A swamp girl selling butterflies to escape her mother's blame — 1940s melodrama at its wildest.
Elnora Comstock lives on the edge of a great swamp and collects butterflies to sell in order to go to high school and pay for violin lessons. Her mother, Kate Comstock, hates her as she blames the girl for the father's death as he drowned in a quagmire on the way home the night the girl was born. The years-late revelation that the husband had been off courting a neighbor woman that night brings an attitude adjustment to the mother.
Cinematography
Limberlost swamp as moody character, not just backdrop.
Acting
Ruth Nelson's mother-from-hell transformation hits different.
Director
Mel Ferrer
Ruth Nelson
Kate Comstock
Dorinda Clifton
Elnora Comstock
Loren Tindall
Pete Reed
Gloria Holden
Miss Nelson
Ernest Cossart
Roger Henley
Vanessa Brown
Helen Brownlee
James Bell
Wesley Sinton
Joyce Arling
Margaret Sinton
Charles Arnt
Hodges
Warren Mills
Chester Hopple
Lillian Bronson
Miss Blodgett
Peggy Converse
Jessie Reed
Carol Morris
Carrie
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Mel Ferrer's directorial debut at age 28 — he later married Audrey Hepburn and became much more famous for that than this swamp melodrama.
Based on Gene Stratton-Porter's 1909 novel, a massive bestseller that spawned multiple film adaptations and an entire Indiana state historic site — this 1945 version is the least remembered for a reason.
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