A Girl of the Limberlost

Beautiful, talented young Elnora Comstock, estranged from her constantly disparaging mother, gets love and support from a kindly aunt and uncle. With their help she enrolls in a prestigious high school and manages to accumulate enough money to attend college. But Elnora's plans for the future are complicated by an ill-fated romance with the village doctor's son and the subsequent theft of her meager savings.

A rural drama set in Indiana's swamp country, A Girl of the Limberlost was the most elaborate production undertaken by modest Monogram Pictures in 1934. Nearly 60 sets - including a sound stage swamp - were constructed for the film, which boasted a stellar cast of major studio regulars and silent screen favorites such as Henry B. Walthall, Betty Blythe, Barbara Bedford, and Helen Jerome Eddy. Based on a best-selling novel previously adapted to the screen with considerable success, girl became a monster hit for the Poverty Row studio, reportedly earning a million dollars. The original story was filmed three more times, most recently as a 1990 TV movie.

• drama