Swamp Water

CinemaSerfJun 2022

3.5

"Ben" (Dana Andrews) is taking part in a manhunt through the swamp to track down long since escapee "Tom Keefer" (Walter Brennan) who has been hiding out there for many a year. His dog spots a deer drinking by the side of the river and jumps off their boat into the Okefenokee after it. Despite the sagacious counsel of his father (Walter Huston), he decides to set off into the undergrowth to try and reunite with his mutt. There he encounters their previous quarry and discovers things might not be so straightforward as he'd previously thought; especially when he returns and meets the fugitive's daughter "Julie" (Anne Baxter) and has to cross swords with the scheming "Dorson" brothers - Ward Bond and Guinn Williams (whom I swear has more than a passing resemblance to George W. Bush!). The story has an inevitability about it, but Brennan and Andrews, not for the first time, gel well - as do Andrews and the slightly doey eyed Baxter. Eugene Pallette - or at least his inimitable voice - helps keep it moving, alongside John Carradine and a gentle performance from Mary Howard making for an untaxing, but enjoyable enough thriller with some lovely cinematography and real life alligators!