Lure of the Wilderness
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in the 1910s in Fargo, Georgia, near a dangerous swamp. Ben Tyler and his father Zack one day go into the swamp to search for two lost trappers. During an unsuccessful journey, Ben's dog Careless disappears while running after a deer. While looking for Careless, Ben is hit in the head by someone, and when he awakens, he finds himself captured by two primitive people, the old Jim Harper and his fierce, aggressive daughter Laurie.
Ben recognizes Jim, who has been accused of a murder committed eight years ago. Fearing lynching, Jim and his daughter have since fled the nearby village to live in the wilderness. Jim admits to one killing, claiming it was done in self-defense, but insists that the other murder was committed by the vicious Longden brothers. Despite Laurie's clearly noticeable lack of trust in Ben, he believes the story of Jim and tells them he wants to return to the civilization to give them a fair trial.
The following days, Ben accompanies Jim and Laurie in their routine days, which includes hunting. In this period, Laurie's hostility towards Ben softens and they start feeling attracted to each other. During a short return to home, Ben outrages his father and fiancée Noreen by announcing he will soon go back into the swamp. Noreen announces she does not plan on waiting for him and that she will look for another beau. At a later dance, Noreen provokes a fight between Ben and Jack Doran, her date, and Ben eventually breaks off the engagement.
Noreen follows Ben to Laurie and finds out about her identity. She falsely claims to Laurie that Ben has betrayed the Harpers and she next tells the Longdens about Ben's interference with Jim and Laurie. As a revenge, the Longdens almost drown Ben and later try to find the Harpers to kill them, so the truth will not come out. Ben also goes into the swamp to warn Jim and Laurie, who initially do not believe his warnings until Ben becomes a target of the Longdens. After Jim is shot by one of them, Laurie sets a trap which kills one of the brothers and captures the other. In the end, the Harpers' name is cleared and they are finally able to return to the civilization, accompanied by Ben.

Review: I would like this movie on DVD.
I saw this movie in original release and have always wanted to see it again.
It is beautifully acted by the entire cast, especially Walter Brennan.
As usual, he was  always an asset to any movie.
The setting of the swamp gave the movie adventure,suspense and beauty.
This is one classic that should be restored to its original state..
Good story...Great adventure!.
Here is an unusual story about a girl and her father, who take refuge in the Georgia swamps as they try to evade a linching mob.
The father (excellently played by Walter Brennan) had been wrongly accused of murder in a small neighboring town.
The girl (who turns out to be the beautiful -and quite athletic - Jean Peters)grows up in the swamps, away from civilization, until a man (handsome Jeff Hunter) arrives at their campsite looking for his stray dog.
Of course the two young actors eventually fall in love, but even this is believable and interwined into the action and adventure of this highly intersting film.
Director Jean Negulesco offers us a well balanced and magnificently edited film that deals with prejudices and lies - which can be abundant in any small town.
Very well acted by Peters, Hunter, et all...who award us with quite authentic southern accents, for a change..
excellent movie,wonderful cast,and very enjoyable to watch,so i'm wondering why it was never released to video,I know that there has to be a copy somewhere because it was shown on Disney channel years ago,when satellites first came out,I have a copy from back then,still watchable but would love to own a new copy of it.just can't understand why this version was never released,and swamp water was,Lure of the wilderness is a remake of swamp water,and is a much better movie.,SO if one of these ever becomes available,I would sure love to purchase one.So you guys find me one.
Thanks for the chance to express my opinion.
Louise.
Film basis.
This film was based on the earlier "Swamp Water" - both great films.
The earlier film also starred Dana Andrews and John Carradine.
I loved all the Walter Brennan movies as well as his character, Grandpa Amos, in the TV series "The Real McCoys", which starred another late and great actor, Richard Crenna, as Luke..
Constance Smith/Jean Peters.
When I happened to come upon this film on TV, Constance Smith was on the screen.
Immediately, I thought of Jean Peters because the resemblance was so great.
I even thought she WAS Jean Peters, although the eye color and absence of the turned up tip of the nose gave me reason to doubt my initial impression.
Lo and behold, who did I find was also in the film - Jean Peters!
I did not see any reference in the film to the resemblance between the two, but I wonder if they were cast together because of this resemblance (admittedly, a subjective impression on my part).
Perhaps there was an unstated implication that Jeffrey Hunter was attracted to Jean because of her resemblance to his "fiancee", played by Constance.
In any event, a very good, if relatively unknown film, even as a remake of the generally more highly rated film it's derived from (with Walther Brennan in both!)..
Very Uplifting Story.
The setting really makes the movie.
The swamp.
Super photography and the acting is fairly decent.
Reminded me somewhat of a Disney family movie..
Lure of the Wilderness.
Lure of the Wilderness.
This is one of those very good technicolor 90 minute or so little gems made in the early 50s that is a mostly forgotten movie and it is sad....a very young Jeffrey Hunter and a very young vivacious Jean Peters star in a tale about a girl (Peters) and her father (Walter Brennan) who have been falsely accused of a murder and had to run from the law and hide in the Georgia swamps for years...waiting and waiting until someone could possibly come to find them and get them a fair trial.
Enter Jeffrey Hunter who decides to take a fearful journey into the Okefenoke swamp, a place where neither man nor beast dared venture into to find his lost dog from a hunting trip.
The swamp is loaded full of death traps, including plenty of gators, deadly snakes and other assorted beasts.....Hunter finally sets up camp in an area where Peters and Brennan have been hidden for years.
A relationship develops between the trio and Hunter believes Brennan's story that he was falsely accused and tries to dig up enough money in fur pelts from various animals to help him fund a defense lawyer.
Along the way a wily damsel who supposedly will marry Hunter becomes a jealous, sneaky woman and finds out about Hunter's real motives for continuing to keep venturing into the swamp.
A love story ensues as Hunter and Peters fall in love...a very sweet and tender story follows and the real killers who had put Brennan into hiding get their due in a quicksand pit...one brother survives to tell the real truth and in the end of the movie Brennan is acquitted and Peters and Hunter ride off into the sunset.
This is one little gem of a movie and should be released to video if Fox had any sense.
Hunter and Peters very early in their careers make a handsome couple and the acting is very solid, led by the veteran Walter Brennan, who could handle just about any role.
See this film if you can...watch for it on the Fox network on cable.