movie review the yearling

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The yearling, common sense media reviewers.

Thoughtful adaptation of the prize-winning novel.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Bear and dog fight, fistfights, Pa bitten by snake

Parents need to know that this movie has a few tense and sad scenes that may upset younger or more sensitive kids, but overall it's a fine family film. A young boy dies, and a mother shoots her son's pet deer.

Violence & Scariness

Bear and dog fight, fistfights, Pa bitten by snake, deer shot (offscreen)

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Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this movie has a few tense and sad scenes that may upset younger or more sensitive kids, but overall it's a fine family film. A young boy dies, and a mother shoots her son's pet deer. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (1)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Lousy film for kids and sensitive adults who are disturbed by animal deaths

Dazzling film with some violence, what's the story.

This quiet, thoughtful, visually striking adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings covers a year in the life of the Baxter family, post-Civil War settlers in remote Florida. The focus is on Jody (Claude Jarman, Jr.), 12, who loves animals and wants a pet. Pa Baxter (Gregory Peck) is warm and understanding. Ma (Jane Wyman) seems harsh and rigid, but only because she has been so devastated by the loss of three children. The only other boy around frail Fodderwing, who Jody loves to visit. Over Ma's objections, Pa lets Jody keep a young deer as a pet, and Jody goes to Fodderwing to ask him to name the deer. Fodderwing has died, but his father tells Jody he once said that if he had a deer, he would name it Flag. Jody does everything he can to keep Flag, even building a fence to keep him out of the corn crop, which is essential to the family's livelihood. But Flag cannot stop eating the crop and has to be destroyed. Ma shoots him, and then Jody has to put him out of his misery. Jody runs away, but returns.

Is It Any Good?

This poignant drama is a classic story of loss, not just of a beloved pet, but of the innocence and freedom of childhood that Flag symbolizes. Pa says to Jody: "Every man wants life to be a fine thing, and easy. Well, it's fine, son, powerful fine. But it ain't easy. I want life to be easier for you than it was for me....A man's heart aches seeing his young 'uns face the world knowing that they got to have their insides tore out the way his was tore." All parents want to protect their children this way. And yet, all parents realize that having one's "insides tore out" is a necessary part of growing up, that no one ever learns how to make responsible choices without these painful experiences. Pa tells Jody that life is "gettin', losin', gettin', losin'."

In the last moment of the film, as in the book, the boy and the deer run off together in Jody's imagination. In part, this means that Jody's innocence is gone with the deer. But it also means that a precious part of his spirit, the part that loved the deer so deeply, will be with him always, and will be a part of everything that he does.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about who "the yearling" is. What do you think of Pa's strategy for trading his dog for a gun? What did he mean when he later said that his words were straight, but his intentions were crooked? What do Jody's friends Fodderwing and Oliver tell you about him? Why was it hard for Ma to show affection? How can you tell? How was Jody different when he came back home?

Movie Details

• In theaters : December 18, 1946
• On DVD or streaming : September 3, 2002
• Cast : Claude Jarman Jr. , Gregory Peck , Jane Wyman
• Director : Clarence Brown
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 128 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : October 5, 2023

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The Yearling

Where to watch.

Watch The Yearling with a subscription on Prime Video.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Peter Strauss

Ezra "Penny" Baxter

Wil Horneff

Jody Baxter

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Jarred Blancard

Fodder-Wing

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THE YEARLING

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The yearling: warner archive collection blu-ray review.

The Yearling — Warner Archive Collection — (1946)

Genre(s): Drama, Family Warner Archive | NR – 128 min. – $21.99 | May 11, 2021

Date Published: 05/04/2021 | Author: The Movieman

Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers .

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Movie Reviews Simbasible

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The Yearling (1946)

The yearling movie review.

The Yearling is a 1946 family drama film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman . It is such a heartbreaking and wonderful movie.

It is about a young boy who adopts an orphaned deer. This story is very good because, although seemingly typical for these animal films, it still has its very interesting themes. Yes, the death of a deer is clichéd for an animal picture. However, it was done in a very heartbreaking, strong way and that entire third act was just fantastic.

………………………………………………………………………………

“ And Lord, give him a few red-birds and maybe a squirrel and a ‘coon and a ‘possum to keep him company “

But the thing that took me by surprise is how emotional this film is and how sophisticated in its themes. You have growing up and taking responsibilities for your actions and getting ready for the harsh reality of life and adult world. But you also have that great relationship between mother and son and the mother is the most fascinating character here. She lost her other children and now is afraid of losing Jody too which is why she is reserved and cold towards him. But she grew during this movie and eventually embraced her son for the first time in such a beautiful sequence. Also the dream ending is truly wonderful and just so tragic.

But Penny and Jody are unfortunately not the best characters. Jody is somewhat annoying at times and I really thought that Claude Jarman, Jr. was too old for the role. In fact, he was just twelve during filming, but he somehow feels older and he just wasn’t a great fit. Penny is a great father, but somewhat boring at times and I wanted more from him. Gregory Peck is really good, but I wouldn’t call his performance great as he gave much better performances during his career. Jane Wyman is much better and much more memorable.

The Yearling is competently made and its cinematography and outdoors scenery are definitely lush. However, there also lies a problem. Yes, I loved those sequences as they were so moving and the score was just magnificent, grand and beautiful. But, those big moments were too emphasized and there were too many of them in the end product thus reducing their impact quite a bit.

The pacing is also problematic and the movie is just way too long for this simple story. It’s a bit over two hours and that is just a lot. The second half is great, but the first one is certainly a bit slow. Another problem is the structure which is odd and too frustrating. There is something inherently wrong when in a movie about boy’s relationship with a deer, the actual deer arrives after the half point of a pretty long movie. That was so frustrating and just a wrong choice from the filmmakers. But the film is very emotional, the dialogue is solid, the imagery is beautiful and the setting is so well utilized as well as the time period. The score is awesome and the technical aspects are mostly great. Overall, it isn’t great, but it is a pretty good family movie.

The Yearling is way too long with a very odd structure, but it is so moving and with such a heartbreaking ending. The film benefits from an awesome score as well as the lush scenery and it is thematically rich with the mother’s character being fascinating. It’s a wonderful family flick.

My rating – 4, more stories, matchstick men (2003).

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35 facts about the movie the yearling.

Written by Jonie Reno

Modified & Updated: 05 Mar 2024

Reviewed by Jessica Corbett

The Yearling is a classic American film that has captured the hearts of audiences since its release in 1946. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, this coming-of-age tale follows the story of Jody Baxter, a young boy living in the rural wilderness of Florida in the late 1800s. Set against a backdrop of stunning landscapes and featuring a captivating storyline, The Yearling explores themes of love, loss, and the bond between humans and animals.

In this article, we delve into the fascinating world of The Yearling and uncover 35 intriguing facts about the movie. From behind-the-scenes tidbits to interesting trivia about the cast and crew, you’ll discover a wealth of information that will deepen your appreciation for this timeless cinematic gem.

Key Takeaways:

• “The Yearling” is a heartwarming movie set in rural Florida, showcasing the bond between a young boy and his pet deer, and it continues to captivate audiences with its timeless themes and emotional storytelling.
• “The Yearling” not only won two Academy Awards but also left a lasting impact on coming-of-age films, literature, and nature conservation, proving the enduring power of storytelling in cinema.

The Yearling was released in 1946.

Directed by Clarence Brown, this classic film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

It is a coming-of-age story set in rural Florida.

The Yearling portrays the life of a young boy named Jody Baxter and his bond with a deer he adopts as a pet.

Gregory Peck starred in the lead role.

Peck delivered a remarkable performance as Ezra “Penny” Baxter, Jody’s father, and received critical acclaim for his portrayal.

The film was shot on location in Ocala, Florida.

The breathtaking landscapes and lush forests of Ocala perfectly capture the beauty of the story’s setting.

The Yearling was a commercial success.

It became one of the top-grossing films of 1946, winning the hearts of audiences worldwide.

The Yearling earned seven Academy Award nominations.

The film received recognition for its exceptional storytelling, cinematography, and visual effects.

It won two Academy Awards.

The Yearling took home Oscars for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, both in color categories.

The movie explores themes of familial love and the importance of nature.

The Yearling beautifully depicts the strong bond between Jody and his parents, as well as his deep connection with the natural world.

Claude Jarman Jr. portrayed Jody Baxter.

Jarman Jr.’s exceptional performance as the young protagonist earned him a special Juvenile Academy Award.

The Yearling was the first Technicolor film shot entirely in Florida.

The vibrant colors of the surroundings add depth and richness to the film’s visuals.

The Yearling was praised for its authentic portrayal of rural life.

The film garnered recognition for its attention to detail and capturing the essence of Florida’s rural community in the late 1800s.

The Yearling was a collaboration between MGM Studios and Selznick International Pictures.

This partnership brought together talented individuals from both studios, resulting in a cinematic masterpiece.

The Yearling was a major influence on later coming-of-age films.

Its impact can be seen in movies like “Old Yeller” and “Lassie,” which also explored the bond between humans and animals.

The Yearling’s screenplay was written by Paul Osborn.

Osborn skillfully adapted the novel into a compelling screenplay that stayed true to the original story.

The Yearling received positive reviews from critics.

Many praised the film’s emotional depth, stunning visuals, and heartfelt performances.

The Yearling was re-released in theaters in 1997.

Over 50 years after its initial release, the film was reintroduced to a new generation of moviegoers.

The Yearling’s musical score was composed by Herbert Stothart.

Stothart’s enchanting music perfectly captures the film’s emotional moments and adds to its timeless appeal.

The Yearling highlights the struggles of life in a harsh environment.

The film explores the challenges faced by Jody’s family as they strive to survive and thrive in the wilderness.

The Yearling’s cinematography was praised for its breathtaking visuals.

The sweeping landscapes and close-ups of nature create a captivating visual experience for the audience.

The Yearling is a heartwarming tale of friendship and loss.

It takes viewers on an emotional journey filled with joy, sorrow, and profound life lessons.

The Yearling remains a beloved classic.

Generations of viewers have been touched by its timeless story and enduring themes.

The Yearling’s success led to a resurgence of interest in the original novel.

Readers flocked to bookstores to experience Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ powerful storytelling firsthand.

The Yearling was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

It was recognized as a culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant film by the Library of Congress.

The Yearling’s emotional impact lingers long after the credits roll.

Its poignant moments and relatable characters resonate with audiences of all ages.

The Yearling’s success helped elevate the careers of its cast and crew.

Many went on to have successful careers in the entertainment industry, thanks to their involvement in this iconic film.

The Yearling remains a timeless masterpiece in American cinema.

Its powerful storytelling and universal themes continue to captivate audiences around the world.

The Yearling’s legacy lives on through its influence on subsequent films and literature.

It has inspired numerous coming-of-age stories and continues to be a source of inspiration for filmmakers and writers.

The Yearling’s success sparked a renewed interest in nature conservation.

The film’s beautiful depiction of the natural world encouraged viewers to appreciate and protect the environment.

The Yearling showcases the deep bond between humans and animals.

Jody’s relationship with his pet deer serves as a testament to the profound connections we can form with the animal kingdom.

The Yearling’s timeless themes resonate with audiences of all generations.

Its exploration of love, loss, and the pursuit of dreams continues to strike a chord with viewers.

The Yearling’s enduring popularity led to a stage adaptation.

The story was brought to life on the theatrical stage, allowing audiences to experience its magic in a different format.

The Yearling teaches valuable life lessons about resilience and sacrifice.

Through Jody’s journey, viewers learn about the strength of the human spirit and the power of selflessness.

The Yearling’s success helped raise awareness about the importance of preserving literary classics through film.

It highlighted the potential of adapting timeless novels for the silver screen.

The Yearling’s impact extends beyond the realm of entertainment.

Its messages of love, compassion, and the beauty of nature have touched the hearts of millions worldwide.

The Yearling stands as a testament to the power of storytelling.

Its ability to transport viewers to another time and place is a true testament to the magic of cinema.

In conclusion, The Yearling is a classic movie that captivates audiences with its timeless tale of love, loss, and the bond between humans and animals. From its stunning cinematography to its moving performances, this film continues to be cherished by generations of movie lovers. With its rich storytelling and beautiful portrayal of rural life in Florida, The Yearling will remain a beloved cinematic gem for years to come.

Q: What is the plot of The Yearling?

A: The Yearling tells the story of Jody, a young boy who adopts and cares for an orphaned fawn named Flag. Together, they form a deep bond as Jody navigates the challenges of growing up in the wilderness of rural Florida.

Q: Is The Yearling based on a book?

A: Yes, The Yearling is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

Q: When was The Yearling released?

A: The Yearling was released in 1946.

Q: Who are the main actors in The Yearling?

A: The Yearling stars Gregory Peck as Penny Baxter, Jane Wyman as Ora Baxter, and Claude Jarman Jr. as Jody Baxter.

Q: Did The Yearling receive any awards or nominations?

A: Yes, The Yearling received four Academy Awards, including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Jane Wyman, and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color.

Q: What is the significance of The Yearling in film history?

A: The Yearling is considered one of the early examples of Technicolor filmmaking, with its vibrant colors and breathtaking scenery capturing the essence of the natural world.

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Rotten Tomatoes® Score

Learning to look at loss, accept it and embrace grief is a big part of what Jody learns, and what movies like this one pass on to children on those rare occasions a film has the nerve to challenge kids this way this one still does.

a visually stunning and ultimately heart-wrenching film about family, tragedy and the cruelty of mother nature.

The Yearling is a family film for those families who don't mind collectively shedding a tear or two.

In spite of obvious scenes of boy and growing deer running against a rosy skyline, the relationship is handled with tenderness and taste.

The internal and external loyalties and relationships that pull and push young Jody provide the story with its powerful conflicts.

Thoughtful adaptation of the prize-winning novel.

A heart-warming 19th-century family drama about surviving in the Florida wilderness.

Family classic, beautifully realized, involving a pet deer.

Along with Lassie Come Home, this is one of MGM's classic family-animal melodramas, based on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel, beautifully acted by Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman and Claude Jarman Jr.(in his debut), with strong production values (in color).

Classy family classic of the old school.

Additional Info

• Genre : Drama, Family
• Release Date : January 1, 1946
• Languages : English
• Captions : English
• Audio Format : Stereo

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the starling.

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Theodore Melfi's “The Starling” expends so much energy trying to tug at your heartstrings that it never bothers to develop a pulse of its own. It's a stubbornly shallow film, the kind that traffics in clichés about grief to such a degree that it almost plays like the kind of parody of Oscar bait someone would see in a film about the movie industry. While this kind of manipulative melodrama is often easy to dismiss, what makes “The Starling” even more frustrating is the amount of talented people who got sucked into its spin cycle of sadness. There’s something just so disheartening about watching actors as nuanced as  Melissa McCarthy or Kevin Kline in roles that work against their strengths and their usual instincts in creating complex characters. It's really more depressing than anything that actually happens in the movie itself.

The truth is that you might cry. It’s kind of hard not to when a drama centers people who have gone through the unimaginable grief of losing a child. I have three children and can’t really wrap my brain around it other than to say that I know I would simply be a completely different person. And yet the world doesn’t stop for people whose children die. Jack (Chris O’Dowd) can’t quite figure out how it hasn’t stopped, and eventually ends up at a psychiatric clinic. When Matt Harris ’ script opens, Jack’s wife Lilly (Melissa McCarthy) is trying to hold it together for Jack’s return from the facility. She’s working at a grocery store (with a boss played by Timothy Olyphant in a role that makes you wonder why someone would cast such a recognizably charismatic performer in a non-role) and trying to maintain her family’s property, which leads to a few showdowns with a rambunctious bird, hence the title. She’s also driving two hours every week to see her husband and starting to wonder if he really wants to come home, and what life will be like when he does.

Lilly is in the very recognizable role of someone who prioritizes another’s grief without managing her own, and so a counselor at Jack’s clinic suggests she tend to her own mental health before her husband’s comes back into her daily life. This leads her into the office of a local veterinarian (Kevin Kline), who used to be a therapist but now espouses a somewhat cynical view of the profession. His new job will come in handy with the bird subplot, but he’s also really Lilly’s atypical advisor, someone who can speak to her without the same walls sometimes put up by his former profession.

The scenes between the Oscar-nominated McCarthy and Oscar-winning Kline are fascinating in the way they push and pull between what they’re capable of, and what they’ve been given by the script. Kline hints at back story that gives his role depth, but then his character returns to tedious clichés. Every piece of advice he gives Lilly seems tender because of Kline’s notable humanity on-screen, but also simplistic and designed to emotionally provoke the audience. It’s a film that’s constantly using its characters in ways that don’t feel genuine, and you can see the talented cast fight against it ... and lose.

What adds to the frustration is that there are themes inherent in this story that aren’t often explored well in melodrama, namely how two people stay together when their joint grief isn’t identical. The truth is that immense tragedy often destroys couples in part because we all grieve in our own way, and the idea that Jack and Lilly are dealing with the loss of their child in such different ways that they may not make it back together is fertile ground for complex, character-driven commentary. But that just never happens here because everyone is too busy button-pushing.

It doesn’t help that Melfi directs “The Starling” with all the grace of an investor’s presentation for the Hallmark Greeting Card company. It’s a visually flat film, which adds to the sense that the main creative drive here was to get the audience to cry. Most of us are open to our emotions when we watch films, but they have to be earned through character, depth, and realism. We can feel it when the tears aren’t earned through honesty. “The Starling” is too obviously weighed down with how much it wants your tears to ever really take emotional flight.

This review was originally filed in conjunction with the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12th. "The Starling" will open in limited theatrical release on September 17th before premiering on Netflix on September 24th.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film Credits

The Starling (2021)

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some strong language, and suggestive material.

103 minutes

Melissa McCarthy as Lily

Chris O'Dowd as Jack

Kevin Kline as Larry

Timothy Olyphant as Travis

Daveed Diggs

Skyler Gisondo

Loretta Devine

• Theodore Melfi
• Matt Harris

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1939 Pulitzer Prize Review: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

“A column of smoke rose thin and straight from the cabin chimney. The smoke was blue where it left the red of the clay. It trailed into the blue of the April sky and was no longer blue but blue gray. The boy Jody watched it…” -opening lines

Set in the late 19th century wildlands of central Florida, The Yearling is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ celebrated bildungsroman about a farm boy who gradually learns to cast off his adolescent youth. This book was inspired by Rawlings’ decision to relocate to a vast citrus ranch situated in the “hammock country” of Cross Creek, Florida. Fascinated by the landscape, Rawlings filled numerous notebooks documenting the flora, fauna, and culture of the region. She wrote about the simple but harsh lives of the “Florida Cracker” people –“cracker” being a nickname for the Southern peoples who migrated southward from Appalachia to Georgia and Florida (it has since become a pejorative term). The term “cracker” originally came from the sound of cracking whips used by cattlemen. At any rate, the rural region outside Gainesville, Florida was composed mainly of poor whites who survived by hunting, fishing, or tending to the surrounding orchards. It was a difficult life, often a struggle to survive, and this is where we find ourselves in The Yearling .

The novel takes place across the span of one year in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Jody Baxter. Jody is the only child of Penny and Ora “Ma” Baxter. They are a family of subsistence hunters and farmers who struggle to eek out an existence. Jody’s father, Penny Baxter, is a small but capable hunter who leads Jody through the untamed wilderness filled with bears, wolves, and panthers. Before settling in Florida, Penny was apparently a Confederate veteran during the American Civil War. His background is somewhat opaque but little clues are dropped here and there throughout the story. In the novel we are introduced to a variety of other characters as well: Slewfoot, a crafty bear who seems to elude the Baxters at every turn (until the conclusion); the Forresters, an unruly neighboring family whose handicapped son “Fodder-wing” eventually becomes friends with Jody; and the wise old Grandma Hutto.

At the outset Jody’s father, Penny Baxter, is bitten by a rattlesnake. Fearful of how quickly the poison might affect him, Penny and Jody must race home to find medical help, but while en route, Penny’s health continues to deteriorate so he slays a deer in order to hopefully harvest the poison from his body before time runs out. Still, Jody must rush home to the find a doctor by himself. Mercifully, he is granted aid from nearby rivals, the Forresters, who help save Penny’s life, despite being unfriendly neighbors. This moment becomes a harrowing yet important experience for young Jody –he is still a sensitive and impressionable child. Soon Jody befriends the slain deer’s fawn which he names “Flag.” He brings Flag home to dwell among the Baxter family and we, the listless readers, are offered several hundred pages of minimal intrigue –scenes of hunting and various attacks by wolves and bears. Almost nothing actually drives the plot forward in this section of the novel. It is only at the conclusion, when we arrive at Penny’s ailing health, that we discover Jody’s dramatic inner conflict over the need to kill Flag. At this point, Flag has eaten a portion of the Baxter family’s vital food supplies and Jody is expected to kill the deer as recompense. In the final chapter, Jody subsequently attempts to flee to Boston, hoping to escapes his troubles at home, but he is soon picked up and returned home. Nevertheless, this little trip reveals that Jody has suddenly matured into a young man who is capable of assuming his father’s responsibilities. At the conclusion, Jody is now no longer a “yearling” because he has learned to face his own problems –the parallels drawn between the death of Flag and the loss of Jody’s youth and innocence are made starkly apparent. While intended to be a “coming of age” tale in the vein of later young adult novels like Where The Red Fern Grows , Old Yeller , or Hatchet , I must admit The Yearling is a bit of a slog to get through. I would not soon recommend this novel to fellow travelers, save only for the most committed mountaineers of the Pulitzer Prize-winners.

Despite being a well-celebrated novel, I found The Yearling to be a drab and dreary read. Rawlings is to be praised for her bucolic portrait of a region and a lifestyle rarely highlighted, but the plot, structure, and characters in The Yearling I found to be sorely lacking. There is almost nothing at stake throughout the novel, and the few remarkable plot-points are concentrated at the beginning and end of the book. I tend to agree with W.J. Stuckey when he says that “Although The Yearling does not drop to the level of such prize winners as The Able McLaughlins and Lamb in His Bosom, it is nevertheless too slight and sentimental to merit serious attention.”

Notable Quotations:

“He was addled with April. He was dizzy with Spring. He was as drunk as Lem Forrester on a Saturday night. His head was swimming with the strong brew made up of the sun and the air and the thin gray rain” (17).

“In a late afternoon toward the end of August, Jody went with the fawn to the sink-hole for fresh water for supper. The road was bright with flowers. The sumac was in bloom, and the colic root sent up tall stalks of white or orange orchid-like flowers. The French mulberries were beginning to ripen on slim stems. They were lavender in color, close-clustered, like snails’ eggs along lily stalks. Butterflies sat on the first purple buds of the fragrant deer-tongue, opening and closing their wings slowly, as though waiting for the buds to open and the nectar to be revealed. The covey call of quail sounded again…” (259 -this quotation is representative of many beautiful scene-setting passages in The Yearling ).

“He found himself listening for something. It was the sound of the yearling for which he listened, running around the house or stirring on his moss pallet in the corner of the bedroom. He would never hear him again… Flag – he did not believe he should ever again love anything, man or woman or his own child, as he had loved the yearling. He would be lonely all his life… In the beginning of his sleep, he cried out, ‘Flag!’ It was not his own voice that called. It was a boy’s voice. Somewhere beyond the sink-hole, past the magnolia, under the live-oaks, a boy and a yearling ran side by side, and were gone forever” (509 -closing lines).

About The 1939 Pulitzer Prize Decision

The 1939 Novel Jury was composed of three returning members: Joseph W. Krutch (Chair), Jefferson B. Fletcher, and Robert M. Lovett. As with Gone With The Wind , the jury again selected a bestseller for the Pulitzer Prize by honoring The Yearling . According to John Hohenberg, this selection made the critics grumble but it pleased the Pulitzer Board.

• Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970) was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and studied at the University of Tennessee and Columbia University. After serving in the army, he traveled throughout Europe with a friend, poet and critic Mark Van Doren. He taught composition at Brooklyn Polytechnic and became a theater critic at The Nation where he worked for many years. Something of a pantheist, mystic, and naturalist –he penned widely read biographies of Henry David Thoreau and Samuel Johnson.
• Jefferson Butler Fletcher (1865-1946) was born in Chicago, served in the American Field Ambulance Services during World War I, and was educated at Harvard and Bowdoin College. He was a long-serving professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University (from 1904-1939) and was considered a foremost expert on the Italian Renaissance and Dante. In his obituary in  The New York Times , it was noted that he served on the Pulitzer Novel Jury for “several years.” Sadly, his son died in an automobile accident in 1926, Fletcher also had a daughter.
• Robert Morss Lovett (1870-1956) was a Bostonian who studied at Harvard. He taught literature at the University of Chicago for many years, he was associate editor of  The New Republic , served as governor secretary of the Virgin Islands, and was a political activist –he was accused of being a communist by the Dies Committee which forced him out of his secretary position. He was often on the frontlines of left-leaning picket lines, and helped launch the careers of several young writers, including John Dos Passos. In later years, his wife became a close friend and associate of Jane Addams and the couple lived at Hull House for a spell.

Despite some grumblings about the jury’s top selection this year, several other novels were considered for the prize, including All This and Heaven Too by Rachel Field, the story of a French governess who scandalously falls in love with her employer prior to the French Revolution of 1848; Black is My True Love’s Hair by Elizabeth Madox Roberts, the tale of a shamed woman as she returns to her home village; May Flavin by Myron Brinig, which conveys the life and times of a struggling Irish girl brought up in Chicago who grows and raises a family of her own in New York; and Renown by Frank O. Hough, a fictionalized account of Benedict Arnold during the American Revolutionary War.

Who Is Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings?

Born Marjorie Kinnan (1896-1953), Marjorie grew up in Washington DC before attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In college she met Charles Rawlings and they were married soon after. In their early years together the couple moved frequently from Kentucky to New York (however in her later years Marjorie had come to despise all things urban).

In 1928, Rawlings received an inheritance from her mother and purchased a 72-acre orange grove on Cross Creek near Hawthorne, Florida. Here, she began writing. She acquired a literary agent, Max Perkins of Scribner’s (the same agent as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald). Her stories mainly focused on the lives of neighbors and acquaintances in the surrounding impoverished, rural region of north-central Florida (south of Gainesville). Unfortunately, some of her neighbors were displeased with their portrayal in her books and she was later sued for libel, much to her private dismay.

Rawlings’ first success was a novel called South Moon Under in 1933 which was considered for the Pulitzer Prize, but her magnum opus was The Yearling in 1938. It was selected as a national Book of the Month, it was later distributed to soldiers during World War II, it became the best-selling novel of 1938, it won of the Pulitzer Prize, and was even made into a movie when MGM acquired the rights for a film. Starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, Hollywood’s interpretation of The Yearling was released in 1946 ( click here to read my review of the film ). During her lifetime, Rawlings also published numerous short stories (including an O. Henry Award-winner), as well as a semi-fictional memoir, and a children’s book called The Secret River which was published posthumously and won the Newbury Medal.

Despite all of her success, Rawlings’s marriage was collapsing. Charles despised the rural life in Florida and their relationship grew apart until he finally field for divorce. Rawlings now found herself isolated from her husband as well as her neighbors. In addition to anger over unflattering portrayals in her books, she was also resented by her neighbors for presumed open-minded racial tolerance. Rawlings once invited Zora Neal Hurston to visit her home, and rather than force Hurston to spend the night in a tenant or workman’s house, Rawlings welcomed her into a private residence. These controversies engendered tensions which were most unfortunate and eventually culminated in Rawlings moving away.

In time, Rawings moved to a beach house near St. Augustine, Florida where she was remarried, this time to Norton Baskin, a hotelier. They renovated and managed an old hotel together. Rawlings continued to write until she died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1953. Most of her property was donated to the University of Florida where she taught creative writing. A dormitory on the campus and an elementary school are named in her honor. Today, her orange grove and farmhouse are maintained as an historic state park in central Florida.

Film Adaptation :

• Director: Clarence Brown
• Starring: Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, Claude Jarman Jr.

Literary Context in 1938-1939:

• Nobel Prize for Literature (1939): awarded to Finnish novel Frans Eemil Sillanpää “for his deep understanding of his country’s peasantry and the exquisite art with which he has portrayed their way of life and their relationship with Nature.”
• Per Publishers Weekly , the top bestselling novel in 1938 was The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Other notable books on the bestseller list that year included: The Citadel by A. J. Cronin, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts, All This, and Heaven Too by Rachel Field, and The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield.
• The John Dos Passos U.S.A. trilogy was published, containing his novels The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936).
• Samuel Beckett was stabbed in the chest in Paris and nearly killed. His first completed novel Murphy was published in London.
• The first live drama adaptation in Orson Welles’s The Mercury Theatre on the Air series was broadcast: Bram Stoker’s Dracula .
• Muslims protested in London against passages they see as disrespectful to their religion in H. G. Wells’s A Short History of the World (1922).
• Orson Welles’s notorious radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (with script by Howard Koch) was broadcast in The Mercury Theatre on the Air series.
• Jorge Luis Borges was injured in an accident and develops blood poisoning. While recovering the following year he wrote the first short story that would come to identify his later characteristic style.
• Agatha Christie published a couple novels: Hercule Poirot’s Christmas and Appointment with Death.
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was published.
• The Unvanquished by William Faulkner was published.
• All This and Heaven Too by Rachel Field was published.
• Brighton Rock by Graham Greene was published.
• Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis was published.
• Anthem by Ayn Rand was published.
• Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre was published.
• The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White was published.
• Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell was published.
• Our Town by Thornton Wilder was published.

My Assessment:

As spelled out above, I didn’t really care for The Yearling . Instead it would have been a nice acknowledgment for the Pulitzer Prize to honor another novel, perhaps even John Dos Passos’s entire U.S.A. Trilogy, which was tragically overlooked by the Pulitzer Prizes.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. The Yearling . New York, Aladdin Classics (Simon & Schuster), 2001 (1938).

Click here to return to my survey of the Pulitzer Prize Winners.

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2 thoughts on “ 1939 pulitzer prize review: the yearling by marjorie kinnan rawlings ”.

I revisited this book after reading it in my early teens. My favorite part that resonated with me was the protagonists attachment to nature as amplified by his attachment to Flag. The rest of the book was interesting and struck me as the inevitable pull of reality to shape our lives as we age, and that we are forced to leave behind the idyllic aspects of childhood.

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Wonderful reflections –I would definitely like to give The Yearling another shot someday. Thanks for stopping by!

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The Yearling

54 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

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Chapters 11-17

Chapters 18-25

Chapters 26-33

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Summary and Study Guide

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings published The Yearling in 1938 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1939. Maxwell Perkins, who also worked with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, edited the novel. The Yearling traces one year in the life of Jody Baxter , chronicling his family’s hardships as they endure floods, plague, and death—and Jody’s tender relationship with an orphaned fawn. The novel became a bestseller in 1938 and has since been translated into 29 languages. In 1949, MGM adapted the novel into a feature-length film starring Gregory Peck as Penny; in 1965, the novel was adapted into a Broadway musical; and in 1994, RHI adapted the novel into a made-for-television movie on CBS.

This guide is based on the Namaskar Books 2022 ebook edition.

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Content Warning : The Yearling includes the hunting and mistreatment of animals. There are also mentions and an instance of child death. The author is also known for her usage of racial slurs, which are not replicated in this guide.

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Penny, Ora, and Jody Baxter live in a remote area of northern Florida they call Baxter’s Island in the 1870s, and barely produce enough food to feed themselves. Penny and Ora buried six children before Jody was born, and though Jody’s mother Ora remains distant, Penny treasures his son and spends his days teaching him how to hunt and survive off the land. Despite his close relationship with his father, Jody is lonely and longs for a pet, but his mother won’t allow it; Penny doesn’t go against his wife’s iron-clad rule, denying Jody every time he tries to bring home an animal.

The Baxters’ nearest neighbors, the Forresters , have six large sons and one small boy called Fodder-wing who walks with a cane. Fodder-wing’s menagerie of wild pets enamors Jody, and though his mother despises the Forresters, Jody enjoys spending time with his friend. After Penny and Jody unsuccessfully hunt the legendary bear Old Slewfoot, who mercilessly kills livestock, they walk to the Forresters to trade an inept hunting dog for a new rifle. With his new gun, Penny shoots a deer, and he and Jody travel to the nearest town, Volusia, to trade meat and visit Grandma Hutto. Though Grandma Hutto isn’t a blood relation, she housed and cared for Jody and Ora while Penny was away fighting in the Civil War; she adores the Baxter men, but she and Ora don’t get along. Grandma Hutto’s son Oliver, whom Jody idolizes, is a seaman; he returns home for a visit and brings gifts for Penny, Jody, and his mother. Oliver is in love with a girl named Twink, but Lem Forrester has also made a claim on her. The next day, Lem and two of his brothers fight with Oliver and Penny, and Jody must intervene to keep Oliver from getting killed. Penny is proud of his son’s courage, but Jody never looks at Oliver the same way again.

Lem steals the Baxters’ pigs in retribution for the fight, and on the way to retrieve them, Penny is bitten by a rattlesnake. He kills a doe and uses her liver to draw out the poison, but the doe has a fawn, and Jody is heartbroken to leave it behind. Buck and Mill-wheel Forrester bring Penny home, and Buck stays to help the family while Penny recovers. Mill-wheel takes Jody to find the orphaned deer to bring home as a pet. Fodder-wing becomes ill and dies before he can meet the fawn, but Ora says Fodder-wing suggested the name Flag for it. Penny and Jody help bury Fodder-wing and return home. Soon, a storm brings eight days of torrential rain, flooding the land and ruining the Baxters’ crops. The wild animals are afflicted with a plague from drinking tainted flood water. Accompanied by the Forresters, Penny and Jody ride out to survey the damage and hunt for big game. They kill bears and take the cubs alive to sell at a market, earning the Baxters enough money to buy supplies and Christmas gifts. With the shortage of game, wolves begin attacking the homesteads looking for food; the Forresters use poison to kill most of the wolf pack. Meanwhile, Jody worries for the safety of Flag, who is growing bigger and could draw in potential predators.

Christmas is near, and the Baxters plan to attend church festivities in Volusia with Grandma Hutto. Old Slewfoot survived the plague and kills the Baxters’ new calf, so Penny and Jody set out to hunt the bear. After two days, they finally kill the bear and enlist the Forresters to help transport the carcass back to their cabin. Buck wears the bearskin to the Christmas party and scares the attendees. Word arrives that Oliver has returned to town, and the Forresters mysteriously disappear. When Grandma Hutto races home to find Oliver, her house is on fire. Everyone knows the Forresters are to blame, but Grandma Hutto takes responsibility to prevent Oliver from fighting Lem again. Oliver and Twink are married, and they move to Boston with Grandma Hutto.

As spring approaches, Penny plans to plant supplemental crops to make extra money—but as Flag grows, he becomes wilder and tears up the shoots. Penny’s health declines, as his arthritis flares and he injures his groin while working in the field. Jody builds a fence around the fields and helps replant corn, but Flag persists, and Penny tells Jody that he must shoot the deer to preserve their livelihood. Jody runs into the woods with Flag and refuses to comply. He tries to enlist the Forresters’ help, but they’re gone until April. Flag destroys more crops and Ora shoots him, wounding his leg; Jody must chase him to put him down. Cursing his family, Jody runs away and tries to paddle a canoe to Jacksonville, but collapses from hunger and exhaustion and must be rescued by a mail boat. Broken, Jody returns home, begs for his father’s forgiveness, and goes to bed grieving his deer. 

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Photos: Yearling mountain lions rescued from dam’s spillway

DENVER ( KDVR ) — Two yearling mountain lions were saved from drowning on Friday at Vallecito Reservoir in Colorado, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Southwest Regional office.

The agency said Mike Canterbury, the dam tender with Pine River Irrigation District, was going to release water from the reservoir down the spillway when he saw two young mountain lions trapped by the spillway’s high walls.

Canterbury called CPW and Wildlife Officer Ty Smith responded . Smith discussed options with Canterbury and irrigation district Superintendent Ken Beck, and the district allowed CPW onto the hydroelectric plant property to try and rescue the lions.

Smith said he was not sure if he would have to sedate the mountain lions through a dart, or if they would come out another way. The wildlife officer was given a rope, which he dangled in front of the kittens for them to grab onto, allowing him to lift one out.

Massive alligator blocks plane at Air Force base in Florida, fights with wildlife officers

That first mountain lion held onto the rope until it reached the top of the spillway barrier, where it ran off into the woods. However, the second lion ran down the spillway to where the Los Pinos River continues below the dam.

“Unwilling to swim to reach the bank, the young lion continued to pace around at the water’s edge and moved into a corner of the spillway,” CPW said on social platform X .

According to CPW, Smith wanted to avoid darting the feline, so he climbed down onto the spillway with the rope, “hoping to find a way to free the lion.” Like most cats, it was interested in the rope, and other CPW staff used a catch pole to lift the lion over the concrete wall and release it.

World-record coyote turns out to be protected species

That was not the end of the ordeal: Instead of running into the woods, the kitten hid under a truck for a few minutes before deciding to follow its sibling into the woods.

“We thank Beck and Canterbury for delaying the dam release and reporting this to give CPW a chance to rescue them,” CPW said in its social posts.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News.

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Starring Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny as photojournalists, alongside Wagner Moura and Stephen McKinley Henderson (and a scene-stealing, nerve-racking Jesse Plemons ), the film carries a reported production budget of $50 million and has already started to recoup the costs at the box office, earning $25.7 million in ticket sales in its first weekend in North America.

“Civil War” has also been a discourse juggernaut. Conversation on social media has focused on the lack of context given for the conflict at the heart of the film. In a recent column, The Times’ Mary McNamara wrote that “forcing the very real political divisions that plague this nation into vague subtext doesn’t even serve the purported pro-journalism nature of ‘Civil War.’”

Catch up on our coverage of the film below.

Review: ‘Civil War’ shows an America long past unraveling, which makes it necessary

Starring Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny as journalists chronicling a war at home, writer-director Alex Garland’s action film provokes a shudder of recognition.

April 11, 2024

Kirsten Dunst and Cailee Spaeny on the nightmarish ‘Civil War’: ‘No nation is immune’

Writer-director Alex Garland’s controversy-courting political fable about a violently divided America brings together two generation-defining actors.

April 4, 2024

What ‘Civil War’ gets right and wrong about photojournalism, according to a Pulitzer Prize winner

Carolyn Cole, a veteran L.A. Times photographer who won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of civil war in Liberia, breaks down the depiction of her profession in A24’s ‘Civil War.’

April 16, 2024

Inside the most unnerving scene in ‘Civil War’: ‘It was a stunning bit of good luck’

With a deeply disturbing turn by Jesse Plemons, one scene in “Civil War” encapsulates the film’s combustible political balancing act. It almost didn’t happen.

April 12, 2024

In trying to hedge its politics, ‘Civil War’ betrays its characters — and the audience

Alex Garland’s powerful war drama is ostensibly a tribute to the fourth estate. But the film is absent the examination of causes and consequences central to great journalism.

April 15, 2024

Company Town

After ‘Civil War’ and mainstream success, can indie darling A24 keep its cool?

‘Civil War’s’ overperformance at the box office proves that A24’s brand is strong enough to open a divisive $50-million about a dystopian America.

Entertainment & Arts

‘Civil War’ unites moviegoers at box office

Alex Garland’s ‘Civil War,’ about a strife-torn, near-future America, knocked ‘Godzilla x Kong’ from the top spot at the weekend box office.

April 14, 2024

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Review: Zendaya's 'Challengers' serves up saucy melodrama – and some hot tennis, too

The saucy tennis melodrama “Challengers” is all about the emotional games we play with each other, though there are certainly enough volleys, balls and close-up sweat globules if you’re more into jockstraps than metaphors.

Italian director Luca Guadagnino ( “Call Me By Your Name” ) puts an art-house topspin on the sports movie, with fierce competition, even fiercer personalities and athletic chutzpah set to the thumping beats of a techno-rific Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross score. “Challengers” (★★★ out of four; rated R; in theaters Friday) centers on the love triangle between doubles partners-turned-rivals (Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor) and a teen wunderkind ( Zendaya ) and how lust, ambition and power dynamics evolve their relationships over the course of 13 years.

The movie opens with Art (Faist) and Tashi (Zendaya) as the It couple of pro tennis: He’s eyeing a U.S. Open title, the only tournament he’s never won, while she’s his intense coach, manager and wife, a former sensation along the lines of a Venus or Serena whose career was cut short by a gnarly knee injury. To build up his flagging confidence after recent losses, Tashi enters Art in a lower-level event that he can dominate – until he faces ex-bestie Patrick (O’Connor) in the final match.

Justin Kuritzkes’ soapy screenplay bounces between that present and the trios’ complicated past via flashbacks, starting when Art and Patrick – a ride-or-die duo known as “Fire and Ice” – both have eyes for Tashi. All three are 18 and the hormones are humming: The boys have been tight since they were preteens at boarding school, but a late-night, three-way makeout session, and the fact that she’ll only give her number to whoever wins the guys' singles match, creates a seismic crack that plays itself out over the coming years.

All three main actors ace their arcs and changing looks over time – that’s key in a nonlinear film like this that’s all over the place. As Tashi, Zendaya plays a woman who exudes an unshakable confidence, though her passion for these two men is seemingly her one weakness. Faist (“West Side Story”) crafts Art as a talented precision player whose love for the game might not be what it once was, while O’Connor (“The Crown”) gives Patrick a charming swagger with and without a racket, even though his life has turned into a bit of a disaster.

From the start, the men's closeness hints at something more than friendship, a quasi-sexual tension that Tashi enjoys playing with: She jokes that she doesn’t want to be a “homewrecker” yet wears a devilish smile when Art and Patrick kiss, knowing the mess she’s making.

Tennis is “a relationship,” Tashi informs them, and Guadagnino uses the sport to create moments of argumentative conversation as well as cathartic release. Propelled by thumping electronica, his tennis scenes mix brutality and grace, with stylish super-duper close-ups and even showing the ball’s point of view in one dizzying sequence. Would he do the same with, say, curling or golf? It’d be cool to see because more often than not, you want to get back to the sweaty spectacle.

Guadagnino could probably make a whole movie about masculine vulnerability in athletics rather than just tease it with “Challengers,” with revealing bits set in locker rooms and saunas. But the movie already struggles with narrative momentum, given the many tangents in Tashi, Art and Patrick’s thorny connections: While not exactly flabby, the film clocks in at 131 minutes and the script could use the same toning up as its sinewy performers.

While “Challengers” falls nebulously somewhere between a coming-of-age flick, dysfunctional relationship drama and snazzy sports extravaganza, Guadagnino nevertheless holds serve with yet another engaging, hot-blooded tale of flawed humans figuring out their feelings.

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Movie Review: The colossal melancholy of Ceylan’s ‘About Dry Grasses’

This image released by Janus and Sideshow Films shows a scene from “About Dry Grasses.” (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP)

This image released by Janus and Sideshow Films shows, from left, Merve Dizdarin, Deniz Celiloğlu and Musab Ekici in a scene from “About Dry Grasses.” (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP)

This image released by Janus and Sideshow Films shows Deniz Celiloğlu, left, and Musab Ekici in a scene from “About Dry Grasses.” (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP)

This image released by Janus and Sideshow Films shows Merve Dizdarin, left, and Deniz Celiloğlu, left, and Musab Ekici in a scene from “About Dry Grasses.” (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP)

This image released by Janus and Sideshow Films shows Merve Dizdarin a scene from “About Dry Grasses.” (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP)

This image released by Janus and Sideshow Films shows, from left, Deniz Celiloğlu, Musab Ekici and Merve Dizdar in a scene from “About Dry Grasses.” (Sideshow and Janus Films via AP)

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Nuri Bilge Ceylan makes long films , by movie standards, but short ones by Russian literature standards.

There may be no filmmaker more consciously working in a novelistic tradition. The Turkish director counts reading “Crime and Punishment” as a formative experience. His Palme d’Or-winning 2014 film “Winter Sleep” adapted a pair of Chekhov short stories. But regardless of any direct correlations, Ceylan’s films — colossal, existential, talky — reach for (and often attain) an enveloping vastness that recalls those big 19th century books. He sets thorny stories peppered with prickly philosophical questions against expansive landscapes. His films don’t burrow into you, you burrow into them.

Ceylan’s latest, “About Dry Grasses,” bears a name that — like his “The Wild Pear Tree” or “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” — would do well as a parody arthouse title. The opening — in which a dark figure, seen from afar, steps off a bus onto a snow-blanketed plain on the Eastern Anatolian steppes — is likewise not hiding its tone of solemnity.

Our solitary man is Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu), who, like Paul Giamatti’s protagonist in “The Holdovers,” is a snobbish, misanthropic educator in a malcontented winter. Countless movies like “The Holdovers” have conditioned us to feel an automatic sympathy for such teacher characters, but doubts steadily accrue about Samet.

He’s not especially friendly with his colleague and roommate Kenan (Musab Eki̇ci̇). When he’s reluctantly set up for tea with a fellow teacher, Nuray (an exceptional Merve Dizdar, winner of best actress at Cannes ), from a nearby village, he mostly moans about the backwardness of their rural region. His four-year term is nearly up, and he says he’s bound for Istanbul. At school, Samet styles himself as a less rule-bound teacher, looking down on some of his colleagues. But he’s no inspiring leader to his young students, either. “None of you will become artists,” he says in one rant.

Later, Samet will ask: “Does everyone have to be a hero?” He, certainly, is more of the anti-hero variety, but he’s also one of the most complicated main characters I’ve seen in years. He’s quite bitter, particularly after the student he has the warmest relationship with — Sevim (Ece Bağci) — accuses him of inappropriate behavior. She does it as a way to get back at him for concealing a love letter she wrote that was confiscated. He appears to be innocent, but there’s also something unmistakably intimate about their interactions. He gives her discrete gifts and and purposefully leaves the door open when she visits his office.

Samet is investigated for not “respecting distance” with Sevin and her classmates, a somewhat ironic charge given that Samet, a sour pessimist, seems to be keeping himself at a distance to most everything. “About Dry Grasses” tracks the investigation of Samet, yet it hinges more on his relationship with Nuray.

She bears a limp, a result of a suicide bombing during a protest in Ankara. In the film’s centerpiece scene, they spar over dinner in an extended dialogue about politics. She has fight and spirit still in her, and believes in the benefits of community. Samet is more hopeless and jaded, a quality that attracts Nuray, almost against her wishes. Not because she agrees with Samet but because she fears, maybe, that he’s right.

Ceylan has a knack for prolonging such debates in his films past their natural end point, turning the exchanges into something that can feel too dryly essayist. But it also may be his nature to bring a film to the very brink of philosophical quandary. In “About Dry Grasses,” he goes a step further with a fourth-wall flourish at the height of Samet and Nuray’s conversation. Why, at this point, does Ceylan insert a stark reminder that this is a movie? Is it his own Samet-like withdraw or a sudden flash of candid revelation?

Either way, it goes to the heart of Ceylan as a filmmaker. Far from just a bookish movie director, he has adopted many of cinematic modes of his heroes, Tarkovsky and Bergman, and translated them into his own unique and still evolving vernacular. As much as Russian literature may be a foundation for him, his movies are richly of Turkey. There are aspects of “About Dry Grasses” — the ID-checking police, the sexist bureaucrats in the school system — that place the Samet-Nuray dichotomy in a social context that has surely shaped them.

There’s a profound, unresolvable melancholy to “About Dry Grasses” that’s hard to shake. It’s not just that Nuray is better than Samet — though she certainly is. It’s the sad tragic quality to Samet. He takes photographic portraits that appear at moments in the film. Ceylan, too, was a still photographer. It’s hard to wonder — especially in thinking about that metafiction moment — how much he identifies with Sevim. But I wouldn’t trust any one reading of “About Dry Grasses,” even my own. It contains too many multitudes for that.

“About Dry Grasses,” a Janus Films release, is not rated PG by the Motion Picture Association. In Turkish with English subtitles. Running time: 197 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

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Abigail review – Dracula’s daughter gets kidnapped in fun-sucking horror

There’s some low-stakes pleasure to be had in the first half of the gory new film from the team behind Ready or Not and Scream but things fall apart disastrously

L ast year’s handsome gothic horror The Last Voyage of the Demeter and bombastic Nic Cage comedy Renfield allowed Universal the opportunity to present known IP as something fresh, at least on the surface, stories involving Dracula but told in ways we hadn’t seen before. They represented a nifty marketing strategy for a back catalogue of classic monster movies but both worked better as loglines than finished films – Dracula on a boat, Dracula as a bad boss – and audiences proved as uninterested as critics, the stench of old property distracting from the promise of something new.

As the studio preps a new take on The Wolf Man with next year’s Christopher Abbott-led Wolfman and Robert Eggers’ remake of the Dracula-inspired Nosferatu, here comes Abigail, a poppy reimagining of the little-remembered 1936 horror Dracula’s Daughter. In the contemporary take, she’s a ballerina (Matilda’s Alisha Weir) who gets kidnapped by a group of unaware criminals, hired to keep her locked in a grand old house for 24 hours while ransom money is obtained. But early on, recovering addict and single mother Joey (Melissa Barrera) figures out that something is up and starts to realise that the scared little girl in their care might not be so scared after all.

Abigail comes from Radio Silence, the team who broke out with 2019’s smug yet successful Ready or Not , a gimmicky thriller about a new bride forced to play a deadly game of hide and seek that started with real fizz before turning flat. There’s a similarly precipitous dip here, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett again crafting a fun conceit with returning writer Guy Busick (here writing alongside Stephen Shields), but without the follow-through. It has the same arch comedy-horror tone, as gory as it is goofy, but it’s missing the touch of a real comedy writer (making it the second film this year after Godzilla x Kong where Dan Stevens has to play comic support without the support of his screenwriter). Set-ups for jokes are left as just that and our wait for any form of payoff starts to mirror the plot at large, our wait for a premise to become a real movie proving similarly endless.

What’s frustrating is that, like Ready or Not, it’s directed with more flair and menace than the majority of studio horror released at this time – grand and sleek and, glory of glories, well-lit (!). It’s also set in the kind of sinister remote mansion that recalls an Agatha Christie whodunnit, something the film references with a copy of And Then There Were None, cluing us into another source of inspiration. But as a mystery, the film is a cop-out, guiding us to a big reveal that never really arrives (we’re left with a cascade of “so whats”) and instead, we’re offered the distraction of gore, as if another exploding body might help us to forget that we’re on a long road to nowhere (the runtime is a bloated 109 minutes).

Barrera, who also starred in the same team’s two recent Scream films, is an appealingly earthy heroine, even if she’s cursed with illogical decision-making and, by the end, some discordantly sappy dialogue. Kathryn Newton, who recently suffered through Lisa Frankenstein , is ever-likable (the tone of her sadly underseen 2020 comedy slasher Freaky is something the makers of Abigail should have looked toward) and as the evil child at its centre, Irish actor Weir is a total marvel, a convincingly ferocious and sour little monster even if she’s a little defanged during a messy and maudlin finale which dares to give us important parenting lessons from a vampiric demon.

As the plotting falls apart and the wheels truly come off, there’s nothing that strong direction and a work-hard cast can do to keep Abigail from sucking. There’s a lot of blood here but very little else.

Abigail is out in US and UK cinemas on 19 April

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• Jul 23, 2005
• April 24, 1994 (United States)
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Do You Know These Films Based on Great Biographies?

By J. D. Biersdorfer April 22, 2024

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Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about literature that has gone on to find new life in the form of movies, television shows, theatrical productions and other formats. This week’s quiz highlights films that were adapted from the biographies or autobiographies of their notable subjects.

Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their screen adaptations.

“Oppenheimer,” a film about the man who was instrumental in developing the first nuclear weapons for the United States, won seven Academy Awards earlier this year. The film’s screenplay was adapted from a 2005 biography by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. What was the main title of the book?

“American Prometheus”

“Burning the Sky”

“A Wing and a Prayer”

The 1972 film “Lady Sings the Blues” was loosely based on which singer’s 1956 autobiography?

Ella Fitzgerald

Bessie Smith

Billie Holiday

Mildred Bailey

“Alan Turing: The Enigma” is Andrew Hodges’ 1983 biography of the gay British mathematician who helped the Allies decipher encrypted Nazi messages during World War II, but was later punished for his sexuality. What was the name of the 2014 film based on the book?

“The Turing Test”

“The Code Breaker”

“The Imitation Game”

“Julie & Julia” is a 2009 film about the chef Julia Child and the blogger Julie Powell, who tried to make all the recipes from one of Child’s cookbooks years later. The screenplay was based on two different books, Powell’s 2005 memoir about the project (and source of the movie’s name) and Julia Child’s posthumously published 2006 autobiography. What was that book’s title?

“Blood, Bones and Butter”

“My Life in France”

“Kitchen Confidential”

“A Year in Provence”

After reading Louis Fischer’s 1950 biography of this global figure, the film director Richard Attenborough spent years trying to make a film about that person’s life. The picture was finally released in 1982 and won eight Academy Awards. Who was the subject of the movie?

Harriet Tubman

J. Edgar Hoover

Mahatma Gandhi

Frida Kahlo

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