The Yearling (1946 film)
{{Short description|1946 film by Clarence Brown}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Yearling
| image = Original movie poster for the film The Yearling.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster designed by Douglass Crockwell (November 1946)
| director = Clarence Brown
| producer = Sidney Franklin
| based_on = {{Based on|The Yearling|Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings}}
| screenplay = Paul Osborn
| starring = Gregory Peck
Jane Wyman
Claude Jarman Jr.
| music = Herbert Stothart arrangement of Frederick Delius's music
| cinematography = Arthur Arling
Charles Rosher
Leonard Smith
| editing = Harold F. Kress
| studio = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
| distributor = Loew's, Inc.
| released = {{Film date|1946|12|18}}
| runtime = 128 minutes
| color_process = Technicolor
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $3,883,000{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 375
| gross = $7,599,000H. Mark Glancy, 'MGM Film Grosses, 1924–28: The Eddie Mannix Ledger', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 12 No. 2 1992 p127-144 at p140
}}
File:Leonard Smith-Clarence Brown in The Yearling.jpg, unknown & Clarence Brown ]]
The Yearling is a 1946 American Family Western film directed by Clarence Brown, produced by Sidney Franklin, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The screenplay by Paul Osborn and John Lee Mahin (uncredited) was adapted from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's 1938 novel of the same name. The film stars: Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr., Chill Wills and Forrest Tucker.
The story follows a boy named Jody, who adopts a trouble-making young deer. The story was later adapted as the 1994 TV film The Yearling starring Peter Strauss and Jean Smart.{{IMDb title|0111792}}
Plot
Ezra "Penny" Baxter, once a Confederate soldier, and his wife Ora, are pioneer farmers near Lake George, Florida in 1878. Their son, Jody, a boy in his pre-teen years, is their only surviving child. Jody has a wonderful relationship with his warm and loving father. Ora, however, is still haunted by the deaths of the other children of the family she lost over the years, fearing that Jody will end up dying if she shows any love to the boy, leading Jody to find her unloving and unreasonable.
One morning, Jody and his parents discover that a bear has appeared and killed a calf and young pig from among their stock. They set out after the bear, accompanied by Penny's dogs Perk, Rip and Julia. They catch up with the bear, but it is able to escape after Perk flees, Penny's gun misfires, and Julia is badly injured.
Upset over Julia's injury and the broken gun, Penny decides to get a new shotgun in exchange for Perk.
One day, as Penny and Jody are tracking down their missing hogs that had been stolen by the Forresters, a rattlesnake bites Penny before he kills it. Penny kills a doe and uses her liver to draw out the venom. Jody asks to adopt the doe's orphaned fawn. Penny permits it but warns Jody that the fawn will have to be set free when it grows up.
When Jody goes to ask his friend Fodderwing, the youngest Forrester son, to name the fawn he discovers that Fodderwing has died. However, Buck Forrester tells Jody that Fodderwing had said that if he had a fawn he would name him Flag. Jody and his family attend Fodderwing's funeral, and at a generous request from the Forresters, Penny offers a eulogy about Fodderwing's kindness and wisdom with animals.
As months pass, Jody and Flag become inseparable. One year later, Flag has grown up and become a nuisance to the household and farm; causing damage to the farm and crops. After Penny is injured while trying to clear another field to make up for lost crops, Penny tells Jody that he and his mother have agreed that for Jody to keep Flag, he must replant lost corn, and build a taller fence around the cornfield.
Jody works hard and even receives help from Ora with the fence, but during the night, Flag manages to jump the new fence and destroy the new corn. Penny orders Jody to take the deer out into the woods and shoot it. Jody takes Flag out but does not have the heart to kill it. He orders the deer to go away and never return, but Flag comes back to their property, and again devours the corn crop. Ora shoots Flag with a double-barreled shotgun, discharging one of the barrels, but only wounding the deer. Penny orders Jody to put the deer out of its "torment". Rather than let his pet deer suffer an agonizing death, he follows his father's orders and kills Flag with the remaining shell.
The loss of Jody's beloved pet deer proves too much for him to handle. Overwhelmed with anger and despair, Jody runs away from home. Three days later, he is unconscious and adrift on the river in a canoe when he is rescued by a friendly boat captain, who returns him home. Jody and Penny quickly reconcile, but Ora is still out searching for him.
Just before Jody goes to bed, Ora returns and sees that he is back. She becomes filled with joy, knowing that her fear of losing her last child is now over. She happily runs into Jody's room and showers him with more affection than she ever has before. She is no longer afraid to show her maternal love to him.{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2523/the-yearling#synopsis |title=The Yearling (1947) – Full Synopsis |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=December 18, 2012}}
Cast
{{Cast listing|
- Gregory Peck as Ezra "Penny" Baxter
- Jane Wyman as Ora Baxter
- Claude Jarman Jr. as Jody
- Chill Wills as Buck Forrester
- Clem Bevans as Pa Forrester
- Margaret Wycherly as Ma Forrester
- Henry Travers as Mr. Boyles
- Forrest Tucker as Lem Forrester
- Donn Gift as Fodderwing Forrester
- Jeff York as Oliver Hutto (uncredited)
- June Lockhart as Twink, Oliver's bride (uncredited)
- Arthur Hohl as Arch Forrester (uncredited)
- George Mann as Pack Forrester (uncredited)
- Dan White as Millwheel Forrester (uncredited)
- Matt Willis as Gabby Forrester (uncredited)
- Houseley Stevenson as Mr. Ranger (uncredited)
- Joan Wells as Eulalie Boyles (uncredited)
- Chick York as Doc Wilson (uncredited)
}}
Production
File:Deer near Forrester Place farm (3586119972).jpg
The Yearling was filmed on location in the Juniper Prairie Wilderness in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. A hiking trail in the area, "The Yearling Trail", is named after the story, and gives access to sites where the family lived whose stories inspired the novel.
MGM originally began production on The Yearling in 1941, with Spencer Tracy set to star as the patriarch, and with Victor Fleming chosen to direct. The studio also hired Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the author of the novel The Yearling, as a consultant and location scout.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/07/21/138561573/on-location-the-central-florida-of-the-yearling|title=On Location: The Central Florida Of 'The Yearling'|website=NPR.org|language=en|access-date=February 15, 2019}} Rawlings marked a forest service map with locations for filming, specifically referencing the clearing she named "Baxter's Island". MGM moved to the filming location, renovated the cabin, and built surrounding buildings to create a town for a set. Once the actors arrived on location, a combination of the bugs, heat, and lack of enthusiasm for the plot made the actors leave. This led to the film being shelved after only three weeks of location shooting in Florida.According to biographer Millicent Bell, famed novelist John P. Marquand was visiting MGM in 1941 and asked to sit in on a "Yearling" production meeting. He was amused to find that he was the only person in the meeting who had read the book.
Production was resumed in 1945, after Clarence Brown was hired as the new director. Brown cast Gregory Peck to play Pa, Jane Wyman to play Ma, and after a long search, cast Claude Jarman Jr. to play Jody. Due to Brown's drive for perfection, the average take number for scenes was between 20–21. He also got real hunting dogs to film the bear fight scene after deciding the original city dogs were not good enough. Peck received the second of his five Oscar nominations for The Yearling, his fifth film.
Music
Herbert Stothart made arrangements of Frederick Delius's music, particularly Appalachia: Variations on an Old Slave Song, for the film.[https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Jan02/Delius_North_Beecham.htm#ixzz4rN9BznfA Music Web International]. Retrieved September 1, 2017[https://filmscoremonthly.com/new/cds/detail.cfm?cdID=369 Film Score Monthly]. Retrieved September 1, 2017 In 2006 Film Score Monthly released the majority of the film's original score alongside Stothart's score for Random Harvest (1942) in the CD collection Random Harvest/The Yearling (1942/1946) limited to 3,000 copies. Liner notes for both scores were provided by Marilee Bradford.{{cite web|url=https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/cds/detail.cfm/CDID/369/Random-Harvest-The-Yearling/|title=Random Harvest/The Yearling (1942/1946)|website=Film Score Monthly|access-date=August 25, 2021}}
Track listing for The Yearling
- Opening Title/Foreword/April 1878 – 6:31
- Addenda to Feelin' the Sun – 0:39
- Crippled Boy – 1:07
- Birds and Angels – 1:35
- A Farmer Comes to Town – 1:32
- What Happened to You – 1:15
- Material for a New Dress – 0:34
- Obliged to Make It – 2:26
- It's Me! Jody! – 3:15
- To Find a Name – 4:33
- Thy Will Be Done – 1:13
- The Sun – 1:00
- Little Farmer – 2:08
- Ma, I'm Hungry – 2:28
- Mother & End Title (alternate version)/Addendum – 2:47
Bonus tracks
- Title Fanfare/Opening Title (instrumental)/Foreword (long version) – 2:19
- Fawn Ballet Chorus Addenda – 1:43
- Thy Will Be Done (alternate mix) – 1:15
- Hungry (insert – revised vocal) – 0:44
- Mother & End Title (alternate fragments) – 0:49
Total Time: 40:43
Reception
Jac. D. Grant of the Hollywood Reporter wrote, it provides "an emotional experience seldom equaled."Tookey, Christopher (London, 1994), "The Film Critics' Film Guide", Boxtree Limited. p.950 It's been described as "a huge success" and "a remarkable film that truly is for the entire family" by TV Guide;{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-yearling/review/110003|title=The Yearling | TV Guide|website=TVGuide.com}} Variety said it is a "heart-warming story", that its "underlying power is impressive," and that "the underplaying is sometimes too static, but just as interest lags, the director injects another highlight."{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1945/film/reviews/the-yearling-1200414640/|title=The Yearling|work=Variety|date=January 1, 1946}}
The film earned $4,768,000, in the US and Canada and $2,831,000 elsewhere, making it MGM's most successful movie of the year. However, because of its high production cost, profits were only $451,000.[https://archive.org/stream/variety169-1948-01#page/n62/mode/1up "Top Grossers of 1947", Variety, 7 January 1948 p 63] Since the release of The Yearling, films with similar themes have been released including Old Yeller and Kes.
Awards and nominations
Home media
The Yearling was released for the first time on DVD by Warner Home Video on September 3, 2002.{{cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/The-Yearling-DVD/112644/|title= The Yearling DVD|website=Blu-ray.com|access-date=August 25, 2021}} It was later re-issued as part of the Warner Archive Collection, a second DVD edition was released on June 24, 2014{{cite web|url=https://shop.tcm.com/the-yearling/888574055882|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330182356/http://shop.tcm.com/the-yearling/888574055882|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 30, 2016|title=The Yearling Manufactured on Demand, Mono Sound on TCM Shop|website=TCM Shop|access-date=August 25, 2021}} and the Blu-ray edition was released on May 11, 2021.{{cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Yearling-Blu-ray/134594/|title= The Yearling Blu-ray|website=Blu-ray.com|access-date=August 25, 2021}}
Adaptations
The Yearling was presented as a one-hour radio adaptation on Lux Radio Theatre on January 19, 1948, with Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman reprising their screen roles.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7FsbAAAAIBAJ&pg=3271%2C1316540&q=Yearling+Gregory+Peck+Jane+Wyman |author=Si Steinhauser |title=Auto Radiophone Call Exciting Experience |page=23 |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |date=1948-01-19 |access-date=2021-08-13 }} It was also presented on Stars in the Air on February 7, 1952. This 30-minute radio adaptation starred Gregory Peck and Jean Hagen.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/686529677/?terms=Air+Yearling+Jaan+Hagan |author= |title=Radio Highlights |page=19 |newspaper=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=1952-02-07 |access-date=2021-08-13}}
{{nihongo|The Yearling|子鹿物語 THE YEARLING|Kojika Monogatari|trans. Fawn Story}}, also known in English as Fortunate Fawn, is a Japanese anime series from 1983, broadcast on NHK G in Japan.
The Yearling (1994) was a made-for-television remake of The Yearling, broadcast on CBS in the United States.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|The Yearling (film)}}
- {{IMDb title|0039111}}
- {{TCMDb title|2523}}
- {{AFI film|25058}}
- {{mojo title|yearling}}
{{Clarence Brown}}
{{Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yearling (1946 film), The}}
Category:American children's drama films
Category:American Western (genre) films
Category:1946 Western (genre) films
Category:1940s English-language films
Category:Films scored by Herbert Stothart
Category:Films about deer and moose
Category:Films based on children's books
Category:Films directed by Clarence Brown
Category:Films set in the 1860s
Category:Films set in the 1870s
Category:Films shot in Florida
Category:Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award
Category:Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films