It's a film that's hard to take seriously at times but, if you stick with it, there is a decent 'message movie' here, the kind Warner Bros. excelled at in the 1930s. The interesting thing about the movie's pro-labor rights message is that, while the plantation owner is a villain, so are the poor workers. They include a slimeball who forces Barthelmess' widowed mother into marrying him in an unsettling scene. Their leader's another piece of work, gleefully planning to blackmail Barthelmess into helping them. So no "white hats and black hats" here; just different shades of despicable. But it's not a movie you watch for the story as much as for the performance of a young and attractive Bette Davis. She's really a treat to watch. My favorite scene is when Bette invites Barthelmess up to her room to seduce him. It's both sexy and unintentionally funny. Which pretty much sums up Bette Davis in this movie and why you just have to see it for her.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 1932 (USA)

Also Known As:

Тени к югу

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1