I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Giving perhaps his greatest performance, veteran character actor Edward Arnold plays a bombastic owner of a logging camp who eventually becomes the powerful head of a huge lumber company. Along side him throughout his journey is the noble Walter Brennan, a Swedish immigrant who married the lovely barmaid Frances Farmer after Arnold married a stuffy society matron. Years go by and the now widowed Brennan introduced his softer daughter (also Farmer) to Arnold, leading to a romance between Arnold's son (Joel McCrea) and the young Farmer."Yumpin' Yimminy!" are the repetitive words which won Brennan the first ever Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Actually, it is more than just that, but if I were to play a drinking game every time he said it, I would be Schbockered pretty fast. Unlike the annoying El Brendel, Brennan is much note tolerable and less stereotypical. Farmer is terrific in the opening sequence, but her second character is not as interesting, a standard movie heroine who is rather bland. The song that re-appears through the film does indeed have the same music as the Elvis Presley hit "Love Me Tender" with old-fashioned style lyrics. For me, the highlight is the logging sequence at the very beginning, although it is sad to see all those trees chopped down. A bar brawl turns comical due to the addition of frisbee like trays.Among the supporting cast are Mary Nash ad Arnold's cold-hearted wife, Andrea Leeds as Arnold's lovely daughter, Mady Christians as the younger Farmer's companion, and the always fun Cecil Cunningham as Arnold's acerbic secretary. Arnold is likable in spite of his patriarchal personality, repeating the movie title over and over with such passion, even when he is sad.

No need to repeat the plot. Fortunately Arnold delivers a rousing performance. His big personality as the lumber tycoon helps distract from certain paunchy shortcomings as a screen lover. Seeing him in passion clinches with a nubile young Farmer takes some getting used to. Happily, Farmer also shines, especially in the saloon girl part, before giving way to a more routine turn as the daughter.According to film historian David Thomson, Farmer's performance was affected by Hawks' replacement by Wyler as director. Apparently, she and Hawks were more than sympatico off the set. So, Thomson's account goes, Hawks brought on writer Furthman to slant the film towards his beauteous blonde, thus causing novelist Ferber to complain to head honcho Goldwyn, resulting in Hawks' departure and a feud between Farmer and Wyler. I mention these behind-the-scenes shenanigans to maybe account for some of the plot's half-digested elements and Farmer's noticeable downturn.Nonetheless, it's still a compelling movie, thanks mainly to Arnold's dominating presence that holds the various threads together. I also like the logging footage, which lends a dramatically realistic air to Glasgow's empire. Then there's Lotta's haunting rendition of "Aura Lee", which evidently Farmer herself crooned. However, I'm still trying to figure out the title that appears to have little resemblance to the storyline. But however you cut that or the purported intrigues, it's still a dynamic movie.

This is one of the best Hollywood productions of the 1930s and, in my opinion, of the 40s and 50s as well, when so many dramatic films were either overly cynical (40s) or too syrupy (50s).Superb acting by leads who are believable people and not 'pretty boys'. A fine dramatic story that has the right pacing and the right dialog, and a wholly believable ending.It is something I'd have expected from the great filmmakers of France or Italy during this period, such as Renoir, but not from Hollywood.The kind of film that gets better with each viewing and as time passes.Definitely one to look for if you have not yet seen it!

"Come and Get It!" (1936) Richard Glasgow is busy proving his worth in his father's lumber empire. That is proving difficult. Daddy's not interested in replanting and replenishing the land. He has a hard time accepting Richard's new ways and product inventions.On top of that, Father (Edward Arnold) and Richard (Joel McCrea) are vying for the love of the same young woman, Lotta (Frances Farmer). That is also proving difficult. Timber Baron Barney Glasgow loved her mother, Lotta, but he chose to marry the boss's daughter (who is still living). And that move brought him the timber company.Lotta married Barney's best friend Swan (Walter Brennan) and they had young Lotta. She's her mother's spitting image. Now son Richard is interested in Swan's daughter and she in him. They make a lovely couple. Needless to say Barney, doesn't like this arrangement. He's in love. Well, like they say, "There's no fool like an old fool." It's not a great movie but it and the cast is good and there are lessons to be learned. See it if you get a chance.