Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

I was first drawn to this movie because it draws heavily on Swedish immigrant culture in the mid-1900s. My family was a Swedish farm family and there was a comfortable familiarity about the movie. It's also a sentimental movie, but not in a saccharine way. The cadence is very slow and deliberate, like old Laurel and Hardys, or Thin Red Line. But because of this it makes you settle in and think about all the things that are happening to this family and their community. The sweetness is cut by ordinary tragedies, though these could have been better developed. The movie celebrates family values, but not in a harping rhetorical sense. This is about family members who truly love each other, and stay open to and embrace changes from both outside and within. I was touched by this movie, and found it to be healing of my ideas regarding family. Excellent performances by Moorhead, Robinson and O'Brien.

MARGARET O'BRIEN was at the top of her child star career when OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES opened at Radio City Music Hall to appreciative audiences. You have to wonder how a film with a tale as simple as this would fare with today's audiences. Unexpected casting of EDWARD G. ROBINSON and AGNES MOOREHEAD as a Norwegian farming couple in Wisconsin pays dividends. They're both excellent throughout, never allowing the sentimental aspects of the story to become too cloying. Margaret and little BUTCH JENKINS, the freckle-faced kid from THE HUMAN COMEDY, are excellent as the kids experiencing the joys and perils of growing up on a lonely farm. For added romantic interest, there's JAMES CRAIG, MGM's dependable and pleasing male personality resembling the studio's own Clark Gable, and FRANCES GIFFORD as a schoolteacher tired of her provincial life in the country. Not everyone will like this sort of family film, but fans of EDWARD G. ROBINSON should certainly check this one out.

This is one of those rare films that looks frankly at the more tender and noble human emotions, such as self-sacrifice, generosity, parental love, and more, and leaves the viewer feeling fuller and more validated as a human being. Yes, it may sound corny in today's glitzy surface-obsessed world, but we who remember the simpler days love this film. Edward G. is fantastic as the understanding caring father, Margaret is excellent and thoroughly believable as always, and Butch does a fantastic job. His role is written as a perfect compliment to MArgfaret's, as he observes everything from a male perspective and always wants to know why things work, while Margaret only wants to know that everything is working okay with the world. Agnes gets to portray a soft and loving mother as opposed to nasty shrews she usually plays. My favorite Moorehead and Robinson roles, both in one movie.

This movie does seem a bit saccharine in parts but because it was so well-crafted and the acting was so good, this can be easily forgiven. This is a sweet story of a nice farm family as seen through the eyes of their young daughter (Margaret O'Brien) and her little playmate (Butch Jenkins). O'Brien did a marvelous job (not an over-the-top performance like she had done in a few of her earlier movies) but Butch Jenkins was not exactly the brightest star on the stage. In the 1940s, MGM tried VERY hard to make Jenkins the next child star and he was marketed strongly. The only problem was that he couldn't act very well and he seemed like, at best, not the most attractive child on the screen. Despite this, the movie still is carried off quite well. Edward G. Robinson plays the patriarch of the family and proves that his acting range was far superior to what is commonly assumed. No sign of Little Caesar in this performance! Instead, he is gentle, caring and above all, decent.

Edward G. Robinson,(Martinius Jacobson),"The Sea Wolf",'41, showed to the American public that he could perform in any role. It was hard for me to believe that Edward G. could play such a role with child actress, Margaret O'Brien (Selma), where they were both able to present a very warm and sweet loving relationship in the farm country of Wisconsin. (There Swedish accents were fantastic!) Agnes Moorehead (Bruna Jacobson),"Dragon Seed", '44 gave a great supporting role and was a great dramatic classic actress through out her entire acting career and also a very enjoyable role in "BEWITCHED" TV Series. It is great that the US Government put EDWARD G. on a POSTAGE STAMP, he deserved it!