A turn of the Century twist with another Cooper, O'Neal romance. NOT!!! Don't let that stop you at the Gates of the Singleton Plantation. Gary Cooper,(Brandt Royle) the last of his families line,a wannabee businessman meets Northerner Mr. Barton with a cigarette rolling machine that could make them millions. Enter Bordello owner Sonia, (Lauren Bacall) who has feelings for Mr. Royle. Royle needs money to start up his cigarette business but Sonia knows all to well that she's being used as his love interest. This movie is not about the money or the success that it brings. This movie shows how old fashioned ways, traditions and family hatred get in the way of just about everything. Cooper does a fine job of transforming from a humble upstart to a drunken self absorbed entrepreneur. In my opinion Lauren Bacall could have played Patricia Neal's role but the casting dept had other ideas. The supporting cast does a fine job of holding the story together. Donald Crisp as the irascible old school Tobacco King and Jack Carson who starts out a down on his luck charlatan running a medicine show at the beginning of the story into a well polished boardroom businessman at movie's end. Does this movie teach us to love our superficial business world or should we search for our true passions instead? This question haunts the masses for centuries and this movie may or may not give us the answers but you will be entertained by an all star cast.
Review of Bright Leaf
