Our Vines Have Tender Grapes

Talk about obscure. My wife and I recently watched a movie with that name. The movie title comes from Song of Solomon where it says, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes" (Song 2:15). The idea is to suppress heretics before they can damage young believers, a warning about allowing false teachers among new converts. Okay, fine ... but how does that connect to the movie?

It's a 1945 movie starring Edward G. Robinson as Martinius Jacobson, a Norwegian immigrant surviving in Wisconsin circa 1944. His relationship with his daughter, Selma, played by Margaret O'Brien, is the key topic. Other primary characters include his wife, played by Agnes Moorhead, the local newspaper editor (who is almost always called "Editor"), portrayed by Nels Halverson, who loves the town but is seeking desperately to get into the war and his love interest, the new town school teacher, Frances Gifford playing Viola, who loves Editor but hates the town and longs to get away.

The story is actually fairly straightforward. Poor people during tough times. Some not so nice, others very nice. Selma and her playmate terrify their parents when they get in a tin bathtub and get swept down a rain-swollen river. They're okay. The local young girl who the teacher is working hard to get into school but can't because the girl is emotionally disturbed and has a domineering father dies suddenly. That's sad. The "rich" neighbor, Mr. Faraassen, has a sudden catastrophe when lightening strikes his new barn, burning it to the ground and resulting in the loss of his prize livestock. The townsfolk, spurred on by little Selma who gives the family her own pet calf, rise up to assist them. And the new teacher decides she loves Editor and the town.

All fairly straightforward, except for one little scene. Editor and Viola are standing off as the funeral procession for the young girl goes by. Neither takes part. Viola explains that she couldn't stand to be around the hypocrites who were cruel to the girl in life but mourn her death. "People ought to be kind to other people," she says. Editor makes a keen observation. "You were kind to her," he says. "So why aren't you being kind to the people who weren't kind to her?" She's a bit chagrined. And then the killer line. Editor goes on to say, "You're pretty quick to demand tolerance. Where do you draw the line for giving it?"

Wow! Is that kind of thinking even allowed in Hollywood? Would America hear it today? I doubt it. Is it only this fictional, small town newspaper publisher that will see the clear consistency of such a concept? Probably so.

(And I still don't know how the movie title connects to the source text.)