Come and Get It (1936)
…………………………………………………
Come and Get It Movie Review
Come and Get It is a 1936 historical drama film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler and starring Joel McCrea, Frances Farmer and Walter Brennan. It’s a solid flick.
………………………………………………….
“You don’t need anybody to bring you luck“
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
In 1880s Wisconsin, ambitious lumberjack Barney Glasgow loves saloon girl Lotta, but spurns her and marries to advance his career. While Lotta marries his friend and has a daughter, Barney becomes a lumber bigwig by ruthless deforestation. Years later, the late Lotta’s daughter, also named Lotta and played by the same actress, becomes the object of affection of both Barney, hoping to recapture the love he lost, and his son.
Needless to say, it’s a very melodramatic and soapy movie in a typically 30s fashion. I found the lumbering subplot so terrific and the film has a fantastic, important and rarely seen from the period ecological message that it’s a shame it wasn’t emphasized more. Apparently in the source material, this was the whole emphasis, but here the melodrama takes center stage.
And it’s a fine melodrama with some very sweet, moving moments. It has its good scenes, but overall it could have been reduced a bit. But the character interactions and the familial aspect to it are unquestionably very strong and memorable.
Come and Get It did not deserve to get an editing Oscar nomination whatsoever. It’s not all that well edited nor is it well paced as it’s slow and padding at times. The runtime is overlong. The direction is fine, though. And the cinematography and dialogue are both pretty good as is the emotional investment in some sequences.
…………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………..
Walter Brennan received his first of three Oscar wins in the newly added category of Best Supporting Actor. And I honestly find this choice quite deserving. The film has good acting throughout, very good actually, but he steals the show in such an inherently likable role. He’s got some of the best, sweetest moments in the film. But others are all uniformly competent, especially Frances Farmer who is very memorable in her interesting role here. The movie surely is greatly acted across the board.
Come and Get It is slow and overly melodramatic, unfortunately losing a bit its great ecological message in the process in favor of all the regular melodrama, but its familial elements worked and the same goes for the dialogue and character interactions. It’s a superbly acted film across the board with Walter Brennan himself stealing the show in his Oscar-winning performance.
