If you have watched "The Green Promise" and found it rather strange, you can blame MGM for altering the story. It was one of those fluid script situations where the rewrites could not entirely keep pace with the production, leaving it to post-production to paste over the inconsistencies as much as possible. But it was not possible to sand down all the clues to the original story.
MGM wanted a vehicle to feature rising star Natalie Wood. To insert her they gave her Connie Marshall's original Abigail role which had centered on the coming of age story of a teenage girl who slowly comes to realize the huge character flaws of her idealized father. 15 year-old Buzz Wexford was to be her love interest. They awkwardly shoehorned the ten year-old Wood into the role and named her Susan. Making her Abigail's younger sister, Marshall was relegated to a demon seed middle child and the father's one dimensional ally. And with that the film lost any trace of nuance, in it's place you get a creepy story of a 15 year-old boy flirting with a 10 year-old girl.
Since the original New Deal theme of collectiveness had now became a Cold War political issue it was replaced by "individualism", which was entirely out of joint with its 4H promotional purpose although they did manage to go out with a collectivist response to the natural disaster. Ironically the awkwardly inserted rants about the virtues of individualism are contradicted on the screen by the self-destructive individualistic and imperious behavior of the father.
So you have a naturally likable Connie Marshall finally getting a chance to play against type which she does almost as well as Bonita Granville in "These Three", assisted by an incredibly unflattering hairstyle. And you have a naturally likable Walter Brennen, miscast and unsuccessfully playing against type. And finally Marguerite Chapman and Robert Paige playing the courtship of Ward and June Cleaver.
Wood carries the film, which was the intention of the studio, the role was constructed entirely in the service of promoting her. It is arguably her best performance and certainly the most demanding role of her career. The film works as a good time capsule and as a promo for the 4H Club.
MGM wanted a vehicle to feature rising star Natalie Wood. To insert her they gave her Connie Marshall's original Abigail role which had centered on the coming of age story of a teenage girl who slowly comes to realize the huge character flaws of her idealized father. 15 year-old Buzz Wexford was to be her love interest. They awkwardly shoehorned the ten year-old Wood into the role and named her Susan. Making her Abigail's younger sister, Marshall was relegated to a demon seed middle child and the father's one dimensional ally. And with that the film lost any trace of nuance, in it's place you get a creepy story of a 15 year-old boy flirting with a 10 year-old girl.
Since the original New Deal theme of collectiveness had now became a Cold War political issue it was replaced by "individualism", which was entirely out of joint with its 4H promotional purpose although they did manage to go out with a collectivist response to the natural disaster. Ironically the awkwardly inserted rants about the virtues of individualism are contradicted on the screen by the self-destructive individualistic and imperious behavior of the father.
So you have a naturally likable Connie Marshall finally getting a chance to play against type which she does almost as well as Bonita Granville in "These Three", assisted by an incredibly unflattering hairstyle. And you have a naturally likable Walter Brennen, miscast and unsuccessfully playing against type. And finally Marguerite Chapman and Robert Paige playing the courtship of Ward and June Cleaver.
Wood carries the film, which was the intention of the studio, the role was constructed entirely in the service of promoting her. It is arguably her best performance and certainly the most demanding role of her career. The film works as a good time capsule and as a promo for the 4H Club.