At the time this was shot there was a distinct lack of sound technique and for a while it's disconcerting to hear Dana Andrews and Walter Brennan talking in the heart of a swamp in the the clear 'clean' tones that all but scream 'Post-sync'. Renoir was given a mish mosh of a cast for his US debut, Walter Brennan, Eugene Palette, Dana Andrews, Ann Baxter, Ward Bond, Russell Simpson, John Carradine, not the kind of mix that works particularly well. Andrews sticks out like a sore thumb - he's a fine actor but he has 'urban' written all over him whereas most of the others can pass for rural. The plot is our old friend the innocent man framed for a murder he didn't commit just transplanted from the big city to the big - seven hundred miles - swamp. Interesting curio with Andrews rehearsing for the Ox-Bow Incident.
Review of Swamp Water
