Swamp Water

Swamp Water
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Jean Renoir
Produced by	Irving Pichel
Written by	Vereen Bell (novel)
Screenplay by	Dudley Nichols
Based on	Swamp Water (1940)
Starring	Walter Brennan Walter Huston Anne Baxter Dana Andrews
Music by	David Buttolph
Cinematography	J. Peverell Marley Lucien Ballard
Edited by	Walter Thompson
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox
Release dates	1941
Running time	88 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$601,900[1]

Swamp Water is a 1941 film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Walter Brennan and Walter Huston, produced at 20th Century Fox, and based on the novel by Vereen Bell. The film was shot on location at Okefenokee Swamp, Waycross, Georgia, USA. This was Renoir's first American film. The movie was remade in 1952 as Lure of the Wilderness, directed by Jean Negulesco.

Plot

This film, like the novel on which it is based, is about a local boy, Ben (Dana Andrews), who encounters a fugitive Tom Keefer (Walter Brennan) from a murder charge while hunting in the Okefenokee Swamp. The two form a partnership in which Ben sells the animals hunted and trapped by both until townsfolk become suspicious.

Cast

• Walter Brennan as Tom Keefer
• Walter Huston as Thursday Ragan
• Anne Baxter as Julie
• Dana Andrews as Ben
• Virginia Gilmore as Mabel MacKenzie
• John Carradine as Jesse Wick
• Mary Howard as Hannah
• Eugene Pallette as Sheriff Jeb McKane
• Ward Bond as Tim Dorson
• Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams as Bud Dorson (as Guinn Williams)
• Russell Simpson as Marty McCord
• Joe Sawyer as Hardy Ragan (as Joseph Sawyer)
• Paul E. Burns as Tulle McKenzie (as Paul Burns)
• Dave Morris as Barber
• Frank Austin as Fred Ulm

Reception

Although Renoir had difficulty adapting to Hollywood production methods, the film was popular at the box office and made a profit.^[1]

Influence

The narrative elements of the 2012 coming-of-age film Mud, directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Matthew McConaughey, have been compared to those of Swamp Water.

References

• Novel and film information

1. Rudy Behlmer, Ed, Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck, Grove Press, 1993 p54

External links

• Swamp Water at the Internet Movie Database
• Swamp Water at AllMovie
• Swamp Water at the TCM Movie Database