OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES
US, 1945, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Edward G. Robinson, Margaret O’ Brien, James Craig, Frances Gifford, Agnes Moorehead, Morris Carnovsky, Jackie ‘Butch’ Jenkins, Sara Haden.
Directed by Roy Rowland.
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes is a quotation from the Song of Songs. The film is a story about Norwegian migrants in Wisconsin. It is set in 1944, has a then contemporary atmosphere – although it harks back to a much simpler way of life, mid-US values and traditions.
The film focuses on a family, with Edward G. Robinson as the father, very different from his gangster and villainous roles. Agnes Moorehead is the mother. The film belongs to Margaret O’ Brien who portrays their seven-year-old daughter, a very capable child actress, intensely following direction with a talent for living her parts. She is paired, as in several other films, with Jackie ‘Butch’ Jenkins, who appeared in Little Mr Jim, My Brother Talks to Horses. James Craig and Frances Gifford are the romantic couple, he the editor of the local paper, she a teacher.
The film shows life over the best part of a year in Wisconsin, the country towns, the farms, the changing seasons. It is a film of sentiment and sweetness, but most audiences could enjoy it, allowing for the sensibilities of the past.
It was directed by Roy Rowland, an MGM director with a wide range of genres in his filmology. However, it was written by Dalton Trumbo who had written Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and who was about to be blacklisted. During the 1950s, he won an Oscar for The Brave One, which used the name Robert Rich as a front. However, Kirk Douglas asked him to write Spartacus and Otto Preminger asked him to write Exodus in the late 50s and he was re-established under his own name. He wrote a novel, Johnny Got His Gun, and directed the film of the novel in 1971.
1. A film of the 1940s, humane? A piece of Americana? The title coming from a Scripture text?
2. Wisconsin, the countryside, the town, farms, fields, roads, barns, homes, the church and school, the river? Authentic middle America?
3. The families, the Norwegian background, the settlers, the farms, stock, hay? The seasons? The community, nice? The critique from Viola Johnson? Getting to know the people, their working together, rescuing Selma and Arnold, helping with the barn fire, finally supporting the destitute Mr Bjornson?
4. The cast, Edward G. Robinson playing against screen type? The film as a Margaret O’ Brien vehicle, her popularity?
5. The focus on Selma and Arnold, their ages, cousins, always together, Selma as nice and sweet? Arnold and his being rather self-centred, tough? Their chatter? Their concern about the young woman and her mental abilities, her wanting to hug them? Discussions about war, shooting, guns? Selma hitting the squirrel with the stone and being upset? The continued comparisons between them, Arnold wanting what Selma had? Selma and the skates, not letting Arnold skate, her father ordering her to give them to him? Arnold and his lying? Being sent to bed? The elephant and the circus, Martinius taking his daughter to see the elephant, paying the money, the elephant ride? Love for his daughter, yet punishing her? Bruna and the discipline? The gift of the cow, her care for the cow, riding it, yet being prepared to give it away to Mr Bjornson? At school, Arnold at the window, her comments? The girl and the teachers defending her? Her friendship with Editor, his friendliness, giving them the lift? Christmas and his writing the story, her memorising it and reciting it? The Christmas gifts, the coat? The money and what she earned? The catalogue? In the tub with Arnold, the flood and their being rescued? Going to the barn fire? Church, the requests for gifts for Mr Bjornson? Arnold giving his goat – and the generosity of his father in suggesting it? Symbols of mid-America in the 1940s?
6. Martinius and Bruna, their home, life, with Selma? Work, meals, the money for the new barn, the gift of the skates, visiting the circus and seeing the elephant, visiting Mr Bjornson’s barn? Playing draughts? The issue of the loan? Christmas, the gifts? The rescue of the children, Martinius’s concern? The fire, his shooting the cattle for Mr Bjornson? His decision about his own barn, the gifts for Mr Bjornson? Bruna and her straight talking, her support?
7. Editor, the paper, his father? Encountering Viola, his arguing tolerance with her? His enlisting? The gifts for Mr Bjornson? The Christmas story? The proposal? Viola, her Norwegian background, doing a PhD, her placement in the country, critique of the people, her kindness to Selma in class, her reaction to the funeral of the young girl? The gifts, her change of heart, accepting Editor’s proposal?
8. The barn, the fire, the putting down of the cattle? Mrs Bjornson, no insurance?
9. Wisconsin of the past, the contemporary Wisconsin for World War Two? Change that was coming in American society?
