Review of DVD "The Yearling"

Review of the DVD The Yearling starring Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, and Claude Jarman, Jr.
As much of the world and our country, Hollywood is on hold due to COVID-19.  Productions have been suspended.  The summer blockbusters that normally fill our theaters and capture the interests and revenue of millions of movie goers have been postponed until later in the summer or even the fall.  Theaters themselves are still closed with no indication as to when they will be able to open to any great extent.  And so the typical movie devotee is left to OnDemand, the Redbox, or better yet…the library where DVDs are free with a Pines card.
I was surfing the TV channels and came across a real oldie (predates me and I am oooolllldddd) but goodie from 1946, The Yearling, starring Gregory Peck, Jane Wyman, and the child actor at that time, Claude Jarman, Jr.  At first,I said to myself, “Seen it,” and went on trolling from station to station.  There were other, more recent movies, but I went back to The Yearling.  There was a classic NFL game, but I went back to The Yearling.  I skimmed any number of options while I kept being drawn back to this movie of yesteryear.  Finally, I just stayed with it.  I am glad that I did.  I had forgotten just how good it was.
The story is simple.  A small pioneer family trying to eke out an existence in the Florida everglades after the Civil War.  There is the warm, congenial, and ever-optimistic Pa, Ezra (Penny) Baxter.  There is his polar opposite spouse, Ma, Ora Baxter, who is stern, cool, and distant.  And there is their only surviving child, Jody, who is fun-loving, full of energy, and wears his emotions on his sleeve.  These three battle wild animals, mother nature, cantankerous neighbors, and at times each other while trying to keep family and farm afloat.
Circumstances present themselves in which Jody befriends an orphaned fawn that is given the name Flag.Over the next many months these two yearlings, thus the name of the film, grow intensely together as companions, inseparable, but Flag presents problems for the family.  He beats down fences, tears through tobacco crop, and eventually eats their budding corn.  Ma has had enough and shoots Flag, wounding the deer.  Pa tells Jody that he must finish Flag off because the animal is suffering.  Jody complies but then runs away, overcome withanger and grief.  He is rescued by a river boat crew and eventually makes his way back home.He is greeted with great relief and love by both his parents, whilePa concludes to Ma that their son is a yearling no more.
Eventually the theaters will open in some fashion.  The blockbusters for 2020 will finally hit the big screen.  But I suspect that few, if any, will measure up to the touching story and immensely effective acting, especially by Claude Jarman, Jr., in this little gem from 1946, The Yearling.

Review by Richard Dick, Library Assistant, O’Kelly Memorial Library


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