Come Next Spring (1956): A Review

[“See R.G. Springsteen and Montgomery Pittman’s Come Next Spring (1956), Starring Ann Sheridan and Steve Cochran, with Walter Brennan and Edgar Buchanan, Uncut, for Free, and Without Commercial Interruptions, at the WEJB/NSU Theater!”]

By Anonymous
saturday, september 14, 2024 at 4:22:00 a.m. edt

I first saw Come Next Spring as a kid during its theatrical release as a second feature in 1956, and was greatly impressed by it. (My one reservation was finding the men’s fisticuffs alien to the behavior I’d witnessed among my Jewish relatives.)

Here is the review of the film that I wrote for Netflix back in Feb. 2011. At that time they posted pseudonymous signed reviews, with each reviewer known by a particular number, I recall. However, soon afterwards Netflix initiated a sort of Communist coup by deleting all identification for every single reviewer, past and present, so that readers could no longer find other reviews by the same writer. At that point, I ceased writing reviews for them.

Come Next Spring

You rated this movie: 5.0

A lovely movie. The title phrase, repeated several times in the dialogue, is not a command but simply a variant of the saying, “When spring comes.” The story, set in rural Arkansas in 1927, concerns a man returning to the family he abandoned nine years earlier.

Matt Ballot meets the young son he never knew he had, the daughter whose muteness he caused, and the bitter wife whose love he must win all over again. There are several other neighbors whose respect he must win, as well, in this tight-knit community. Dramatic highlights include a tornado that flattens their barn; an epic fistfight at the Halloween dance between Matt and his perennial rival, Leroy Hightower (played by Sonny Tufts); and, finally, the dramatic rescue of his daughter, Annie, who is hanging on at the edge of a ravine.

Sherry Jackson gives a superb performance as the mute child, which is saying something, considering the all-round excellence of the cast.

Check the comments on IMDB for useful information on the making of the film. Suffice it to say here that it is a touching story of reconciliation and redemption. You will be happy you watched it.

P.S.: I am amazed to see only one other N*****x member review of this wonderful film. (By contrast, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to date has garnered 1650.) A DVD release on Criterion would be ideal.

N.S.: IMDB called the following “trivia,” but I don’t find anything trivial about it.

“Republic Pictures didn’t give this film a proper release, instead dropping it onto the lower half of a double bill, prompting The Hollywood Reporter to run an item declaring, ‘Wake up, Republic. You have another Marty (1955) on your hands... Or don’t you care?’”