--- title: "The Yearling" year: 1946 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-yearling" fi1m_id: "the-yearling" imdb_id: "tt0039111" tmdb_id: 19049 wikidata_id: "Q1217612" fi1m_score: 79 critics_reviews: 3 published: "2026-09-20" updated: "2026-09-20T21:04:42.803789+00:00" region: "PL" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Yearling (1946) Directed by Clarence Brown · 2h 08m · Drama, Family, Western ## Identity The Yearling - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-yearling - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-yearling - **IMDb ID:** tt0039111 - **TMDB ID:** 19049 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1217612 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039111/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/19049, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1217612 **Fi1m score: 79** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Every frame is honey-coloured and every adult in it knows the deer is a mistake > Clarence Brown’s film of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s novel about a boy and a fawn in the Florida scrub is patient, handsomely shot and better acted than its reputation for tears suggests. Herbert Stothart’s score does not trust you to feel anything unaided. ## Synopsis Ezra “Penny” Baxter (Gregory Peck) farms a clearing in the Florida scrub country with his wife Orry (Jane Wyman) and their only surviving son, Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.), who wants, more than anything, something of his own to look after. Orry, who has buried the children who came before him, says no. Penny hunts the bear that has been tearing open his hog pen, visits the rowdy Forrester clan up the road, whose frail boy Fodderwing (Donn Gift) is Jody’s only friend, and takes his son to the store run by Mr. Boyles (Henry Travers). Then a rattlesnake bites Penny out in the woods, and to draw the poison he shoots a doe, leaving her fawn alone in the palmettos. Jody asks whether he may keep it. ## Review Clarence Brown’s film of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s novel covers roughly a year in a clearing in the Florida scrub, and it is about what that year costs. Ezra “Penny” Baxter (Gregory Peck) has brought his family out here to be left alone. His wife Orry (Jane Wyman) has buried children in the yard and does not intend to love anything else she might lose. Their son Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.) wants a pet. That is the whole engine, and Paul Osborn’s screenplay has the sense not to bolt on another. It is good, and better than the reputation it has picked up as a weepie about a boy and a deer. The deer does not arrive for a long while. Before it does, Brown gives us the work of the place: Penny tracking the bear that has torn open his hog pen, the two of them hunting with dogs that are not much use, a trip to the store, a fight in the road. This is where the film is strongest, and it is also where you learn that the 128 minutes will not hurry for you. Jarman is the reason to see it. He does not act like a trained child actor, and we mean that as praise: he listens to Peck as if hearing the words for the first time, and when he is happy his whole body goes loose. There is a shot of him lying in the palmettos beside the fawn, talking to it, that Brown holds long past the point another director would have cut, and nothing in it is pushed. Some critics at the time thought the boy-and-fawn scenes edged into sentiment, and one or two do, but the fault is in what surrounds Jarman, never in him. Peck plays Penny quiet and a little stooped, a small man’s part in a tall man’s body, and he is at his best when he is explaining something to his son and choosing which half of the truth to leave out. What we did not expect was to be got at by Wyman. Orry is written hard, all pursed lips and a ladle, and Wyman keeps her hard until a scene late in the first hour where she is asked to give an inch and does. What moved us was how frightened she looked doing it. The film is usually described as a father-and-son story. It is at least as much about the woman at the stove. Three cinematographers are credited, Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith and Arthur E. Arling, and between them they shoot the scrub in a colour that is mostly sand and dusty green with the light coming in low, so the Baxters’ cabin always looks like late afternoon. The animals are photographed at their own pace, the fawn allowed to wander, the bear in real undergrowth. Arlington Valles keeps everyone in faded homespun and Penny in the same hat throughout, which is right for people who own one of everything. Harold F. Kress cuts the hunting sequences so you always know where the dogs are. Herbert Stothart’s score is the film’s real flaw, and it is a large one. It swells under every tender look, turns each of Jody’s small delights into a choir, and in the scenes with the fawn it does the crying for you before you have decided whether to cry. Imagine the same scenes silent and they play as plain and true. We were irritated, and then we were irritated at being irritated by a film that was otherwise treating us like adults. The Forresters up the road, Chill Wills, Forrest Tucker and Clem Bevans among them, with Margaret Wycherly as Ma, supply the rough comedy: a house full of large men who drink, sing and take offence. Donn Gift, as the frail boy Fodderwing who names the fawn, gives the film its second real child performance. Henry Travers has a scene or two as the storekeeper. The second half turns hard in a way we will not describe, except to say that Brown, who made *National Velvet* two years earlier, does not this time let the story off lightly. Watch it with a child if you like, but do not leave them alone with the last half hour. They may have questions, and Stothart will not answer them for you. *Fi1m score 79, published 20 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is The Yearling worth watching?** *The Yearling* is worth watching for anyone with patience for a slow, handsomely shot family drama about a boy, a fawn and what a year in the Florida scrub costs, and we scored it 79. Claude Jarman Jr. gives an unforced child performance and Jane Wyman is better than the weepie reputation suggests. Herbert Stothart's score, which swells under every tender look, is the one large flaw. **How long is The Yearling, and what is it rated?** *The Yearling* runs 2h 08m. It is a drama and family film. **Where can I watch The Yearling in Poland?** *The Yearling* is not on any streaming or rental service in Poland at the moment. It is available in 1 other country; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How does The Yearling compare to Kes?** *The Yearling* and [*Kes*](https://film.one/film/kes) tell much the same story, a boy and a wild animal he wants for his own, but Ken Loach's film scrapes off the sentiment that Clarence Brown's Hollywood version lays on thick, chiefly through its score. *Kes* is funnier, rougher and more honest about a child's life; *The Yearling* is gentler and warmer to look at. We would send most adults to *Kes* first. **Is The Yearling based on a true story or a book?** *The Yearling* is based on Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's novel, not on a true story, adapted by Paul Osborn. The film keeps the book's simple engine, a boy who wants something to look after and a mother who has buried children and will not risk loving again, without adding a second plot. You do not need to know the novel to follow it. **What should I watch after The Yearling?** After *The Yearling*, try [*Kes*](https://film.one/film/kes) (1970, Fi1m 88): A Barnsley boy trains a kestrel; the same story with the sentiment scraped off. Then [*The Black Stallion*](https://film.one/film/the-black-stallion) (1979, Fi1m 87): A boy and a horse on a beach, shot as if nobody had ever filmed either; and [*Pather Panchali*](https://film.one/film/pather-panchali) (1955, Fi1m 93): Childhood in a poor Bengali village, with the same patience and far less music. ### Reviews we read (3) - **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (90/100, inferred): The film is a cheerful and inspiring story about a boy's coming of age, handled with restraint and intelligence by director Clarence Brown. It features an exceptionally fine and genuine performance by young Claude Jarman Jr. as Jody. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1947/01/24/archives/the-yearling-based-on-novel-by-marjorie-rawlings-opens-at-radio.html) - **The New Yorker** (70/100, inferred): Paul Osborn's adaptation is a first-class job that keeps the material straightforward and often moving, getting the most out of themes like a boy's friendship with his father and his love of animals. It occasionally edges toward sentimentality in the boy-and-fawn scenes but remains diverting overall, with strong performances from Claude Jarman Jr. and Gregory Peck. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1947/02/01/1947-02-01-056-tny-cards-000020977) - **Variety** (70/100, inferred): Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel is adapted into a heart-warming story of family ties, the Florida scrub country, and a boy's love for his pet fawn. Director Clarence Brown injects highlights to maintain interest in a minor-key telling that has underlying power and impressive underplaying. [Read](https://variety.com/1945/film/reviews/the-yearling-1200414640/) ## Details - **Director:** Clarence Brown - **Director:** Clarence Brown - **Screenplay:** Paul Osborn - **Novel:** Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - **Cinematography:** Charles Rosher, Arthur E. Arling, Leonard Smith - **Editor:** Harold F. Kress - **Music:** Herbert Stothart - **Costume design:** Arlington Valles - **Producer:** Sidney Franklin - **Cast:** Gregory Peck as Ezra "Penny" Baxter; Jane Wyman as Orry Baxter; Claude Jarman Jr. as Jody Baxter; Chill Wills as Buck Forrester; Clem Bevans as Pa Forrester; Margaret Wycherly as Ma Forrester; Henry Travers as Mr. Boyles; Forrest Tucker as Lem Forrester - **Runtime:** 2h 08m - **First release (the US):** 18 December 1946 - **Genres:** Drama, Family, Western - **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1946) ## Where to watch in Poland Not streaming, renting or buying in Poland at the last check. Also available in: US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1947: Best Actor (nominated); Best Actress (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Art Direction, Color (won); Best Cinematography, Color (won) ## If you liked this - *Old Yeller* (1957): The other great American boy-and-animal film, and it knows exactly what it is doing to you - *Kes* (1970), Fi1m 88: A Barnsley boy trains a kestrel; the same story with the sentiment scraped off — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/kes.md) - *The Black Stallion* (1979), Fi1m 87: A boy and a horse on a beach, shot as if nobody had ever filmed either — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-black-stallion.md) - *Pather Panchali* (1955), Fi1m 93: Childhood in a poor Bengali village, with the same patience and far less music — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/pather-panchali.md) - *Whistle Down the Wind* (1961): Lancashire farm children hide a stranger in the barn; what they believe about him is the film --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-yearling