Van Johnson is Henry Carson, a young man who shows up at the MacBean farm in post-Civil War Missouri and seems intent on staying a while.
That bothers Gill MacBean, a dad who returned to the war with a hatred of all things Yankee. He lost a brother in the war; he might have lost a son in the war. And he can’t tell “the color” of young Henry’s britches.
That doesn’t bother his wife, his young son or his lovely daughter Lilly Anne (Janet Leigh) a bit; all take a liking to Henry, a former teacher with a knack for music and for chores around a farm sorely in need of more manpower.
And Henry takes an immediate liking to the blossoming Lilly Anne. But he’s hiding more than one secret. And he’s barged in at a time when someone is burning the barns of ex-Confederates, reinforcing the division the war created in this once peaceful valley.
Henry arrives intent on helping close that division. Instead, a new one forms between himself and the MacBean family when they learn the truth. He served in the Union Army during the war.
Review:
A wonderful little film with Janet Leigh looking lovely in her film debut and a young Dean Stockwell in one of his earliest. And Van Johnson turns in a solid performance in a film that relies more on his acting than his musical skills.
But it’s the performances of Thomas Mitchell and Selena Royle as the MacBean parents that help carry the film. And director Roy Rowland keeps an audience riveted with just one main action scene, building tension through a hay harvest, a barn dance and a foot race.
The viewer figures out pretty early on that Henry has some connection to the son the MacBeans are hoping will return safe and sound from the war. But when revealed, that connection still comes as a bit of a surprise.
Marie Windsor and Gail Davis — two females who would pop up regularly in future Westerns — have early bit parts as daughters of businessman Carl Baggett.
Directed by:
Roy Rowland
Cast:
Van Johnson … Henry Carson
Thomas Mitchell … Gill MacBean
Janet Leigh … Lissy Anne MacBean
Marshall Thompson … Ben MacBean
Selena Royle … Sairy MacBean
Dean Stockwell … Andrew MacBean
Charles Dingle … John Dessark
Jim Davis … Badge Dessark
Guy Kibbee … Carl Baggett
Elisabeth Risdon … Emily Baggett
Gail Davis … Baggett daughter
Marie Windsor … Baggett daughter
Russell Simpson … Dan Yeary
Paul Langon … Tom Yeary
O.Z. Whitehead … Ninny Nat
James Bell … John Willhart
Joyce Arling … Mrs. Willhart
William Bishop … Ad Buchanan
Kermit Maynard … Jack Lynch
Guy Stockwell … Joe
Runtime: 105 min.
Memorable lines:
Gill MacBean, after suggesting neighbors help one another harvest the crops: “I’d rather seen the crops rot in the ground than neighbor up with a northerner.”
Gill MacBean, spotting Henry for the first time: “What are the color of his britches?”
Andrew MacBean, checking in the dark: “Can’t tell.”
Gill MacBean to his wife: “I fought agin ’em for worse than two years. They took my brother. Maybe they took my boy. Now they take took my barn. And if I don’t get help with the crops this year, maybe they’ll take my land. They take everything a man spends his life a building. All I got left is my hate. Now you’re trying to take that away too.”
Gill MacBean, watching Henry work in his fields for no pay: “I don’t like it.”
Sairy MacBean: “Don’t like what?”
Gill: “I don’t like nothin’ I don’t understand.”
Sairy: “What don’t you understand today, Gil?”
Gill MacBean: “Well, there’s one thing that I swear. And I’ll hold onto it til the last bone rots out of my back. I ain’t gonna have no Yankee grandchildren. And my gun stays loaded for anyone who ever claims different.””
Hennry Carson: “Strange things happen in this world, Gil.”
Mrs. Willhart, after her husband spills the beans that Henry came to the valley looking for Gil MacBean: “Looks like you let a litter of kittens out of the bag that were meant for drowning in the creek.”
Emily Baggett to her husband, Carl: “Stop puttin’ on airs about being a far-seeing businessman. The only reason your two feet’s on the ground now is you got too much weight above them to allow them to lift off.”
Gill MacBean to Henry Carson, after learning he fought in the Union Army: “I’m warning you, if you’re feet ever carry you onto my property, it won’t be your feet that carry you away.”
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