Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Robert J. Maxwell This is handled pretty well by newly arrived French director Jean Renoir (son of August), including the regional dialect. "Fit" for "fought," and so on. I wonder if he quite grasped the connotations of some of the exchanges. Dana Andrews to his fiancée: "Seems like lately all I git from you is cussin' out and tongue lashin'." Spiteful Virginia Gilmore: "You ain't felt m'tongue yet." The basic story is this. A small group of subsistence farmers and trappers live on the edge of the dreaded Okefenokee swamp in Georgia, perhaps in the 1920s or 30s, judging from the artifacts. Young Dana Andrews enters the swamp alone, looking for his hunting hound.He runs into Walter Brennan, who disappeared from town years ago after being convicted of a murder he didn't commit. The good folk of the town believe Brennan to be dead. The two become friends and partners in a lucrative trapping business, with Andrews promising never to reveal Brennan's existence. He also promises to look after Brennan's young'un in town, the illiterate and barefoot Anne Baxter. But things go awry and feelings turn right hard agin Andrews. Even Baxter, who worships the trousers that cling to him, is given to animadversions.The plot is complicated. Essentially, Andrews is the pressed and misunderstood hero. Virginia Gilmore is his duplicitous ex fiancée. Ward Bond, John Carradine, and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams are the heavies. With a few exceptions, the townspeople are dull conformists, easily manipulated, yearning for revenge. Plus ça change.

Claudio Carvalho While participating in a posse to hunt down the fugitive Tom Keefer (Walter Brennan), who is accused of murdering a local inhabitant, the young Ben Ragan (Dana Andrews) loses his dog Trouble in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. He returns to the swamp to seek his dog out but he is captured by Tom. Soon he learns that Tom Keeler is innocent and has a daughter, Julie (Anne Baxter), who is raised by the local merchant Marty McCord (Russell Simpson). Ben has an argument with his father Thursday Ragan (Walter Huston) and he moves to a shanty that belongs to Marty. Then he associate to Tom Keeler to hunt animals in the swamp and he shares the profit of selling furs with Julie. Soon they fall in love with each other. One day, Ben witnesses Bud Dorson (Guinn Williams) and his brother Tim Dorson (Ward Bond) stealing Marty's pigs. There is a meeting in the village with Sheriff Jeb McKane (Eugene Palette) to find the thief and Ben's ex-girlfriend Mabel MacKenzie (Virginia Gilmore) is jealous of Ben and accuses Tom Keefer. The sheriff organizes a search party to hunt Tom down, but Ben presses Jesse Wick (John Carradine), who is harassing his stepmother Hannah (Mary Howard), and he finds who the real killers are. He wants Tom to return to the village, but Tom suspects that Ben might intend to betray him. "Swamp Water" is an entertaining and dramatic adventure. The locations and the camera work in the swamp are impressive. The choreography of the fight and the quick sand in the swamp "swallowing" the criminal are very realistic. The direction of Jean Renoir and the cinematography are amazing. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Segredo do Pântano" ("The Secret of the Swamp")

Terrell-4 When the Germans invaded France at the beginning of WWII, Jean Renoir had just directed three masterpieces...Grand Illusion (1937), La Bete Humaine (1938) and The Rules of the Game (1939). He escaped to Hollywood with little but an immense reputation and a poor command of English. So what did Hollywood do? Darryl F. Zanuck assigned him to a piece of swamp noir called Swamp Water. Renoir emerged with his reputation more or less intact, but as Zanuck said later, "Renoir has plenty of talent, but he's not one of us." Swamp Water tells the story of young Ben Ragan (Dana Andrews), who lives in a small community on the edge of Georgia's Okefenokee swamp. The swamp is a fearsome place filled with gators, quicksand, cottonmouth water moccasins, tangled undergrowth and mosquitoes. The menfolk all hunt, trap and fish around the edges of the swamp, and so does Ben with his dog, Trouble. One day Trouble goes missing and Ben, over the objections of his stern father, Thursday Ragan (Walter Huston), goes into the swamp to find his dog. Ben finds the hound, but an escaped convict, Tom Keefer (Walter Brennan), finds Ben. Keefer years ago had been judged guilty of hog stealing and killing a man, but he escaped before he could be hanged. He's been living deep in the swamp ever since. When Keefer is bitten by a cottonmouth, Ben tries to save him. Keefer survives and instead of killing Ben or abandoning him in the swamp, decides he'll trust Ben. He explains to Ben what really happened and that no one will believe him. The two of them agree to become partners. Keefer and Ben will hunt and trap to collect skins. Ben will keep Keefer's secret and sell the skins back in town. Ben can become independent of his father; he'll also save half the money for Keefer's daughter, Julie (Anne Baxter). Julie thinks her father is dead and has been raised by others. She is ragged with dirty feet, and works hard. Things are never simple, of course. Ben has a girlfriend to whom he by mistake shares his secret. She turns out to be a jealous flirt. There are two brothers who are tough, mean and who may be the real killers. There is Thursday Ragan's younger wife, who loves Thursday but longs for more companionship than Thursday is providing. There's Julie, who looks much better after a bath and wearing a pretty dress. And there's Ben himself, well-meaning, honest and a little naive, whose attempts to do the right thing often lead to more trouble. What did Renoir manage to make of all this, his first American movie? I wish I could say "a masterpiece," but that would be gilding the corn pone. Renoir does a fine job of showing us the life of this small community; we get a real sense of a tiny place where everyone knows everyone else and, sooner or later, everyone else's business. He insisted that he go to the Okefenokee and finally Zanuck gave him permission. He took Dana Andrews and a camera crew and came back with enough footage that we get a real feeling for what the swamp is like, especially if you're by yourself in the place. He also created some first-rate set pieces...the opening gator hunt, Ben's search for his dog, Keefer going to drink in the swamp at night and being struck in the face by a cottonmouth, the loneliness of Thursday's wife, the community dance, and Keefer's return with Ben that leads to an ambush in the swamp and an unsettling conclusion for the bad guys that involves quicksand and abandonment. On the other hand, we have to listen to Andrews try on a Georgia cracker accent. "My dog" becomes "mah doag." Andrews is never just sure of something, he's "plumb sure." And I can't count the number of times he refers to Baxter as a "young 'un" or he is referred to as a "young 'un" by others. The three canny old hands in the movie, Walter Brennan, Walter Huston and John Carradine (in a smaller role) never let themselves be trapped by corny accents; they speak their lines straight and it's much more effective. Good performances are also given by such recognizable faces as Eugene Palette, Ward Bond and Guin Williams. To add insult to injury, Zanuck himself rewrote the ending and gave this sentimental scene to a hack contract director to finish. All in all, Swamp Water is a movie Jean Renoir completists will eventually want to own, although I'm not sure how often you'll watch it after the first time. I suspect that when Zanuck said "Renoir has plenty of talent, but he's not one of us," Renoir was delighted and enthusiastically agreed.

sorterdave I viewed this film when it was released in 1941. At the time, I was six years old. The fact that it made a lasting impression on me is evidenced by the fact I still remember it vividly 66 years later.The Okefenokee Swamp setting, complete with snakes, alligators and quicksand, provided a dark backdrop that served the plot well. It also gave this young boy a view of a part of American culture that I didn't know existed at the time. Thinking of it today, I would call it a classic "innocent man" storyline with twists. Walter Brennan, Dana Andrews and Ann Baxter gave memorable performances and the chilling conclusion, tame by today's standards, is still remembered. As I remember, it received mediocre reviews. I do not remember a TV release and believe that it could have been a cult classic if more people had seen it. If it was available on DVD today I would purchase it.