HotToastyRag If you've read Gone with the Wind trivia, you know that hundreds of actresses vied for the role of Scarlett O'Hara. A twenty-year-old Susan Hayward was one of them, and to make up for her loss, Hollywood made Tap Roots ten years later. She stars as a feisty, flirty Southern belle on a large plantation just before the outbreak of the Civil War. There are two men in the picture: one she loves through thick and thin, even when he chooses another woman; and a strong, gruff one she bickers with who vows to make her love him. Sound familiar?Well, sorry Suzy, but Tap Roots is no Gone with the Wind. The acting is ridiculously over the top, the characters are thinly written, and the only likable one in the film is Boris Karloff, a friend of the family who's Native American and completely accepted by everyone-which is not very realistic for that time period. I was rooting for Suzy and Boris to get together, since he was the only one in the movie who seemed to care about her, but since the film was trying to mirror the 1939 epic, that ending seemed unlikely.Unless you absolutely love Susan Hayward, you're not going to want to watch this wannabe. Raintree County is a better pseudo-remake, and Scarlett is a thrilling sequel. Tap Roots is just stinky.

jjnxn-1 Half backed shenanigans down plantation way. A story of a wealthy family of farmers who wish to remain separate from the insanity of the Civil War and the fiery minx who is the eldest daughter of said family.More interesting for what it represented to its leading lady than for how the film turned out. When Susan Hayward landed in Hollywood after being spotted in a magazine advertisement she was still Edythe Marrenner a green kid from Brooklyn who along with a flock of other young hopefuls tested for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Obviously she didn't get the part and if you've ever seen her test it's obvious she was nowhere near ready. However it planted the seed for her desire to if not play Scarlett then at least play a Southern belle. Within a short time she was discovered by producer Walter Wanger who recognized her potential and through the years carefully cultivated her career eventually making the film which won her the Oscar, I Want to Live! Along the way, about a decade after her initial GWTW test, Wagner developed this mint julep mediocrity for her to fulfill her dream. The thing is it's an odd choice to achieve that goal. Her character, the interestingly named Morna Dabney, after making a memorable entrance disappears for great swathes of the film's running time, first through infirmity and then being removed from the main action of the story for most of the climax. When the camera does train itself on her she is breathtaking, at the peak of her beauty in gorgeous Technicolor but the script hands her a confused character to play, one minute pining for the lout who runs off with her hussy of a sister, a young and lovely Julie London who is given little to do, the next passionate about Van Heflin playing another murkily defined role. Around the edges of the story are Boris Karloff ludicrously cast as an Indian and Ward Bond who by the end is hamming it up to the nth degree.This is beautifully produced but a moderate affair. However for fans of Miss Hayward it's worth watching once but she has many much better movies in her filmography.

whpratt1 I was able to tape this film years ago. It is not often seen on TV and a true classic film. Tap Roots takes place at the outbreak of the Civil War, Lebanon Valley tries to secede from the state of Mississippi and remain neutral. Hating slavery, its leader, Hoab Dabney(Ward Bond), and a faithful Indian friend of the family, Tishomingo(Boris Karloff), promise to protect the valley against the Confederate army. There is a great cast of actors namely: Susan Hayward, Van Heflin and Julie London(former wife of Jack Webb, Dragnet T.V) Tap Roots is rather long and drawn out. However, the plot has romance, excellent photography of the Civil War costumes, sex situations and the action is of great value. Karloff is excellent as an Indian guide of the family and his make-up makes him look just like a Native American. I noticed the Smoky Mountains located in North Carolina and Tennessee where this Mississippi story was filmed which is magnificent to view.

artzau The other comment is quite good in that I can find little with which to disagree. True, there is a weak script, but then, there were a lot of them floating around Hollywood in the late 40s. Van Heflin was one of those actors who was hard to pigeonhole. He could play villains or heros. His role in Patterns was a classic. Here, as the illegitimate son of a "powerful" individual-- we're never told who, he tries to conjure up some of the dash of Gable from years before but winds up looking like a cross between Rhet and Billy Goat Gruff. Susan Hayward's performance is weak, compared to some of her later roles, as is blustering Ward Bond. Whitfield Conner is charming, as he was in the few roles he left us but largely immemorable. And, then there was Karloff: here, out of heavy make-up as a Native American (we called them Indians back then)but still wide-eyeing it and looking mysterious. (I remember as a kid when he gets shot, the audience sighing their disapproval; but the writers snuffed him anyway). All in all, the film is not GWTW, and, in my view nor should it be. It was a bit of late 40s costume fantasy and certainly worth the $.32 I paid to see it in '48. I loved it then and loved when I saw it on the late show, years later. It's entertaining and should not be taken beyond its face value. It does not pretend to be a classic and will not be taken as such. But, I found it entertaining both as a kid and as an adult (or big kid, as my wife insists).