Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

weezeralfalfa Some suggest that this film was meant to be a poor man's "Gone With the Wind". A similar charge has often been leveled at the later film "Band of Angels", starring Clark Gable and Yvonne De Carlo There's probably some truth to this charge, but any film that deals with a subject somewhat resembling GWTW is going to be negatively compared to it. Remember, these 2 films are only half or less as long as GWTW. Why not just accept them on their own merits. They are all distinctive enough in their details to stand on their own.There were, of course, Southern Unionists before and during the Civil War. Sometimes they were concentrated in particular regions. An obvious example is the northwestern part of Virginia, which seceded to become West Virginia. One Unionist was Newton Knight, who lived in Jones County, MS. He enlisted in the Confederate army, but eventually deserted, claiming to be a Unionist forced to fight for the Confederacy. He was the leader of a group of mostly deserters, mostly from Jones county and surrounding counties, who acted as guerillas against government troops and officials. For a time, he was jailed as a deserter, and his homestead burned, as an example. At one point, Knight and his supporters hid in a swamp, which government troops had great difficulty penetrating. This is the historical background from which this story is derived.The Dabneys are the ruling extended family in the Levington Valley of MS. The patriarchal grandfather, Sam Dabney((Russell Simpson), is infirm on the eve of secession of MS from the Union, and dies after an emotional outburst against secession and its probable traumatic effect on his empire. His son and heir apparent: Hoab Dabney(Ward Bond), also is vehemently opposed to secession and against the war for similar reasons, and talks of seceding from the state if it secedes from the Union. Hoab's daughter, Morna(Susan Hayward), is engaged to a cavalry officer(Whitfield Connor, as Clay) in the US army, who will join the Confederate army, against the wishes of the Dabneys. However, Morna severely hurts her back from a horse fall, and the doctor claims she will never walk again(There is conflicting evidence whether one or both legs are affected). Clay pretends that his love for her has not now diminished, but he soon begins dating her sister Aven(Julie London), and soon they are married. Meanwhile, journalist Keith Alexander(Van Helfin) has professed his love for Morna whatever her physical condition in the future may be. Morna's attendants keep massaging her legs and encouraging her to try to walk. One day, Keith's talk makes her angry, and she stands. With more exercises, she eventually is able to walk, albeit with a limp.Meanwhile, Clay's troops have blockaded the southern pass out of the valley, so that the residents can't get supplies from the gulf port. Hoab and Keith have organized the valley residents into a fighting force against Clays troops. But Clay's artillery, especially, and setting of fires destroy the Dabney's mansion and other buildings. Hoab's and Keith's men retreat into a swamp, which Clay's troops are able to penetrate, and a battle ensues. I leave the climax and conclusion for you to see. Available at You Tube in Technicolor. The most interesting relationship is that between Morna and Clay. The combination of her incapacitating injury and Clay's joining of the Confederate Army wrecked their romantic involvement. When it was discovered that Clay's army was about to attack the valley from the north, whereas Keith and his men had gone south for supplies, she rode to Clay's camp with the idea of convincing him that she still loved him more than Keith. She seduced him, with the intent of delaying the assault on the valley until Keith's men could return. But Clay saw through her plan and used the time to alter his attack plan and move his cannons forward, in position to bombard the Dabney Mansion.

Neil Doyle Nine years after losing the role of Scarlett in GWTW, Susan Hayward got her chance to play a Southern belle in 'Tap Roots'. While her emoting is more than sufficient, the weak script cannot live up to the expensive trappings and handsome production values of this minor technicolor epic from Universal.Van Heflin, a fine actor, is a dashing newspaper publisher involved with the saucy heroine, as are her brother (Richard Long), an Indian who practices primitive cures (Boris Karloff), and her sister (Julie London). Against a Civil War background in Mississippi, the cliches are all there--and for good measure there's even a fire that destroys a plantation. If you're expecting another GWTW, forget it. It's simply an enjoyable Civil War romance photographed in lush technicolor and designed to showcase Susan Hayward's ability to play a vixenish Southern belle. For added interest, Ward Bond is featured in a strong supporting role--just as he was in GWTW.Summing up: average entertainment but nothing spectacular.

artzau The other comment is quite good in that I can find little with which to disagree. True, there is a weak script, but then, there were a lot of them floating around Hollywood in the late 40s. Van Heflin was one of those actors who was hard to pigeonhole. He could play villains or heros. His role in Patterns was a classic. Here, as the illegitimate son of a "powerful" individual-- we're never told who, he tries to conjure up some of the dash of Gable from years before but winds up looking like a cross between Rhet and Billy Goat Gruff. Susan Hayward's performance is weak, compared to some of her later roles, as is blustering Ward Bond. Whitfield Conner is charming, as he was in the few roles he left us but largely immemorable. And, then there was Karloff: here, out of heavy make-up as a Native American (we called them Indians back then)but still wide-eyeing it and looking mysterious. (I remember as a kid when he gets shot, the audience sighing their disapproval; but the writers snuffed him anyway). All in all, the film is not GWTW, and, in my view nor should it be. It was a bit of late 40s costume fantasy and certainly worth the $.32 I paid to see it in '48. I loved it then and loved when I saw it on the late show, years later. It's entertaining and should not be taken beyond its face value. It does not pretend to be a classic and will not be taken as such. But, I found it entertaining both as a kid and as an adult (or big kid, as my wife insists).

Ale fish Universal seem to have thrown a lot of cash at these sub 'Gone with the Wind' shenanigans but really should have paid more attention to the script. Although a potentially interesting idea - a small valley tries to stay neutral during the US Civil War - the movie concentrates almost exclusively on a vapid central romance lifted almost wholesale from that earlier Selznick classic.Van Hefflin tries hard to inject the kind of dangerous humour that Clark Gable brought to Rhett Butler but Susan Hayward is hopelessly miscast as the young, flighty Southern belle. An excellent actress in the right circumstances, here she looks far too sensible for the role and resorts to a permanent wide-eyed stare to convey youth and innocence. She merely looks like a startled rabbit.Elsewhere, what should have been the pivotal role of the valley's patriarch is simply not given enough screentime, thus reducing Ward Bond to the occasional ineffectual splutter and the climax to an empty, mechanical spectacle devoid of emotional resonance. Boris Karloff brings a touch of class to the role of the friendly native American retainer but Julie London is wasted in a thankless role.Overall, it's the kind of picture that the studio must have presumed would make itself and this lack of commitment results in a significant lack of quality.