Filmed in Georgia: First major Hollywood production rowed into 'dangerous' Okefenokee Swamp

Filmed in Georgia is a weekly column by Frank Hotchkiss, the Savannah author of Playing with Fire at local bookstores and on Amazon. Contact Frank with recommendations for future film reviews at online@savannahnow.com.

The first major motion picture filmed in the Peach State of Georgia was shot nearly 80 years ago -- in 1941 to be exact -- by one of the most noted film directors ever, Jean Renoir. Not until the 1970s did Hollywood emulate Renoir’s location choice.

Renoir was the son of renowned post-Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and appeared often in his father’s depiction of family life in the south of France.

In the course of his life, Renoir made more than 40 films starting in the silent era and ending in full color in the 1960s. Not only was he a director but a writer, actor and producer as well.

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Renoir began pursuing film creation shortly after the First World War, in which he was wounded in the French cavalry as a reconnaissance pilot, shot in the leg leaving him with a life-long limp. His earliest efforts were financed by selling some of the paintings his father had bequeathed him.

His film successes in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s – relatively unknown here in the United States – brought him to the attention of governmental authorities who did not favor his pacifist and leftist sympathies, and when Germany invaded France in 1940, he fled to the United States and Hollywood.

There in 1941 he shot his first American film, entitled "Swamp Water," with Walter Brennan and Dana Andrews, but the real lead in the picture is the Okefenokee Swamp in southwestern Georgia.

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Film buffs may be surprised to hear Brennan’s distinct voice and accent in a Georgia backwater, since he became so well known as a rough-spoken, out-West cowhand in films like "The Westerner," "Rio Bravo" and "Red River." Here, he plays the wronged fugitive, and plays it well.

It helps that throughout the film the song "Red River Valley" runs in the background, but why Renoir chose that song is a mystery.

Another mystery: why did Renoir locate his first American film in the swamps of Georgia? In fact, how did he know about them at all? Few Americans probably did.

One can only speculate that it was because the unique character of this spectacular swamp and its remote, hostile waters play a crucial role in the story of an accused murderer fleeing justice.

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Where else could Renoir find a dramatic but beautiful setting with dangers of all sorts, including lethal cottonmouth snakes (water moccasins), alligators, and quicksand; plus wet, grassy savannas, small islands or hummocks surrounded by marshes, extensive “prairies,” or dark water areas covered by undergrowth and trees.

Cypress trees with their distinctive above-water root structure and overhanging Spanish moss complete the picture.

The film’s plot is not compelling but the way it was filmed was special. Shot in black and white, it is wonderfully clear with scenes carefully composed, reminiscent of theatrical sets. Some will find the acting and dialogue dated but it is still worth watching.

"Swamp Water" is available on YouTube where the title might be mistaken for a Stephen King horror story. It’s not.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Movies filmed in Georgia: Swamp Water 1941 by Jean Renoir