One of my favorite John Ford discoveries so far is this lazy river comedy, Ford's final collaboration with Will Rogers and a wonderful example of the director's affectionate but critical view of the post-Reconstruction South. Featuring one of Stepin Fetchit's most brazenly satiric roles and a plot that regularly falls to the wayside for the sake of slice-of-life character richness, Steamboat Round the Bend is a modest but powerful display of Ford's carefully constructed subtleties and humanity.
My full review is up now at Movie Mezzanine.
