Swamp Water

Jean Renoir's 1941 film was his first made in America and his first encounter with the Hollywood studio system. A young man hunting in the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia comes upon a fugitive hiding there with his daughter; he falls in love with the girl and tries to persuade the man to return to town and clear his name. The town, however, is not ready to accept his innocence. Renoir shot part of the film in the actual swamp, one of the points on which he insisted against Hollywood's studio habits, and a cause of his conflict with Darryl Zanuck. The difference between the swamp scenes and the town scenes carries the trace of that tension. Walter Brennan's fugitive and Dana Andrews's early performance stand out. Who it's for: viewers interested in Renoir's American period and classic Hollywood rural drama. Who it's not for: anyone expecting the freedom of Renoir's French period, or uncomfortable with scenes of hunting.