If this had been the first Katherine Hepburn movie you ever saw, it would probably also have been the last. RKO must have been behind the curve, because this is what I would call a primitive talkie, even though it was filmed in 1934, when films were becoming more modern. For example, there's no background music, which makes the dead spots seem very long.
A huge problem is that Hepburn's dialect is very inconsistent throughout the film. In some scenes she practically "Deliverance" personified. In romantic scenes with Robert Young, her dialect is much more normal. And there's a third dialect in there that's sort of in between. In all fairness, this was one of her earliest credited films.
Just in case you think I'm being down on her, her batting average puts her up there in my highest category of finest actresses in cinema history...but not here.
The plot here has some interesting points. A hick leads a controversial life in her backwoods community. Is she a witch or a faith healer? Why do 2 city slickers who are building a Depression era dam want so to help her (seems a little illogical to me).
Hepburn is the hick witch/faith healer. Robert Young and Ralph Bellamy are along as the city slickers (Bellamy probably has the better role, and Young totally disappears later in the film). You will also recognize Sidney Toler (Charley Chan) who plays one of the hick thugs, but you probably won't recognize Will Geer (at least I didn't).
You're probably thinking I'm saying not to watch this film, but actually I'm not. Watch it as a curiosity.
A huge problem is that Hepburn's dialect is very inconsistent throughout the film. In some scenes she practically "Deliverance" personified. In romantic scenes with Robert Young, her dialect is much more normal. And there's a third dialect in there that's sort of in between. In all fairness, this was one of her earliest credited films.
Just in case you think I'm being down on her, her batting average puts her up there in my highest category of finest actresses in cinema history...but not here.
The plot here has some interesting points. A hick leads a controversial life in her backwoods community. Is she a witch or a faith healer? Why do 2 city slickers who are building a Depression era dam want so to help her (seems a little illogical to me).
Hepburn is the hick witch/faith healer. Robert Young and Ralph Bellamy are along as the city slickers (Bellamy probably has the better role, and Young totally disappears later in the film). You will also recognize Sidney Toler (Charley Chan) who plays one of the hick thugs, but you probably won't recognize Will Geer (at least I didn't).
You're probably thinking I'm saying not to watch this film, but actually I'm not. Watch it as a curiosity.