Come and Get It (1936) User Reviews

Good Frances Farmer flick from the 30's

[johno-21 · 8/10 · 24 March 2006]

Edna Ferber had several of her novels made into films including Giant, Showboat a couple of times and Dinner at Eight among the well known. Come and Get it is based on the Ferber novel adapted to the screen by Jules Furthman and Jane Murfin. I grew up in the area where the story is set. In the story the town is called Iron Ridge but Ferber did her research for the story while staying at the Burton House hotel in the old lumber and mining town of Hurley, Wisconsin on the Michigan border with Ironwood, Michigan. The Burton House was a grand old three story 100 room wooden hotel that President Grover Cleveland once stayed at. It would burn down in the 1940's. In the character name Lotta Morgan she used the actual name of a famous Hurley saloon singer of the 1880's. Actually, the real Lotta Morgan earned her living from something other than just singing in the saloons. She was also an unsolved murder victim whose body was found floating in the river with a hatchet in her forehead. Ferber put together her romantic tale of the north woods and it's many lumber camps. This is a good movie set in the late 19th century. Frances Farmer plays dual roles of mother and daughter in the fourth leading role of her career and maybe her best. She would go on to star in only six more lead roles before being relegated to supporting actress in four more films and then her film career was over. Edward Arnold, Joel Mcrea, Walter Brennan and Mary Nash round out the fine cast. Howard Hawks directed and this was his project until an argument with the studio boss caused his dismissal and William Wyler was called in to finish the film. Excellent Cinematography from Rudolf Maté and Greg Toland. One of the last films of famed costume designer Omar Kiam. Walter Brennan won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in his role of the Swedish logger Swan Bostrom. The first of three career Academy Awards he would win. Come and Get it also received an Academy Award nomination for Edward Curtis for editing which was well deserved being that he had to put together the work of three directors, Hawks, Wyler and Richard Rosson who directed the logging scenes. Farmer should have been nominated for Best Actress but was over looked by the Academy for Irene Dunn, veterans from silent film days Gladys George, Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer and German actress Luise Rainer who won. The studio in promoting this film had Farmer signing the book Come and Get it at autograph opportunities. She once found it exceptionally strange that she would be signing a book she had not written when she was doing a signing at the Bon Marché department store in her hometown of Seattle where she had been fired from a few years before. I've seen this several times in television over the years and it's worth a look. I would give it an 8.0 out of 10.

Dazzling beautiful, dazzling real

[ilprofessore-1 · 7/10 · 30 March 2007]

When Frances Farmer was a drama student at the University of Washington she won a scholarship to visit Russia and watch the Moscow Art Theater headed by the great actor and director, Konstantin Stanislavski. When that Russian company first came to tour the United States in the 1920s, the truthfulness and expressivity of the acting so impressed many of America's best young actors that they eventually formed The Group Theater (1931-1940),modeling their ensemble work on it. In 1937 The Group Theater invited Frances Farmer, a non-member of the company, to play the female lead in Clifford Odets' new play "Golden Boy." At the time it was thought by many that the sole reason for the invitation was because Farmer was a beautiful movie star whose presence would boost box office. Today anyone who sees her remarkable work in the dual roles of Lotta in "Come and Get It" (1936) will recognize that not only was she dazzling beautiful, she was also dazzling real and painfully truthful --a true actress in the Stanislavski tradition. No wonder Howard Hawks said she was the best actress he had ever worked with in his long career.

Worth Getting

[kenjha · 8/10 · 19 November 2006]

A lumber entrepreneur leaves his true love and marries a woman from a well-to-do family so that he can become rich. Having achieved fame and fortune, he has another chance to pursue that lost love. Fine drama based on Ferber story is well acted by all, including Arnold as the lumber tycoon, McCrea as his son, Brennan in an Oscar-winning performance as Arnold's Swedish (!) buddy, and the radiant Farmer in the dual role of mother and daughter. Hawks had a falling out with the producer and was replaced by Wyler. With the two masters behind the camera, one can't go wrong. It starts with some pretty impressive scenes of lumber being cut and transported via the river.

The Lumber Tycoon Who Got Wisdom the Hard Way

[theowinthrop · 1 March 2005]

Although he's never been forgotten by people who admire fine, even great acting, Edward Arnold is one of the unjustly forgotten talents of Hollywood. His career lasted throughout the 1930s into the 1950s when he died (in 1956). He appeared in many classic films, such as Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" (as political boss Jim Taylor), and Mitchell Leisin's "Easy Living" (as Wall Street speculator J.B.Ball), He was Jim Brady in "Diamond Jim" and in "Lilian Russell", and Jim Fisk in "The Toast of New York". But for all his marvelous acting skills Arnold had the same problem that his young contemporary Laird Cregar had. In a medium where good looks and a svelte body meant real super-stardom both Arnold and Cregar were too plump to measure up. Had both started in the 1970s they would have had the super-stardom they deserved. Not the case in the 1930s or 1940s. Only three fat men made superstar rank in this period: Charles Laughton (with a best acting Oscar to do it), Oliver Hardy and W.C.Fields (and the latter two were comedians). Even Sydney Greenstreet would never get full super-stardom, though his evil genius characters made him a major star. A very unfair situation. It makes one appreciate those films that Arnold and Cregar were able to dominate (increasingly "B features, like "The Lodger" or "Eyes in the Night").

But in the middle thirties Arnold almost made it. "The Toast of New York", "Diamond Jim", "Sutter's Gold", "Easy Living", and this film were all made between 1935 and 1938. They showcased his varied talents for drama, pathos, comedy. But they also showed his limitation - because of his bulk he could only play wealthy or powerful men. That doesn't sound bad, but it cuts down from doing romantic parts - the types that a Gable, a Taylor, a Cooper, a Power, even a Tracy or a Powell could get. Yet he did hint that this was not an impossibility for him. His role as Brady in the two films shows a man who yearns for a happy romantic life but can't get it (even pal Lillian Russell just doesn't love him that much). Ironically he is usually shown to be married to somewhat plain women, which is a commentary on his inability to attract good looking ones. Occasionally, like in the late films of the 1950s, he'll have a trophy wife like Marie Windsor who plays him false. Arnold's character is doomed apparently to not get the love he deserves.

While it is hard to say what his best performance was, Barney Glasgow in "Come and Get It" is close to it. He is the chief lumberman in a company, who meets Lotta (Frances Farmer) in a saloon, and they actually find they are in love. But he sacrifices the love to marry his boss's daughter, Emma Louise (Mary Nash), and become the head of the firm. Lotta marries Barney's old pal Swan (Walter Brennan), and has a daughter also named Lotta (and also played by Farmer).

On the surface, twenty years later, Barney is doing well, with his wife and two children (he's particularly close to his daughter Evvie (Andrea Leeds)). He has little use for his son Richard (Joel McCrea), but the boy is working in an executive department in the company. Then he gets a chance to visit Swan for some hunting. And he meets young Lotta. The look in Arnold's face makes it clear what is re-awoken in him seeing the reincarnation of his lost love. He starts seeing Swan, Lotta, and Swan's niece (Mady Christian) as frequently as he can, even taking them to Chicago on a pleasure trip. All this is noticed by his son, his secretary Josie (Cecil Cunningham), Evvie, and one suspects by Emma (one senses some sequences were cut before the release). Lotta is fully aware of this unhealthy interest, but takes full advantage of it (she is not totally innocent here). One of the best scenes is when Arnold, Farmer, Christian (looking worried), and Brennan sing, "The Saucy Little Bird in Nelly's Hat", which is a song about an avaricious flirt.

When Swan and Lotta move to work in the same city as Barney Richard comes to confront her. Soon he is visiting Lotta himself, and they gradually fall in love. Barney is slowly growing aware of this rivalry, and confronts Richard and Lotta at the annual company picnic. It is only while fighting his son that Lotta finally makes Barney come to his senses by telling Richard not to injure his father, who is an old man. Barney cannot bring back his youth.

Arnold would have other sad self-realization moments on film, but his comeuppance in "Come and Get It" is his best. As he tells his pal Swan, "I'm an old fool." But he finds Emma there to support and forgive him. And he is restored enough to call "Come and get it" to his company family as the film ends. The closing shot of the movie of Arnold's teary eyed face shows who was the real star of this film. He deserved super-stardom.

No fool like an old fool....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 May 2009]

COME AND GET IT has a very strange cast. Having the reliable and talented supporting actor, Edward Arnold, in the lead is strange--especially since this rotund and rather doughy guy is cast as, believe it or not, a lumberjack when the film begins! Seeing him supposedly fight and beat up tough guys seemed pretty funny--especially since Arnold looked as if he'd have had a hard time beating up Frances Farmer--let alone burly lumbermen!! Additionally, having him play a very flawed hero who has a penchant for a very young lady (Frances Farmer) make it an unusual film.

The film begins with Arnold being made the foreman of a logging company. However, his ambition is huge and he immediately has his sights set on running the entire company. So, to do so he agrees to marry the boss' daughter even though he could care less about her. Additionally, he'd just fallen in love with a spunky saloon singer (Frances Farmer--in a dual role). Regardless, his ambition is primary and he dumps farmer on his pal, played by Walter Brennan (who received an Oscar for his performance as a nice Swedish guy).

Years pass. You see that Arnold's wife is a bit of a cold fish, though they did have some kids and they now own the company. Arnold just happens to visit his old pal Brennan and finds that through the magic of Hollywood clichés, Brennan's daughter (played by Farmer again) is the spitting image of her deceased mother. Arnold is an old lecher and takes her under his wing--with the intention of recreating the relationship he'd had with her mother. When his oldest son (Joel McCrea) finds out, he goes to confront the lady but falls for her instead. Naturally, this sets the son and hard-driven father against each other.

Considering that this is based on an Edna Ferber novel, it isn't surprising that the film is about a man building an empire as well as infidelity--recurring themes I've noticed in several of her other films that were filmed during the era (such as CIMARRON, GIANT, SHOWBOAT and SO BIG). As a result, the film has a big and rather sweeping quality about it but is also a study of a hard-driven man who is deeply flawed.

Overall, the movie is exactly what you'd expect from such a film--good acting, big scope and a lot of romantic tension. Nothing extraordinary here, but it's enjoyable and competently made. I can't, however, understand how Brennan got an Oscar, as this was far from one of his best performances. Perhaps it was a slow year.

Mildly entertaining, nothing more...

[MOscarbradley · 6/10 · 22 June 2018]

One of the very few occasions when two of Hollywood's greatest directors were given joint directorial credit on a film. "Come and Get It" was co-directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler though to look at it you might never have guessed. It's entertaining enough but it's also fairly undistinguished despite its cast. Walter Brennan, (just about resisting hamming it up), won the first Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance while Edward Arnold gets star-billing for a change, (he's his usual superb self), though it's the great Frances Farmer who just about steals the movie in a dual role, (mother and daughter).

It's based on an Edna Ferber novel but with the exception of the 1936 "Showboat", Ferber never did transfer well to the screen, (at least this one isn't dragged out). Gregg Toland and Rudolph Mate were joint cinematographers but again there is nothing here to make you think that. Of course, it is now of historical interest in being one of the few films to feature Farmer in a major role in what was a tragically short career, (she only made 16 films). It isn't much seen today.

Hollywood hybrid.

[brogmiller · 7/10 · 31 May 2022]

Behind every film there is usually a story and this one is certainly no exception. Howard Hawks departed the production two-thirds of the way through(whether he quit or was fired is debatable) and a reluctant William Wyler was instructed by Samuel Goldwyn to complete it. As the Director's Guild was as yet not recognised by the studio, both directors were given credit. If two directors were not enough, the tree-felling sequences were handled by Richard Rosson. These scenes are spectacular but guaranteed to have conservationists rolling on the floor and foaming at the mouth.

It would seem that the film was shot in script order and the rumbustious early scenes have Mr. Hawks written all over them whereas Mr Wyler's more subdued tone is evident later on. Both directors disowned the finished product and despite some telling scenes the film represents neither of them at their very best. Gregg Toland is behind the camera(Rudoph Maté for the tree-felling) and the soundtrack to the characters' lives is supplied by the Civil War ballad 'Aura Lea', later reincarnated as 'Love me Tender.'

It is the splendidly spirited performances that carry it through notably those of Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, here making filmic history as the first actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar and the ill-fated Mady Christians whilst Howard Hawks' 'discovery' Frances Farmer is utterly luminous. Of all the stars that fell from the Hollywood firmament, the tragic Miss Farmer was surely one of the most dazzling.

Topnotch Acting Enlivens Lumber Tale

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 21 April 2002]

An aging lumber tycoon tries to relive his youth after meeting the hauntingly beautiful daughter of an old friend.

Based on the sprawling novel by Edna Ferber, COME AND GET IT is a fascinating love story, filled with action & tenderness and some very good acting. The production values are on a high order, with the authentic logging sequence especially exciting.

Boisterous, brash & bold, Edward Arnold portrays the brawling two-fisted lumberjack who pushes himself to the top of the heap, trampling on his one great love in the process. Although completely unbelievable as a young man during the first three-quarters of an hour, this is not a problem as he is never anything less than enjoyable in the role.

Miss Frances Farmer, playing a tenderhearted floozy and her own ambitious daughter, has the best film of her career. She is nothing less than radiant and her obvious talent makes her bizarre personal history all that much more tragic.

Wonderful Walter Brennan plays Arnold's jovial Swedish pal, in a performance that would catapult him out of cinematic anonymity and earn him the first of his three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor. Seemingly able to play any kind of part - as long as the character was middle-aged or elderly - during his 46 years in movies & television Mr. Brennan would become one of America's most beloved character actors. He died in 1974 at the age of 80.

Almost obscured by the oversized talents around him, Joel McCrea wisely turns in an understated performance as Arnold's quiet, intelligent son (he invents the disposable paper cup!). His years of solid successes in front of the cameras were adding up and he would soon become a major Hollywood star.

A quartet of fine actresses fill smaller roles: Mary Nash as Arnold's neglected wife; Andrea Leeds as his adored daughter; Mady Christians as Brennan's sturdy, sensible niece; and Cecil Cunningham as Arnold's intuitive, sharp-tongued secretary. That's porcine Edwin Maxwell once again playing a bad guy, this time the crooked owner of a lumber camp saloon.

The song which is used as the theme for Miss Farmer's characters is ‘Aura Lee,' (written in 1861 by W. W. Fosdick & George R. Poulton) a very popular strain on both sides during the War Between The States. Decades later, in the 1950's, Elvis Presley would use the tune for one of his biggest hits, ‘Love Me Tender.'

Interesting but somewhat lumbering Ferber tale hurt by odd miscasting...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 30 March 2007]

Edna Ferber's timberland drama gives top billing to EDWARD ARNOLD over JOEL McCREA and FRANCES FARMER--but it's Farmer who impresses the most with her dual role, despite scene-stealing tactics from WALTER BRENNAN with a Swedish accent in an Oscar-winning supporting role as Arnold's simple-minded friend.

EDWARD ARNOLD seems strangely miscast as the lumberman with designs on a much younger woman. His relationship with FRANCES FARMER and her immediate attraction to him seems highly improbable, despite the fact that he can give her wealth and security. A more attractive mature leading man as the two-fisted lumberjack would have served the romantic angle of the drama more believably.

Arnold has ambitions to be the richest timberland boss in Wisconsin. The film begins with a series of energetic and visually exciting scenes of timber falling in the forests as the lumbermen go about their vigorous work details. It's an almost documentary approach that gives the story that follows great authenticity, although it's a typically plot-heavy Edna Ferber tale of two generations.

In Wisconsin of the 1800s, Farmer is a saloon gal, Lotta, impressed by Arnold's wealth and improbably falls in love with him. When he runs off to marry a society girl, Farmer turns even more improbably to Walter Brennan as her husband.

Twenty years later, Arnold is a rich man with a wife (MARY NASH) and two children (JOEL McCREA and ANDREA LEEDS). He goes back to visit Brennan and meets his daughter--FRANCES FARMER in a more demure role is the spitting image of her mother, who has died, and her name is Lotta too. She's a sweeter, more refined version of her mother. The plot thickens, in true Ferber style, with Arnold now intent on wooing Brennan's daughter.

Farmer's beauty is reminiscent of Madeleine Carroll's type of blonde loveliness with sculptured cheekbones and fine facial features. JOEL McCREA is rather wasted in what is little more than a supporting role as Arnold's business man son, instantly attracted to Farmer and then realizing so is his father.

Summing up: An oddly interesting tale despite some improbabilities in the story line. Probably the film that best showcases Frances Farmer, the film was co-directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler.

Frances Farmer at her most impressive

[jmk56 · 9/10 · 19 February 2005]

If you wonder why the inimitable Howard Hawks would state that Frances Farmer was the finest actress he ever worked with, simply take the time to watch "Come and Get It" and see the two totally distinct characters Frances creates in her dual performances as Lotta Morgan (mother) and Lotta Bostrom (daughter). The two women speak differently, sing differently, walk differently--they are two incredible, and individual, creations. The rest of the film unfortunately does not rise to the level of Farmer's performance(s), but it is enjoyable on its own terms in its somewhat sordid tale of a man pursuing the daughter of his long-lost true love. All of the performances are uniformly excellent, the production design is outstanding, and the second unit direction includes some thrilling logging scenes. And while Walter Brennan may have given the Academy Award winning performance from this film, it is the luminous Frances Farmer whose work here elevates her to the ranks of screen legend and who remains lodged in the memory long after the film has ended.

Getting more than expected

[tomsview · 7/10 · 12 February 2013]

"Come and Get It" has an unusual story and seems ahead of its time in taking a stance about the environment. It is also a chance to see Francis Farmer at her best in the only one of her movies she actually liked.

Proving that blondes don't always have more fun, Francis Farmer had more drama off-screen than any character she ever played on-screen. But as "Come and Get It" reveals, she projected a strong presence and possessed beauty that would have attracted attention in any decade of cinema.

Star of the film was Edward Arnold who plays entrepreneurial lumberman Barney Glasgow over a period of twenty years, from age thirty to fifty. Unfortunately Arnold had the sex appeal that one would expect from a balding, thick-waisted and double-chinned man of 46 - his real age. For him to convincingly play a virile thirty-year old was quite a stretch.

Set in Wisconsin in 1884, Barney takes a shipment of lumber to the sawmill in Iron Ridge with the help of his friend Swan Bostrom. Walter Brennan plays Swan. Unlike Edward Arnold who always looked middle-aged, Walter Brennan always looked old. Here he looks positively ancient, despite the fact that he was only 42 at the time.

The boys meet Lotta Morgan, played by Francis Farmer, the resident chanteuse at a nearby saloon. Her portrayal of Lotta, especially in her early scenes is bizarre. Chewing gum and talking out of the side of her mouth, she sings two versions of the Civil War era song "Aura Lea". Francis Farmer had a surprisingly deep voice and the song is so slow and dirge-like that she sounds like an old Gramophone record playing at the wrong speed. The tune sounded livelier 30 years later when it was adapted for Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender". Fortunately France's performance becomes less affected as the film progresses.

Barney and Swan fall for Lotta but she falls for Barney - thick waist and multiple chins notwithstanding. However, Barney is already engaged to the daughter of a powerful timber tycoon, Emma Louise Hewitt played by Mary Nash. Barney leaves to marry Emma, an act that will cement a financial partnership with her father, leaving Swan to break the news to Lotta. She is hurt but now also unemployed. Swan offers to marry her. Lotta accepts although Swan looks old enough to be her grandfather.

Twenty years later, Barney now owns a huge paper mill, and has a son Richard, played by a youthful Joel McCrea. Barney accepts an invitation from Swan to visit him in Iron Ridge. We learn that although Lotta died some time before, Swan has a daughter who is the spitting image of her mother, also named Lotta. Francis Farmer plays both roles, bearing out an enduring Hollywood maxim that the grown-up child of a parent who dies earlier in the film should be played by the same actor.

Barney falls for Lotta Bostrom, and tries to recapture the feelings he had for the mother through the daughter. Barney is ardent in his pursuit of her while Swan seems amazingly accepting of Barney's inappropriate advances towards his daughter.

After Barney convinces Swan and Lotta to accompany him back to the city, she falls in love with Richard Glasgow, Barney's son. Events come to a head when Barney catches Richard with Lotta. Eventually Barney receives the long-delayed reality check he needs to bring him to his senses.

Although "Come and Get It" doesn't quite fit into the mainstream of Hollywood films of the 30's, it holds up much better than most of them, and offers a rare glimpse of an intriguing and ill-fated star.

Falling in Love Again

[lugonian · 9/10 · 24 October 2005]

COME AND GET IT (United Artists, 1936), directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler, is another winning drama from producer Samuel Goldwyn, whose previous 1936 efforts, THESE THREE and DODSWORTH, remain true classics. Adapted from the popular novel by Edna Ferber, author of "Cimarron," COME AND GET IT can be summed up as a soap opera for men, or best categorized as a "guy flick," in which the story centers upon lumbermen, particularly two best friends and their love for one woman. Of the major actors to enact the lead, Edward Arnold, a robust 200-pound plus actor, became the chosen one. Arnold, a veteran character performer with some leads to his credit, gives a sincere and brilliant portrayal in what's regarded as his very best role. While this is Arnold's showcase from start to finish, his co-stars have turned out to be winners in the end. First there's Walter Brennan in his first of three Academy Award wins in the supporting actor category; and Frances Farmer, on loan from Paramount, a newcomer with three films to her credit, in a challenging but rewarding role as a saloon singer and later, her daughter. Joel McCrea, whose name is billed second following Arnold's, has a few scenes, and comes close to being overshadowed, however, his part is crucial to the story.

In true Edna Ferber tradition, COME AND GET IT is set during a passage in time. It opens in Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, 1884, where Barney Glasgow (Edward Arnold) is introduced as the overseer of a group of lumbermen. After a couple of brawls showing Barney is a fighter and natural born leader, enter his best friend, "Swan" Bostrom (Walter Brennan), a lumberjack whom Barney affectionately calls "that crazy Swede." Barney, who is ambitious enough to prepare himself to marry his employer's (Charles Halton) daughter, is quite a ladies man. After meeting Lotta Morgan (Frances Farmer) and winning a bundle of money at the roulette table, he takes a sudden interest in her. The two get acquainted as Lotta agrees on getting the money back for her employer (Edwin Maxwell) by placing something into Barney's drink. Lotta changes her mind as she gets to know him, and following a now classic saloon brawl involving metal serving trays, Lotta runs off with Barney and Swan. However, in spite of Barney's true affection towards Lotta, he breaks away without a word of goodbye to follow his ambition to go into a loveless marriage in order to become a very rich man. Upset over the rejection, Lotta in turn marries Swan. Shifting to 1907, Barney is now president of his lumber company, father of two children, Richard (Joel McCrea), who acts as his assistant in the plant, and Evvie (Andrea Leeds). His marriage to Emma Louise (Mary Nash) is relatively unhappy mainly because he is unable to forget Lotta, who has since died. When Barney takes time away from his business to be with Swan, all of his cherished memories and love for Lotta are brought back when he is introduced to Swan's grown daughter, also named Lotta (Frances Farmer), thus, falling in love all over again, and doing everything possible to spend much time with the Bostroms, especially Lotta. Conflict arises between father and son as Richard has now fallen in love with Lotta and wants to marry her.

The supporting players include Mady Christians as Karie, Swan's spinster cousin; Frank Shield as Tony Schwerke; and Cecil Cunningham as Barney's nosy and acid-tongue secretary, Josie.

While not strong on marquee names, the strength of the movie relies on the characters they play, especially Frances Farmer. In enacting the role as mother and daughter (although they never share the same scenes), Farmer is introduced 16 minutes from the start of the story as the tough, gum chewing saloon singer with a throaty voice memorably singing a popular Civil War song titled "Aura Lee," immortalized in the 1950s by Elvis Presley as "Love Me Tender." This is Farmer at her finest. The second portion of the story in which she plays her daughter, Farmer's hairstyle is lighter blonde, naive but ambitious to want to break away from her dead-end surroundings, and speaks as well as sings in her slightly higher toned voice. Her second character doesn't come off as strong as her first, but there's a dramatic change in the story after she comes to realize that Barney, her father's best friend, is coming on to her. Farmer ranked COME AND GET IT as her personal favorite performance, and rightfully so. A pity she seldom got more chances to play stronger characters such as this. She and Arnold reunited once more in another period setting drama, THE TOAST OF NEW YORK (RKO Radio, 1937) opposite Cary Grant and Jack Oakie in support. As with COME AND GET IT, Farmer's character is torn between her love for an older rich man and a much younger one, but without the father/son conflict.

At one point in time during commercial television revivals, COME AND GET IT used to be overplayed. Today, it's not shown often enough. Available on video cassette during the 1990s and later DVD, COME AND GET IT made its introduction to cable television on Turner Network Television in 1991, followed by frequent showings on American Movie Classics from 1993 to 1995, and on Turner Classic Movies where it premiered February 6, 2007. To get a real eye-view on the career of Frances Farmer, COME AND GET IT is a good introduction to the actress whose personal and professional career has become overshadowed by her years committed into a mental institution. For a really good tear-jerker for guys, simply "come and get it!!" (***)

A work directed by 3 people that had a very good result

[kevvportela · 7/10 · 14 April 2021]

Drama directed by Howard Hawks, William Wyler and Richard Rosson, despite the fact that this fact by 3 different perspectives coexisted and it was a good work, orderly and dialogue.

I liked it a lot because it is simple but there is a way to show it as personal and important at the same time. The script was tidy for me, going to technical aspects, I liked the cinematography that is small but that at the beginning especially stands out with those forests and logs colliding with the water, it looks surprising, capable of long shots but optimizes the resource. The love story is interesting especially from the middle, where the main one projects onto the girl (Frances Farner) his desire to make up for the mistake he made in his past by leaving his beloved to choose another life.

In performances they made me very good, and they managed to hold each other. Edward Arnold was spectacular and goes from being a dreamer who lives life without much care to a bitter man who is haunted by a great mistake from his past. Walter Brennan is the best for me and today I understand his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, he is brilliant, maintains humor and a unique bond with the protagonist, this is seen in the first scene that jumps above him transmits a trust and friendship unique, excellent chemistry.

Frances Farner and Joel McCrea were the great couple who from the beginning longed for their romance, Farner interpret two characters very well in this film with very different characters and contexts.

A film that has kept its charm over the years and that I would perfectly see again.

Edward Arnold Totally Miscast

[caproberts-53192 · 2/10 · 4 September 2018]

Hard to understand why roly-poly Edward Arnold was cast as a boss of lumberjacks in "Come And Get It". They must have issued a casting call for the shortest guys in Hollywood to play the lumberjacks so Arnold wouldn't be dwarfed by them. He looks like he'd be huffing and puffing just walking downhill. Who did he pay to get the part? He was especially creepy as the stalker of his best friend's daughter.

On the other hand, Frances Farmer was an excellent choice to play Lotta. Considering the period the film was made, she came off as authentic in the role of beer hall floozy. Even the way she walked and carried herself in a hall full of drunken men made you think Ms Farmer knew who she was supposed to be.

As for Walter Brennan, he seemed to really enjoy his work and made the most of his part. The most ludicrous scene in the whole movie however was his character leaping into the outstretched arms of his old friend. Have to admit I've never seen two grown men do anything like that. They must have been really close friends up in the remote timber country.

Frances Farmer and Edward Arnold Shine

[drednm · 29 November 2008]

Old fashioned to be sure, but this film version of the Edna Ferber novel boasts some great film acting by Edward Arnold and Frances Farmer (in a dual role).

Story has the ruthless Arnold working his way up in the Wisconsin lumber business, grabbing at everything in sight, including saloon gal Farmer. He seems to care about nothing but getting ahead. When he gets the chance to marry the boss' daughter (Mary Nash), he dumps Farmer and moves on.

Twenty year later, he has it all plus two children: Joel McCrea and Andrea Leeds. By chance he runs into old pal (Walter Brennan in his first Oscar win) who married Farmer. She's dead but her daughter (Farmer again) lives with him along with a niece (Mady Christians). The daughter is a dead ringer for the mother, and Arnold decides to move in on her (in a last gasp at youth).

But when the daughter meets McCrea, it's all over for Arnold. The father and son have a confrontation and the old man sees the light.

This film offers some of the best acting of any 30s film. Edward Arnold is superb, and his final scene is just plain chilling. Farmer is glorious in her dual role, her best chance at film stardom (that never happened). Also solid are McCrea, Brennan, Leeds, and Nash. Supporting cast offers Cecil Cunningham as the wise-cracking and wise secretary.

The film may set a Hollywood record in listing THREE directors. Both Howard Hawks and William Wyler are listed as co-directors while Richard Rosson is credited with the timber scenes (which are great).

Worth a look for Frances Farmer and Edward Arnold!

They don't come much better than this.

[faithway · 7/10 · 18 August 2002]

You could not find anyone better than Edward Arnold to play the roll of Barney Glasgow.Walter Brennan [Swain] is an actors actor.Frances Farmer [Lotta] was believable in a duel roll.Joel McCrea [Edward Glasgow] was super.There are some movies than you do not want to see end because you were pulled into it,this was one.

An unsatisfying film

[Cicerosaurus · 6/10 · 30 May 2001]

One of the few chances that you will get to see Frances Farmer, who comes across as a very decorative actress. She gets to play two roles in the film; both the mother and the daughter. However the film itself suffers from studio bound sets and a rather unconvincing story. The ubiquitous Walter Brennan appears playing a Swedish logger!!!

Archetypal Charivari.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 17 May 2009]

There was co-director but this sure looks like Howard Hawks. For one thing, there's Frances Farmer, Hawks' type of woman -- young, beautiful, throaty. For another, it's almost a rough draft of "Red River". An ambitious man leaves the woman who loves him. The woman dies in his absence. Years later, he and his son meet another woman who reminds the father figure of the girl he once lost. The son falls in love with her. Conflict ensues between the two men, with the father provoking a physical fight with the younger man. The older man realizes that he's been foolish and the son winds up with the girl. (I think it was Robin Wood who first pointed out these parallels.) And that climactic scene -- with the father (Edward Arnold) slapping his son (Joel McRea) -- appears not just in "Come and Get It" and "Red River" but, in altered form, in Hawks' "Billy the Kid." Anyway, Arnold is the hearty, blustering man of business who slips sideways into a marriage de convenance, leaving Frances Farmer behind. She's good looking enough and might have been a decent actress if she hadn't been mentally ill.

Good scenes of cutting timber and processing the logs into sheets of wood. Good depiction of stubborn robber baron mentality too -- Arnold bellows cheerfully, "Why by the time I'm done there won't be ten cents worth of timber left." Joel McRea is a stubborn kid who invents the paper cup and who has notions about replanting the forest, both of which Arnold believes to be nonsense. Florence Kluckhohn, the anthropologist, suggested humans have three ways of relating to nature: conquer it, live in harmony with it, or be subjugated to it. For Arnold's rabid capitalist, it's always "Vici, vici, vici." He rails against Teddy Roosevelt and his trust busters. It wasn't that way in the old days when you could shave an entire ecosystem down to stubble. Why can't they leave a man alone to do things the way they've always been done. An appealing sentiment. Well, it must be appealing because it appears so often in advertisements and commercials. "Never had it. Never will." It's kind of an interesting thread that is only brought in a few times and then discarded.

What the script lacks in social comment -- something that never interested Howard Hawks anyway -- it makes up for in its examination of the psychodynamics of Edward Arnold. He begins as a greedy devil-may-care hard working poor guy. His fling with Frances Farmer is nothing more than that to him. But after he leaves and she dies, he finds himself in a companionate marriage that doesn't satisfy him. His old friend (Walter Brennan) had married Farmer and they'd had a daughter. When Arnold visits his old friend again, the first time in twenty years, he is struck by Brennan's daughter who looks exactly like Frances Farmer -- and in fact IS Farmer in a dual role.

Arnold is now rich and powerful but he's fifty years old, more than twice the age of Brennan's daughter. Well, as they say, there is no fool like a fool who has had twenty years to get used to having everything he's ever wanted -- and he wants Farmer. It doesn't do him any good. He showers her with gifts and finally proposes that they set up in a Chicago apartment where no one will know what's going on. She's repulsed, of course, and he comes to his senses.

It's difficult for all of us to finally come to our senses, and the last shot of Edward Arnold ringing the huge triangle at his mansion, calling everyone to dinner, and braying, "Come and get it!", with his eyes filled with tears, is a tragic one. He's one of those people who made the wrong choice years ago, just like the rest of us.

Frances Farmer should have received at least an Academy Award nomination.

[none-85 · 10/10 · 12 December 1998]

At 22 Frances Farmer gave the greatest performance of her career, playing two roles. She should have at least received an Academy Award nomination for two difficult and different roles. I like her best as Lotta Bostrom- the young but ambitious innocent. Edward Arnold is perfect as the ambitious lumberjack and then business tycoon who falls for the the two Lottas. The drama of the older man falling for and obsessed for the young girl is a familiar one, but Farmer and Arnold give it something special. The other leads- Joel McCrea and Walter Brennan are also great in thir roles. The movie is a fair bit different from the book by Edna Ferber.

Leisurely Yarn

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 17 March 2022]

A leisurely yarn set against the timber industry of the 1880s that finds baron Edward Arnold philandering with a saloon singer who ends up dying, and then trying to philander again with the singer's daughter years later.

There's a substantial ick factor in this movie, moderated somewhat by the fact that both the singer and her daughter are played by the same actress, Frances Farmer. Joel McCrea is on hand as Arnold's son, who also falls for the daughter, and Walter Brennan won the very first ever Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing Arnold's lifelong friend and father to the girl he's in love with.

Arnold's character is really despicable in just about every way, but he gives a great performance, and while the movie overall isn't anything overly memorable, the very last shot of it is.

Also nominated for Best Film Editing.

Grade: B.

First-rate in every way

[tentender · 10/10 · 3 July 2006]

Howard Hawks is, of course, one of the two or three Hollywood directors (with Hitchcock and Ford) to be relied on for top entertainment. Who can argue that? From "Scarface" to "Hatari!" by way of -- just to name a few -- "Only Angels Have Wings," "His Girl Friday," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "Red River," "The Thing from Another World" -- great pictures all. And "Come and Get It" is as good as the best of them. (Parenthetical note: Despite William Wyler's co-directing credit, the film was clearly developed and designed by Hawks -- there is nothing in it that really suggests Wyler's work.) Surprising indeed, in that the leading role is played by one of my top ten un-favorite actors, Edward Arnold. But for once I bought him, hook, line and sinker. He's no good when he's supposed to be "comic" ("Easy Living"), he overplays when he's supposed to be unpleasant ("You Can't Take It With You") but for once he's a character -- not really unpleasant, but on the verge -- who needs our sympathy and -- not to give away the ending -- he gains it totally with a simple but powerful reaction to the worst insult this man can experience: "Leave him alone -- he's an old man." Frances Farmer, in a well-differentiated dual role (she even goes so far as to sing as a contralto as one and a soprano as the other!), is excellent and astonishingly beautiful: she looks a great deal like Kim Novak, but brighter and livelier. And the supporting performances -- from Mary Nash and Mady Christians (here sympathetic but teamed the following year as two meanies in Allan Dwan's "Heidi"), to Walter Brennan (here winning his first and THE first supporting actor Oscar) to Joel McCrea (second-billed but in a quite subsidiary role) to lovely Andrea Leeds, hunk Frank Shields and sardonic secretary Cecil Cunningham -- are filled with delightful detail. Even the near-ten-minute semi-documentary (beautifully scored by Alfred Newman) on the process of delivering lumber from the forest to the mill is exciting! The best thing in the film: the McCrea-Farmer slapping scene (followed by a taffy pull). Delightful. Aside from this plethora of incidental pleasures, the film's structure is deeply satisfying: well-developed scenes, lasting from five to ten minutes, each leading to a significant climax (often humorous) and blackout. The rhythm is perfect. A great picture!

Edward Arnold & Francis Farmer were Great

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 30 March 2007]

This 1936 film held my interest from beginning to end which starts out with timber cutting and logging the wood from Wisconsin to the mill for paper products. Edward Arnold, (Bernard,'Barney' Glasgow) is in charge of this logging business and has a goal of becoming very wealth which he accomplishes. Barney falls in love with a woman who works in a dance hall and sweeps her away with his charm and promise for bigger and better things. However, Barney has a business deal with an old friend and it requires Barney marry this man's daughter, so he goes off and leaves Lotta Morgan played by Francis Farmer. Lotta Morgan then marries Walter Brennan, (Swan Bostrom) and they have a daughter, Lotta Bostrom, (Francis Farmer) The plot thickens with Barney getting the hots for Lotta Bostrom a girl who could be his daughter. However, Joel McCrea,(Richard Glasgow) falls in love with Lotta Bostrom and you will have to see this great film to find out just what really happens. In one scene it looked like they were going discover the use for paper cups, namely:- "Dixie CUPS" Great Film, Enjoy!

An Insufficiently Recognized Gem

[mark_r_harris · 9/10 · 4 February 2007]

Perhaps in part because of its unusual co-directorial credit (Howard Hawks and William Wyler), Come and Get It hasn't tended to get the recognition it deserves. By all accounts, Hawks directed most of the movie (until he had a falling-out with producer Samuel Goldwyn), and it sits comfortably within his oeuvre. The manly, rough-and-tumble logging world of turn-of-the-century Wisconsin is an apt Hawksian setting, and the realistic human dynamics are also quite characteristic. Several characters marry for reasons other than "love" and make what they can of their situations. Hawks was adult about such things. The ending of the film, which has to do with a protagonist's disappointment and sad enlightenment rather than his fulfillment (as Hollywood would generally have it), is strikingly mature.

The bi-generational structure of both Edna Ferber's novel Come and Get It and the movie, is reminiscent of Emily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights (not the movie versions, such as Wyler's, which have usually wrecked her careful symmetries). The open question of the movie is, will the younger generation make different decisions with more favorable outcomes, or not? The narrative leads one to hope so, but doesn't give a definite answer. One of the submerged issues here is whether marrying on the basis of love necessarily does lead to better outcomes than marrying for other reasons.

Wyler's sequences (something between the last ten minutes and last half hour of the film) blend seamlessly with Hawks's, as do the striking logging sequences filmed by a second unit on location under the direction of Richard Rosson. Those sequences are visually quite Wisconsonian, but were actually filmed in Idaho. I found this account at Boise State University's Idaho Film Collection online catalogue:

"The Idaho Statesman (March 17, 1936) reports around 50 technicians and specialists will arrive that week from California, to film the annual log drive down the North Fork and Clearwater rivers for the movie. The Lewiston Morning Tribune, (April 1) reports the film company will be moving from their main location camp at Camp Rosson and going 20 miles north to the head of Beaver Creek. The same article further recounted that the second staff of camera men had finished the day before and had returned to Hollywood already and that total production cost for the film would be $1,250,000, with $200,000 spent on location work in the Lewiston region. Two days later the same paper reported that two dogs of a dog sled that had been hired to haul supplies fought and both died. Other injuries reported: two woodsmen hospitalized for various injuries and one member of the company dying of heart failure atop a 50-foot tree. As for other events related to the filming, a labor strike and deep snow had stalled filming for some time."

The location scenes look grand and add considerably to the texture of the movie. One of Come and Get It's virtues is its status as one of the finest historical films set in a state, Wisconsin, that has had less than its due on screen. I am having the opportunity to introduce the film at a screening by the Green Bay Film Society, and I expect the audience will thoroughly enjoy the Wisconsin lore and the settings in Iron Ridge (actually Hurley, on the border of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, a legendarily "wicked" town; the prototype for Frances Farmer's character is a prostitute who was murdered there) and Butte des Morts (actually Neenah, on the Fox River, which indeed became one of the most prosperous cities in Northern Wisconsin, as the film suggests; there are plenty of old-money mansions dating from that era that are still standing). The Hurley scenes are mainly 1884, the Neenah scenes mainly 1907. Hawks actually spent part of his boyhood in Neenah at around that time, from the ages of four to ten (1900-1906), so he was on familiar ground.

A final word on the acting, which is really quite fine down to the tiny roles, although one may have reservations about the "Yumpin Yiminee!" Swedish stereotyping of Walter Brennan's role (which nonetheless won him the first Supporting Actor Oscar ever given). Those Swedish stereotypes were everywhere for a few decades, but seem to have completely disappeared after the Fifties (fortunately). Edward Arnold shines in one of the best roles he ever had, and Frances Farmer does a lovely job in her crucial dual role (Exhibit A for those who consider her a great actress, since she didn't get many chances after this because of her other instabilities). Joel McCrea is as charming as always, and there are a couple of neat performances by Cecil Cunningham as Arnold's knowing secretary and Andrea Leeds as his spunky daughter. The father/daughter scenes are unusual in their casual bantering intimacy (she calls her dad "Barney," and he can discuss matters with her that he would never think of raising with his wife). That, again, is Hawks all over, even though he didn't write the words.

Barney Trouble

[Lejink · 6/10 · 11 January 2022]

I was immediately arrested by the shared director credit for this film between Howard Hawks and William Wyler, two of my favourites from Hollywood's Golden Age. The movie was adapted from a popular, serious novel of the time by Edna Farber who apparently was unhappy at the way original director Hawks was interpreting her story so producer Sam Goldwyn summarily fired old Howard with Wyler called in to finish the job. It's generally believed that the last third of the film of his.

Can you see the join, well I sort of think so. Hawks posits the main character Edmund Arnold's Barney Glasgow all-action, go-getting character as the centrifugal force driving events around him. A born leader-of-men who wants the world and a bit, we see his meteoric rise from a foreman logger to setting up a marriage to the big boss's daughter as his passport to wealth and status. However during a passing visit to a bar in the outback, he and Walter Brennan, adopting a strange Muppet-chef take on the Swedish accent as his Scandinavian chum Swan Bostrom, are smitten by the young female barmaid serving them, Frances Farmer's Lotta Morgan, especially after she gets up to sing "Arra Lee", the forerunner to Elvis's later "Love Me Tender".

Big boss Barney naturally has first dibs on Lotta and falls head over heels for her, sweeping the young girl off her feet, but when push comes to shove, Barney chooses hard cash over warm heart and goes back to complete his arranged marriage, leaving old Swan to swoop in and marry the heartbroken Lotta instead.

Fast-forward twenty years or so and the now middle-aged Barney seems happy enough with his bargain, financially rich with the big house and social position to match, his safe if passion-less marriage has endured and he has two grown-up children, an adult son and daughter who will both in different ways influence the course of events ahead of him.

Then, the big man's world is turned upside down when old Swan rolls back into town. It seems that Lotta died early in the marriage but not before producing a lookalike daughter bearing the same name, who he's brought along with him. Lotta Mark II soon stirs up old passions in the old man, who sees a chance to recapture with her his lost youth. This Lotta yearns for the excitement of life in the big city, which Barney can give her but only if she'll submit to being his mistress. Unsurprisingly, the young girl is outraged at this proposal and besides, his son has fallen for the girl too, setting up a moral dilemma for the man who seemingly has everything,

I have to say that Arnold, Brennan and Farmer make for one of the strangest love-triangles I've seen on celluloid and it gets stranger still when Arnold and his worm-just-about-to-turn son Joel then end up competing for the first woman's daughter a generation later.

It's interesting to think of the how the film might have turned out if either of the two star directors had full ownership of the project, but as it is, it's an interesting if uneven oddity of a film, very patchy in its writing and acting (heaven only knows how Brennan won the inaugural best supporting actor award that year for his performance) but the film gets by on its energy and besides features exciting documentary-realism footage of real-life logging out in the wild.

And I liked how it ends up on the title phrase in perhaps the strangest scene of all as Barney decides his fate while rattling a dinner-gong...

Like I said, a very strange film indeed!

Don't Bother Coming To Get It

[timothymcclenaghan · 3/10 · 7 February 2007]

Edna Ferber's novels weren't treated very well by Hollywood. This was partly due to censorship. Her characters and plots had to be sanitized. The other problem was trying to digest novels which were grand in scope down to less than two hours of film. This movie is another example of a poor transition of one of her novels to film.

It seems that a lot of the film was spent showing scenes of timber being cut, rolling down the mountainside and floating down the river. Who cares!? The time would have been better spent on plot development and characterization.

All of the actors did just fine with what they were given. Actors can't do much with a weak and dull script.

However, Joel McCrea's part is so small that his talent is completely wasted in the role. Any contract player could have portrayed the character, although I'm sure McCrea's name had box-office value.

It's my opinion that this film is just not that good. There are many other films of that age which are much better and stand up to the passage of time. The best that can be said is that the print recently shown by TCM was in excellent condition.