Swamp Water (1941)
Swamp Water (1941)
„Swamp Water“ is a 1941 film noir crime film directed by Jean Renoir and Irving Pichel. The screenplay by Dudley Nichols is based on the 1940 novel of the same title by Vereen Bell.
Ben Ragan and a search party comb the outskirts of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia for two lost trappers. Ben’s hound dog, Trouble, runs away. Ben does not find Trouble at home, and decides to return to the swamp, despite the protests of his stern father, Thursday Ragan.
Ben bids farewell to his sweetheart, Mabel McKenzie, then enters the dangerous swamp. After he makes camp that night, he is struck unconscious, and held prisoner by Tom Keefer, a local man who escaped from prison. Ben helps Tom tend to a snake bite. Then the pair become partners. Ben agrees to give Tom’s half of their trapping proceeds to his daughter, Julie, being reared by general store owner Marty McCord and his wife. After two weeks, Ben returns to town, sells the furs then goes home, where he quarrels with Thursday.
Ben moves into a shack on McCord’s land. He becomes better acquainted with Julie. Thursday’s beloved second wife, Hannah, is pestered by a cowardly former suitor, Jesse Wick. Hannah fears Jesse can get bullies Tim and Bud Dorson to harm Thursday. Thursday grows cold to Hannah, who he believes is being unfaithful. Ben is upset Mabel refuses to go to a dance with him. Ben instead attends with Julie, whose unkempt appearance has been transformed by a new dress. Ben is attracted to Julie, and sees the Dorson brothers stealing McCord’s pigs.
The next day, Ben accuses them of the theft, but when Mabel reveals her suspicions that Ben is trapping with Tom, the townsfolk believe that Tom is the thief and that Ben is protecting him. The Dorsons nearly drown Ben while questioning him, but Ben is rescued by Thursday. When Hannah tells Ben about her trouble with Thursday, Ben guesses that Jesse is her tormentor, confronts him, and forces him to confess to the sheriff that the Dorsons are the real killers of the deputy.
After telling Julie that he will return with her father, Ben goes to find Tom, but is followed by the Dorsons. At first, Tom believes that Ben is leading him into an ambush, but when the Dorsons try to shoot Ben, Tom leads them into quicksand, which claims Bud. Tom lets Tim go, and hesitates about returning with Ben, but Julie appears and takes him home. Hannah and Thursday reconcile, and Tom watches approvingly.
Cast:
- Walter Brennan – Tom Keefer
- Walter Huston – Thursday Ragan
- Anne Baxter – Julie
- Dana Andrews – Ben
- Virginia Gilmore – Mabel MacKenzie
- John Carradine – Jesse Wick
- Mary Howard – Hannah
- Eugene Pallette – Sheriff Jeb McKane
- Ward Bond – Tim Dorson
- Guinn „Big Boy“ Williams – Bud Dorson
- Russell Simpson – Marty McCord
- Joe Sawyer – Hardy Ragan
- Paul E. Burns – Tulle McKenzie
- Dave Morris – Barber
- Frank Austin – Fred Ulm
- Matt Willis – Miles Tonkin
- Sherman Sanders – Caller
- Red Larkin – Clem Hooper
- Charles Miller – Fiskus
- Mae Marsh – Mrs. McCord
- Edward Clark – Townsman
- Harry Evans – Townsman
- Allen D. Sewall – Townsman
- Nora Bush – Townswoman
- Glen Walters – Townswoman
- Fleeter – Trouble
- Joan Delmer – Young Girl
„In den Sümpfen“ (Swamp Water) ist ein Film Noir-Kriminalfilm aus dem Jahr 1941 unter der Regie von Jean Renoir und Irving Pichel. Das Drehbuch von Dudley Nichols basiert auf dem gleichnamigen Roman von Vereen Bell aus dem Jahr 1940.
Ben Ragan und ein Suchtrupp durchkämmen die Außenbezirke des Okefenokee-Sumpfes in Georgia nach zwei verschollenen Trappern. Bens Jagdhund Trouble läuft weg. Ben findet Trouble nicht zu Hause und beschließt, trotz der Proteste seines strengen Vaters, Thursday Ragan, in den Sumpf zurückzukehren.
Ben verabschiedet sich von seiner Geliebten Mabel McKenzie und begibt sich dann in den gefährlichen Sumpf. Nachdem er in der Nacht sein Lager aufgeschlagen hat, wird er bewusstlos geschlagen und von Tom Keefer, einem aus dem Gefängnis ausgebrochenen Einheimischen, gefangen gehalten. Ben hilft Tom bei der Behandlung eines Schlangenbisses. Dann werden die beiden Partner. Ben erklärt sich bereit, Toms Hälfte der Falleneinnahmen seiner Tochter Julie zu überlassen, die von dem Gemischtwarenladenbesitzer Marty McCord und seiner Frau aufgezogen wird. Nach zwei Wochen kehrt Ben in die Stadt zurück, verkauft die Felle und geht nach Hause, wo er sich mit Thursday streitet.