I like a good coming of age movie but this movie is just too melodramatic and sappy for my taste. I mean, just look at the movie its cover and it should tell you enough. However the movie was still a greatly compelling one, which was mostly due to its visuals.
This movie simply has some superior Technicolor camera-work in it. The colors are incredible and it's simply beautiful all. It's not surprising that both the cinematography and the art-direction won an Academy Award for this movie. It sets the right tone for the movie its atmosphere and the soul and heart of the movie its story.
Well, the movie still mainly has a good main plot-line in it, that tells a good story but it's just that everything around gets presented a bit too over-the-top in terms of its drama. Nevertheless the story for most part will still work out as a compelling one, though it probably will not grab or touch you emotionally.
it's pretty nice that this movie has some many great actors in this as well. They surely help to uplift the movie and make it a perfectly watchable one. This movie was one of Gregory Pecks's earliest roles and although it also was far from his best or most memorable one, it shows some of the things to come, from his future acting career. The child-actor Claude Jarman Jr. was also pretty good and credible enough in his dramatic role. I wasn't too fond of Jane Wyman but that had more to do with her character than her acting skills really.
The story tends to get a bit messy at times, when it starts to drift away and tries to put too much emotions and drama stuff in it but luckily the movie knows how to restrain itself for most of the time and it keeps its main focus on the father-son relationship of the movie. So it's a pretty well directed movie as well, despite all of the complaints I'm still having about this movie.
Certainly a good but above all beautiful movie to look at.
7/10
Watch trailer
No comments: