Making his screen debut, Henry Fonda reprised his Broadway role as the young farmer who falls in love with a canal boat cook (Janet Gaynor) in this romantic drama set in the 1850s, directed by Victor Fleming. In the New York State of that period, the railroads were still in their infancy and the main means of long distance transport was the Erie Canal. The essential conflict in this drama is between lifestyles: that of the tough canal boatmen and workers and that of the farming community, who were considered feeble. Charles Bickford as boat owner Jotham Klore and Gaynor as boat cook Molly turn in good performances, but the film belongs to Fonda, with his fine, convincing portrayal in a thoroughly enjoyable story.


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