May Robson--this veteran always gave her best in family dramas. Here she is as Tom's likable Aunt Polly, fresh from her memorable stint as Janet Gaynor's wonderful and endearing grandmother in the original Star Is Born from the previous year (1937),
Walter Brennan--he won his first supporting actor Oscar for Come And Get It in 1936, which was also the first year that this award was given out. He subsequently snagged it two more times. Nobody did a town drunk (like his AOTS character Muff Potter) any better. Truly a "one of a kind" performer.
Victor Jory--the following year, Jory played perhaps his most famous role as the amoral and unpleasant field supervisor at Tara in Gone With The Wind. He was able to be convincing in both sympathetic (The Shadow serial 1940) and nasty (Bad Men Of Missouri 1941) parts. His Injun Joe from AOTS is one of the most scary characters to emerge from movies of the 1930s.
Marcia Mae Jones--this busy child actress scored big as the victim of Bonita Granville's sadistic torment in These Three (1936). She made a convincing Mary Sawyer in AOTS.
Spring Byington--she will always be remembered as Marmee in Little Women (1933) and countless other maternal roles that became her unique specialty.
Margaret Hamilton--her Wicked Witch from The Wizard Of Oz (1939) is probably best described as the female counterpart to Victor Jory's Injun Joe in AOTS.
Donald Meek--the ultimate victim of life's misfortunes in cinema, whose unforgettable presence graced so many enjoyable films of the 1930s. In 1939, he created the memorable whiskey salesman role in Stagecoach; the previous year he was impressive as Poppins In You Can't Take It With You. The human version of a "'frady cat."
On a personal level, AOTS is important to me as being the very first film that I can remember seeing in a movie theater. It also was the first color movie I ever saw. In addition, it introduced to me the element of terror as a possible consequence of going to the movies. And in Tommy Kelly as Tom and Ann Gillis as Becky, I was exposed for the first time to the charm and sweetness of innocent childhood romance--something that probably confused me more than anything else. You see, I had a lot more growing up to do in the days and years ahead!
Walter Brennan--he won his first supporting actor Oscar for Come And Get It in 1936, which was also the first year that this award was given out. He subsequently snagged it two more times. Nobody did a town drunk (like his AOTS character Muff Potter) any better. Truly a "one of a kind" performer.
Victor Jory--the following year, Jory played perhaps his most famous role as the amoral and unpleasant field supervisor at Tara in Gone With The Wind. He was able to be convincing in both sympathetic (The Shadow serial 1940) and nasty (Bad Men Of Missouri 1941) parts. His Injun Joe from AOTS is one of the most scary characters to emerge from movies of the 1930s.
Marcia Mae Jones--this busy child actress scored big as the victim of Bonita Granville's sadistic torment in These Three (1936). She made a convincing Mary Sawyer in AOTS.
Spring Byington--she will always be remembered as Marmee in Little Women (1933) and countless other maternal roles that became her unique specialty.
Margaret Hamilton--her Wicked Witch from The Wizard Of Oz (1939) is probably best described as the female counterpart to Victor Jory's Injun Joe in AOTS.
Donald Meek--the ultimate victim of life's misfortunes in cinema, whose unforgettable presence graced so many enjoyable films of the 1930s. In 1939, he created the memorable whiskey salesman role in Stagecoach; the previous year he was impressive as Poppins In You Can't Take It With You. The human version of a "'frady cat."
On a personal level, AOTS is important to me as being the very first film that I can remember seeing in a movie theater. It also was the first color movie I ever saw. In addition, it introduced to me the element of terror as a possible consequence of going to the movies. And in Tommy Kelly as Tom and Ann Gillis as Becky, I was exposed for the first time to the charm and sweetness of innocent childhood romance--something that probably confused me more than anything else. You see, I had a lot more growing up to do in the days and years ahead!