User Reviews

Vladimir Pozner's skillful adaptation for the screen of Lillian Hellman's original stage play Another Part of the Forest is an almost forgotten classic, that deserves a wider audience. Performances are uniformly excellent, even in the smaller roles. Superb editing helps to create an absorbing and compelling drama of a particularly nasty family in post-Civil War Alabama.

Fredric March nearly steals the picture, with his malevolent portrayal of a tyrannical father, who enjoys pitting his offspring against each other. Ambitious older son Benjamin ( Edmond O'Brien) wants to get up in the world and make money, something his controlling father Marcus is determined to prevent. Weakling younger son Oscar ( Dan Duryea) is a joke to everyone else in the family. Spoiled daughter Regina ( Ann Blyth) is the only one of the three children to win any favor from their dictatorial father, but she is also expected to remain under his thumb. Both Regina and Ben have big plans they are keeping secret from Marcus. But a family as full of intrigue and conspiracy as this one is like a bomb with a slowly burning fuse. Eventually, there is going to be an explosion.

There are fine supporting performances by John Dall as the restless former soldier John Bagtry, who wishes to find a war somewhere to go fight in, Betsy Blair as his nervous, fragile cousin Birdy, Dona Drake as the floozy girlfriend of the weaselly Oscar, Fritz Leiber as the sadly dignified Colonel Isham, and most of all, Florence Eldridge as the ignored and ill-used wife of Marcus Hubbard, Lavinia.

Razor sharp dialogue and performances makes this a true delight to savor. Hard to find, but well worth the effort.You won't like this family, but you won't forget them.

Lillian Hellman, wrote her dramatic masterpiece, THE LITTLE FOXES, in 1940. It is about Regina Hubbard, her brothers Ben and Oscar, her husband Horace Giddens and daughter Alexandra, and Oscar's wife Birdy and son Leo, and how the entire Hubbard clan (except for the husband and daughter and Oscar's sad misused wife) are corrupt. The first play shows how Regina manages to allow her husband to die so that she can end up richer and more powerful (out of a questionable business deal) than her two brothers who are her partners in it. On stage it was a great dramatic triumph for Tallulah Bankhead. In 1941 it was an equally affective film directed by William Wyler, and starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, Theresa Wright, Charles Dingle, Carl Benton Reid, Dan Duryea, Richard Carlson, and Patricia Collinge.

A few years later, Ms Hellman decided to return to the story of the Hubbards, but this time with a "prequel": How did this wealthy southern family turn out to be so rotten?

ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST goes back to 1880 (THE LITTLE FOXES actually is set about 1905). Marcus Hubbard (Frederic March) was what used to be called "poor white trash" (another example of this type is the slave overseer turned carpetbagger Victor Jory in GONE WITH THE WIND). He is not a polished Southern Gentleman, but an opportunistic snake who lives and breaths to snatch his fortune in the potentially rich South. But along comes that unpleasantness of 1861 - 1865, and Marcus does not consider it his war - why should it be, he's been too poor to fight for the right to own slaves? Instead, he makes a small fortune buying and selling commodities that are in short supply or are considered contraband. In particular salt. Using the money, and the corresponding collapse of various gentleman's estates due to the reverses of the war, Marcus becomes a post-Civil War landowner. All of this has made him also the most hated man in the state.

His oldest son Ben (Dingle in the other movie - here Edmond O'Brien) is his clerk (not chief clerk, but clerk) in his store in town. Ben is treated as a clerk (and a poorly paid one at that). Ben is close to his mother Lavinia (Florence Eldridge), who was married to Marcus for financial reasons by her father, and whom Marcus considers (with some reason) simple minded (actually she is the most honest member of the bunch).

Marcus' second son Oscar (Reid in the other movie - here Dan Duryea) is a sullen sort, except he has joined the K.K.K. (but is dumb enough to be the only one who's identifiable), and he is romancing a local "actress" at the town's dance hall (Laurette Sincee - played by Donna Drake).

Marcus favors his daughter, Regina (Ann Blythe), who realizes he likes her and thinks she can manipulate him. To an extent she can - but there is a point he refuses to be manipulated. You see, she wants to marry John Bagtry (John Dall), a member of a former Governor's family who are on hard times. Actually, Marcus would have none of this.

Marcus is not adverse to further wealth and acquisition, but as he is now a large property owner (and the richest man in town) he's more pretentious. He is self taught, and he prides himself on teaching himself how to read Greek and Latin (which does not impress Ben, Oscar, or Regina). He also tries to compose for the cello, and once every couple of months has two musicians (Don Beddoes and Whit Bissell) come down to play his latest compositions.

The issues of the drama are 1) Ben seeking to find a way to break out of his unendurable bondage as his father's cheap clerk; 2) Oscar's hope to run off with the attractive but socially disgraceful Laurette; and 3) Regina trying to convince Marcus to give her his okay to marry the socially proper but dirt poor Bagtry. The three siblings are constantly sniping at each other, making cooperation impossible (particularly Regina and Oscar with their separate prospective mates). The only thing that might unite them is Daddy's tyrannical approach to handling all three of them, two of whom he holds in total contempt.

Lest it seems pure soap opera (of the "Dallas" or "Falconcrest" variety), ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST actually gave Hellman a chance to do some comedy scenes. Marcus has a large dinner party in Act II, and has to suffer the mortification of Oscar's drunken girlfriend, and the chattering of the prospective fiancé (John Bagtry's sister Birdie) that he wants Oscar to marry. He also learns what John Bagtry's big desire is: he is going to enlist in the Brazilian Army because in 1880 only the Empire of Brazil still has slavery! Marcus comment about that is quite droll. There is also the fiasco of Hubbard's Opus #2 for strings.

In the end we see how Ben finds Marcus's one Achilles heel - an unforgivable act to his fellow townspeople which can cost him his life. And we see how Ben takes his place, for the moment at any events, as head of the Hubbard Family enterprises.

ANOTHER PART OF THE FOREST is a good film that deserves to be better known. Well played, and carefully laid out (with Dan Duryea here playing the father of the character he played in THE LITTLE FOXES) we watch how power rots a family's morality, but does not necessarily weakens it. For the Hubbards remain rich and powerful, and aim to become more so as this story ends. Whatever lost dreams are seen by the audience, the damage is done and the gangrene remains to grow more threatening.

Lillian Hellman's play "The Little Foxes" was the sensation of Broadway's 1939 season and starring Tallulah Bankhead, it ran for 410 performances. It was later made into a magnificent film that picked up 9 Oscar nominations. In 1946 Lillian Helman directed "Another Part of the Forest" - a prequel, showing how Regina, Benjamin and Oscar inherited their evil and immoral ways from their father. Patricia Neal made her Broadway debut as Regina and won a Tony award for Best Performance. When a film was made in 1948, Ann Blyth, who a couple of years before had created a sensation as Veda, Mildred Pierce's venal daughter, was given the role of Regina. Ann had had musical training and started out in a few forgettable low budget musicals. After "Mildred Pierce" she was heralded as a major find and you would have thought she would have been one of the big stars of the 50s - but you would have been wrong. After superb performances in "Another Part of the Forest" and "Our Very Own" she became trapped in a series of leaden musicals ("Rose Marie", "The Student Prince") and she was never again given a role worthy of her talents.

Marcus Hubbard (Frederic March) has always been rotten to the core. Although born into poverty, he was self educated but made his fortune as a war profiteer by exploiting his fellow "Southerners" during the Civil War by selling salt to them at an over inflated price of $8 a small bag. That is why his son Oscar (Dan Duryea) is not welcome at the Veteran's Day Parade and why Lavinia (Florence Eldridge) Marcus's long suffering wife will not use salt on that particular day. There is also a secret scandal that is only hinted at, until being revealed at the end of the film it changes the dynamics of the family. Benjamin (Edmond O'Brien) is the only member of the family who treats his mother with any type of kindness but he is also self serving. After a depressing family luncheon when only the servants remember Lavinia's birthday, Benjamin reminds Regina that papa's unhealthy fondness for her will force her to spend the rest of her life looking after him and suggests she should pay more attention to besotted Horace Giddens if she wants to escape. Horace, who was played in the earlier film by Herbert Marshall, is never seen in this film, only talked about.

Oscar is infatuated with local can can dancer Laurette (Dona Drake). Her character is worthy of the Hubbards - she will have nothing to do with Oscar unless he gets money from his father. When he finds her flirting with a patron, he and some friends don "night rider" sheets and badly beat him up. The other family of note in the town are the Bagtrys, who have been made penniless, trying to grow cotton on their plantation. Regina is in love with Ben Bagtry (John Dall) but it is clear he doesn't care for her family's ways. Birdie (Betsy Blair) is a faded Southern belle who is desperate to return the plantation to it's former glory. By the end of the film the stage is set for "The Little Foxes" - Marcus is a broken man, Lavinia is going to return to her childhood home and Benjamin, Regina and Oscar are facing their future with steely ruthlessness. The characterisations of the three siblings are spot on - you can see the traits that are in their characters in "The Little Foxes", here in embryo.

Betsy Blair who was a standout in "Marty" showed how talented she was in this movie. Her "Birdie" is heartbreaking and a tribute to Patricia Collinge.

Highly, Highly Recommended.

Ah, now it all makes sense. How Regina, John and Oscar Hubbard all became so power hungry and greedy and controlling, a gift from papa Frederic March and the hatred but fear from the locals, furious that during the civil war, Papa Hubbard made his fortune overcharging southerners for goods in his store, the only way the public could get what they needed. It's 15 years after the civil war, reconstruction is not without its problems, and Mother Hubbard (Florence Eldridge) is neglected by pretty much everyone except the loyal servants and oldest son John (Edmund O'Brien).

Daughter Regina (Ann Blyth) is unnaturally close to her father who tells Regina that she's the son he never had, considering the characters of his amoral male offspring. John is good to his mother, but enjoys playing his siblings against each other and against their father. Throw in plane jane Betsy Blair ("Marty") as neighbor Birdie whom John forces on brother Oscar (Dan Duryea) for financial gain. The stage is set for family hatreds of Claudian and Borgia proportions, a brilliant analogy that can be compared to powerful families who have risen in power since this was written.

While it's obvious that the Hubbard blood is bad from the start, the younger Hubbards show signs of morality here and there that dwindles as soon as March turns down the loan for Blair's family. Even though he's not there, the character of Horace Giddens is mentioned quite often as a suitor for Regina's hand. Duryea plays the father of the character that he played in the film version of "The Little Foxes", and like father, like son, it's a fascinating performance.

But acting honors go to the real life married couple of March and Eldridge, not really sharing a lot of scream time together because they're married characters obviously are not in love with each other, even though the Marches in real life were married for nearly 50 years and practically inseparable. It really is a long day's journey into a nightmare for this tragic pair, and equally as memorable as its predecessor.