The Yearling (1946)

The Yearling, a nominee for Best Picture of 1946, is one of the most beautifully shot films I've seen in a while. Set deep in the Florida Everglades, it's the story of a young boy named Jody Baxter who adopts an orphaned fawn as his pet. Much of the film tracks his and the fawn's growth into adulthood, and the highlights of the movie are those scenes shot in the wilderness of Florida as Jody and the fawn, eventually named Flag, romp and play. The cinematography of those moments is really quite spectacular, some gorgeous shots that make you want to see for yourself if such a place still exists.

The story begins with Gregory Peck, here giving his usual solid performance with just the slightest of grins every now and then, and Jane Wyman, playing his wife who's still grappling with the deaths of her other children, trying to raise their son with a sense of adventure and love of nature (from his father's side) and morality and responsibility (from his mother). Claude Jarman Jr. plays Jody with a real "aw shucks" sensibility. I'm sure his performance is lauded by many people, but I quickly found him to be quite irritating. It isn't that the approach to the role is wrong--Jody would naturally be naive given his isolation in the Everglades--it's just that Jarman is quite obviously untrained as an actor. Peck and Wyman, as expected, are consummate professionals, and there are even times when Peck's interaction with Jarman sparks some sense of realism, but given the miscasting of such a central role, the film overall doesn't work for me.

That's not to say that it isn't without some enjoyable moments. I particularly liked the visits to the Forresters; they're even more backwoods and backwards than the Baxters, and they're obviously there to provide some comic relief to the otherwise saccharine proceedings. Chill Wills as Buck Forrester is a particular delight. And I even enjoyed the scenes at the Forrester home with Jody and Fodderwing, the youngest Forrester, a boy who is destined to die before the film is over given his "unnatural" abilities to understand the strange ways of nature. He and Jody have a most intriguing conversation while up in a treehouse; watch the scene and see if you can determine who's the better actor, Jarman or Donn Gift as Fodderwing.

If you've seen Old Yeller (and what man of a certain age hasn't), you'll need to prepare yourself for a moment similar to the shooting of the dog in that later film. The resonance isn't quite as powerful in The Yearling, perhaps because Flag is a wild animal and not a domesticated pet like Old Yeller. Viewers naturally would have more empathy for a boy who has to shoot his own dog, given how many people have had a dog themselves while growing up. But when the deer continues to behave as an animal in the wild would do, you know there's truly only the one option left. The scenes that follow do, however, give Wyman an opportunity to show her strength as an actress. For the first time, she allows her character a chance to open her previously hardened heart to her only son, and it's a powerfully emotional moment in the film.

This is a family film, and certainly until the point in the film when Jody must face the fact that he has to destroy Flag, it's a film that even young children could enjoy. Adults, though they could certainly admire the scenery and perhaps the performances of the adults, will likely be somewhat underwhelmed by the focus on Jody and the acting of Claude Jarman Jr. for much of the movie. It's just perhaps a bit too corny and old-fashioned for grown-ups nowadays (although I suspect it was too corny and old-fashioned for real adults back in 1946 as well).