DEEP VALLEY (director: Jean Negulesco; screenwriters: Stephen Morehouse Avery/Salka Viertel/from book by Dan Totheroh; cinematographer: Ted D. McCord; editor: Owen Marks; cast: Ida Lupino (Libby Saul), Dane Clark (Barry Burnette), Ray Teal (Prison Official), Fay Bainter (Ellie Saul), Wayne Morris (Jeff Barker), Clancy Cooper (Prison Guard), Henry Hull (Cliff Saul), Willard Robertson (Sheriff Akers); Runtime: 104; Warner Bros.; 1947)
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A slow paced, b&w, atmospheric melodrama, set in the mountains of northern California, about a farm girl, Libby Saul (Ida Lupino), romanced by an escaped convict, Barry Burnette (Dane Clark). One character says of the farm, it is in such a remote spot, even the coyotes don't come here.
Libby has felt imprisoned, leading a sheltered and unhappy life with her miserable folks. Ellie Saul (Bainter), her mother, hasn't left her room for years, she is so embittered over her marriage that she refuses to even talk with her husband. Her father Cliff (Hull), is an angry man, showing no love to his wife or stuttering daughter. It's a marriage consumed by hate.
The 22-year-old Libby has enough of this and runs away to her secret hideaway cabin in the woods, on the night of a big rainstorm, taking her faithful dog Joe with her. There is a new coastal highway being built with the help of a chain gang crew, which is going through her Big Sur forest region. One of the convicts, Barry Burnette, escapes during the severe rainstorm.
The two runaways meet in her cabin and fall in love. Barry explains how his quick temper always spelled trouble for him, and got him convicted of manslaughter when he held up a jewelry store and killed the employee, though he was too drunk to remember if he actually did it.
Libby exclaims that this is the first happy day she has ever had, as they catch a trout and kiss, spending the night together. They make plans to get to San Francisco and live together, but separate as she goes back home to get food and a change of clothes for him.
The search party gets into a shootout with him at Stone Ridge, but he escapes and returns to hide in her farmhouse barn.
On her return, things change at home, as her parents get together and act civilized for the first time that she could remember. They also notice that she's glowing with happiness and figure it's because she met the road engineer, Jeff Barker (Wayne Morris), who expresses a keen interest in her, and has even made plans with her father to go partners in opening up a filling station once the road is completed.
The interesting part of the film revolves around the conflict Libby faces, of running away with the violent fugitive she has fallen madly in love with or have a secure marriage with a really nice man, the engineer, but who is someone she doesn't love.
"Deep Valley" offers a dramatic look at how love can make one feel alive again. The film comes to a boil with its very moving conclusion, after a very slow start.
The acting is first-rate, making these melodramatics seem realistic.
REVIEWED ON 2/22/2001 GRADE: B-
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
ozus@sover.net
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