The Yearling (M-G-M), a dazzling Technicolored version of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' 1939 Pulitzer Prizewinning novel, is one of the year's most ambitious films. It has been put together with great care, a shrewd eye for beauty and showmanship, impressive technical skill, and a staggering outlay of trouble and money. The result is not quite Art, but it is certainly fancy-quality movie.
Faithful to the novel, the film tells the simple story of a small boy named Jody Baxter and his pet fawn. After suffering a few heartaches, the boy grows older. The plot's minor themes examine the young'-un's sweet-spirited, poverty-ridden parents,...