Cigarettes And Gary Cooper: ‘Bright Leaf’ Reviewed

Warner Archive provided me with free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this article. The opinions I share are my own.

Take the old money/new money feuding of The Great Gatsby and transplant it to the South during the late 19th century and that’s pretty much what Michael Curtiz‘ Bright Leaf is like. A film that starts out strong and fizzles out the more Jack Carson‘s character, Chris, gets involved, the best dialogue comes when Brant (Gary Cooper) returns to Kingsmont and everyone is starting to recognize him and Brant just has no time for it. The only reason he’s back, having been driven out the first time by Major Singleton (Donald Crisp), is because his uncle died. As Singleton’s still head honcho, he doesn’t plan to stay long but then John Barton (Jeff Corey) approaches him with an idea for a cigarette machine and it’s off to see if his ex, Sonia (Lauren Bacall), can be talked into becoming an investor.

Ranald MacDougall (Mildred Pierce) wrote the screenplay, which is an adaptation of Foster Fitzsimmons’ novel. Another great sequence of dialogue is when Barton first approaches Major Singleton with his idea for a cigarette machine. Singleton immediately insists he’s against cigarettes and for a moment it’s like woah – could it be possible that this wealthy man of the 1800s with the crisp white clothes might be concerned about the health dangers of cigarettes? Of course that’s not it at all – he’s just a snob who thinks cigars are superior – but it’s a wonderful moment of misdirect.

Less wonderful is how Chris becomes Brant’s righthand man out of nowhere, displacing the much more interesting Barton, whose nervous demeanor gets his project overlooked for awhile. At first Chris is just a snake oil salesman who wanders into town. Then Barton gets pulled into a fight with him and suddenly Chris is being invited to join in the new business venture. It’s a relationship that just happens rather than the film showing them slowly become friends.

Patricia Neal is a nasty piece of work (in a good way) as Singleton’s daughter, Margaret, who Brant still carries a torch for. Bacall does the best she can but watching Sonia get manhandled and pushed around by Brant, who acts like she’s in the wrong if she calls out that he’ll dump her as soon as Margaret pays him in any attentions, isn’t fun. There’s a lot of slapping that goes on, and not just women being slapped by men. At one point Brant gets hit and, unlike so many classic movies, where men will get hit but it never leaves a mark (because big, strong men are beyond bruises), the cut on his cheek really stands out and highlights the brutality of the violence.

Warner Archive’s Blu-ray includes two Bugs Bunny cartoons. “Hillbilly Hare” sees Bugs employ his wits (and a fiddle) to evade two brothers. “Bunker Hill Bunny” is the stronger (and more clever) of the two, as Bugs and Yosemite Sam go to war, waving “we” and “them” flags and converting “rabbit holes” into “foxholes” and other examples of smart wordplay.

Bright Leaf is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive and to purchase from Movie Zyng.