Swamp Water

Renoir's first job in America for Fox: a rather sullen affair set in a Georgia swamp which harbours snakes, alligators, mud, and Walter Brennan, a fugitive criminal with whom the hero (Andrews) becomes strangely and melodramatically involved. As Raymond Durgnat points out in his Renoir book, it's a film with strong John Ford overtones in the casting, the regional subject-matter (post Tobacco Road and Grapes of Wrath), its music, and its script by the worthy but wordy Dudley Nichols. But Ford would undoubtedly have punched the story out with more action, more obvious emotion; Renoir is content to let the scenes lie there moodily, looking a bit drab and unbelievable for all the location shooting (quite a rare occurrence for this kind of Hollywood product at the time).