The Keeper of the Bees

Disillusioned, world-weary war veteran Jamie McFarland believes he has only a few months to live. He decides to leave the hospital where he is being treated for battlefield injuries and takes a joyride to Chicago. Along the way, he is sidetracked by the bucolic village of Peaceful Bay. He makes the acquaintance of a kindly old beekeeper who gradually convinces him that life is worth living. His relationship with the old man and the townsfolk deepens, leading to unexpected developments he could scarcely imagine.

Based on the popular novel by Gene Stratton Porter, Monogram's 1935 Keeper of the Bees was the second of three film versions, and a follow-up to Girl of the Limberlost, the studio's very profitable Porter adaptation released the previous year. This wholesome film, extolling the virtues of rural life, was a success with family audiences and still reflects credit on everyone involved in its making. A prestige production for the small company, Keeper of the Bees was also a comeback for silent star Neil Hamilton, a fine dramatic actor who attained stardom as a protege of director D. W. Griffith. Today he is best remembered as Commissioner Gordon in the TV show "Batman."

In early 1930s, Monogram pictures held a virtual monopoly on the bucolic novels of Gene Stratton Porter. When Monogram absorbed by the new Republic Pictures in 1935, several Porter properties were included in the merger, among them the 1875 best-seller KEEPER OF THE BEES. In one of her largest screen roles, Emma Dunn plays backwoods faith-healer Aunt Margot. In addition to her duties as county bookkeeper, the old woman is in charge of her daughter Molly (Betty Furness) and niece Scout (Edith Fellows), who loyally protect one another when trouble arises. The story proper gets under way when disillusioned artist Jamie (Neil Hamilton) has his will to live restored by the lovely Molly and her colorful family. KEEPER OF THE BEES was remade virtually intact in 1947.