The Great Meadow (1931) review - Pioneer drama with a surprising brain

If you have a Sunday afternoon with nothing to do and a tolerance for very slow dialogue, The Great Meadow is worth a look. It is mostly for people who enjoy those early talkies where everyone is covered in actual mud and grease. If you hate movies where people stand around in cabins talking about their 'honor' for ten minutes, you should probably stay away from this one. 🤠

The movie starts with Berk (Johnny Mack Brown) leaving his wife Diony and their new baby. He is going off to hunt down the person who murdered his mother. It feels like such a stereotypical 18th-century reason to abandon your family, honestly.

He gets lost or caught or something—the movie isn't super clear on the passage of time—and everyone assumes he is dead. Enter Evan. Evan is the guy who stays behind and actually helps Diony survive the wilderness. He's a nice enough guy, I guess.

Eleanor Boardman plays Diony. She has this very specific way of staring into the distance like she’s trying to see the future. It’s a bit much at times, but she carries the movie. Unlike some other films from the same year, like Bad Sister, this feels much more grounded in the dirt.

The middle part of the movie drags. There are a lot of scenes of people walking through tall grass. I suppose that is why it's called The Great Meadow. The grass is indeed very tall and there is a lot of it.

There is one scene where a baby is just sort of... sitting there while the adults argue. It looks like a real baby, not a doll, which was a nice change for 1931. The lighting in the cabin scenes is actually pretty great too. It’s all dark and moody, making the pioneers look properly miserable. 🕯️

Everything changes when Berk finally comes back. He’s been gone for years and expects Diony to just drop everything and run back to him. Evan, naturally, isn't thrilled about this. They start acting like they’re going to have a big macho fight over her.

This is where the movie gets actually good.

Usually, in these old stories, the woman is just a prize for the strongest guy. But Diony gets this look in her eye. She basically tells them both that she isn't a piece of property to be fought over. It feels weirdly modern for a movie this old.

She says something about not being a human if they just trade her back and forth. It’s the best moment in the whole film. It makes all the slow walking through the grass feel like it had a point.

Random notes from my notebook:

• Johnny Mack Brown has very nice hair for someone living in the woods.
• The sound quality is a bit crunchy, so you might need to turn it up.
• The way they handle the 'return from the dead' trope is way less dramatic than a modern soap opera.
• I noticed a dog in the background of one shot that looked very confused about the cameras. 🐶

It’s not as fast-paced as something like Let Us Be Gay, but it has more soul. The ending doesn't wrap everything up in a neat little bow, which I appreciated. It leaves you thinking about how hard life must have been when your husband could just vanish for five years because he wanted revenge.

The movie is a bit of a slog in the first half. But if you stick with it for Diony’s big moment at the end, it’s a solid experience. It’s a quiet movie. Just don't expect any big action scenes or fancy editing tricks. It's just people, cabins, and a lot of grass.