The plot of the movie was very good. I thought it was one of Karl Malden's finest performance. Malden's driven tobacco grower/businessman really captured the essence of what it means to become wealthy and stay wealthy. He was driven to understanding and controlling every aspect of his empire, and expecting total dedication and passion from his workers. I liked it when he told his new son-in-law Parrish (Troy Donahue) "no coffee breaks". In other words, you have to live for the job.
The rest of the minor acting was very good. The sons were very good as incompetent versions of their father, terrorized into doing anything to succeed for their father. The daughter was brilliant as the willfully disobedient one, but who had learned a lot about tobacco growing from classes she took. She was the one who helped Parrish to defy her father by Parrish taking over the one tobacco farm that wouldn't submit. The daughter of the tobacco farmer who hires Parrish originally is very good as someone who wants to get away from the whole dirty business in every way, but only knows how to defy through destructive behavior. Colbert is brilliant as a woman who is shrewd enough to know how to handle the ego and temper of a tobacco magnate.
The Parrish character was the most troublesome. He was good looking, and came to the Connecticut Valley with a suit. We are supposed to believe on the same day he started being an ordinary tobacco planter. Then, he seems to miraculously learn the business and be able to be an entrepreneur in a matter of months. The ending was corny. It was either out of Jack Kerouac or a Maoist propaganda film for The Great Leap Forward. We are supposed to believe he could arrive late in the planting season, and suddenly be able to find a team to plant tobacco and compete with a tobacco magnate. I don't know much about the tobacco business, but this really turned the movie into mush.
The rest of the minor acting was very good. The sons were very good as incompetent versions of their father, terrorized into doing anything to succeed for their father. The daughter was brilliant as the willfully disobedient one, but who had learned a lot about tobacco growing from classes she took. She was the one who helped Parrish to defy her father by Parrish taking over the one tobacco farm that wouldn't submit. The daughter of the tobacco farmer who hires Parrish originally is very good as someone who wants to get away from the whole dirty business in every way, but only knows how to defy through destructive behavior. Colbert is brilliant as a woman who is shrewd enough to know how to handle the ego and temper of a tobacco magnate.
The Parrish character was the most troublesome. He was good looking, and came to the Connecticut Valley with a suit. We are supposed to believe on the same day he started being an ordinary tobacco planter. Then, he seems to miraculously learn the business and be able to be an entrepreneur in a matter of months. The ending was corny. It was either out of Jack Kerouac or a Maoist propaganda film for The Great Leap Forward. We are supposed to believe he could arrive late in the planting season, and suddenly be able to find a team to plant tobacco and compete with a tobacco magnate. I don't know much about the tobacco business, but this really turned the movie into mush.