A Girl of the Limberlost is a 1934 American drama film, directed by Christy Cabanne. It stars Louise Dresser, Ralph Morgan and Marian Marsh, and was released on October 15, 1934. This is the second film adaption of Gene Stratton-Porter's 1909 novel of the same name. The first film adaptation had been released in 1924, and a third was released in 1945.
Plot
In Indiana in 1893, Katherine Comstock discusses with her neighbors Margaret and Wesley Sinton about her child who is due. Katherine's husband Robert is walking back home that night and takes a path through the Limberlost swamp, but he gets tripped up and falls into a pool of quicksand. Katherine heads out into the swamp to help him, but by the time she reaches him, there's not much she can do as she watches her husband drown. Later, after the birth of the child, who has been named Elnora, Wesley and Margaret are seen with the baby, discussing how sad it is that Katherine dislikes her newborn daughter. They wish that they could keep the baby if Katherine does not want to keep her, as they have recently lost a child of their own, but Wesley says Elnora is the last thing Katherine has left after her husband died.
The story flashes forward many years later when Elnora is now a teenager. Elnora tells her mother that she is going to high school, though Kathrine initially refuses, wanting her daughter to stay home and do chores. On her way to school, Elnora stops by the Limberlost swamp at a tree, where inside she has been storing some of her belongings, including a moth collection. Once she's at school, she's met with some taunting from her classmates, which discourages her from wanting to return the next day. She later visits the Sintons, who encourage her to keep her spirits up and offer to help her pay for the books she needs for classes. At home, Katherine continues to treat Elnora with cruelty, blaming her for the death of her husband.
When Elnora heads to school for her second day, she catches a young boy named Billy attempting to steal from someone's home. She sits down with him and offers to him some of her lunch. After school, Elnora visits Mrs. Parker, who is known as “The Bird Woman” around their community. The Sintons had given Elnora the lady's name, letting her know that she would be able to help her. On her way home, Elnora encounters Billy again, who tells her that his dad is too sick, that he won't move or talk. They go to his house and see that his father had died, so Elnora takes Billy to the Sintons’ for help. The Sintons end up taking Billy in to care for him themselves.
Some time later, Dr. Ammon visits the Sintons with his nephew Phillip, who takes an interest in Elnora. He offers her money for the Indian relics she had been collecting and tells her to use the money for her college funds. They later venture into the Limberlost, chasing moths to add to her collection. While there, he talks about his fiancé Edith back home in Washington, and that he was leaving town that night. They part with a promise to stay in touch.
In June 1913, Elnora is seen writing a letter to Phillip, letting him know that she has saved up enough money to pay for college, and that she no longer needs his help as he had once promised to her. However, she checks her stash of funds that she kept in the tree in the swamp and learns that it has been stolen along with her moth collection. Elnora is distraught that she has lost the money she has been saving, especially because she was planning on buying a new dress for her graduation that's coming up soon, but her mother offers to find a dress for her herself. However, on the day of her graduation, Elnora finds out that her mother did not get the dress as she had promised. After an argument, Elnora heads off to Mrs. Parker's, who offers to make her a graduation dress.
The two head to Elnora's school together for the ceremony as Katherine watches from across the street, clearly upset over her daughter running off to others for help instead of to her. She heads home and runs into Billy, who tells her how much money Elnora had lost and that he thinks he knows who stole the money. Katherine heads to the suspected culprit's house, but does not find him. She instead finds a sickly woman who she learns had an affair with her husband Robert up until his death. Katherine heads to Mrs. Parker's house to find Elnora, and begs her for forgiveness for treating her so terribly over a man who never loved her like she had thought. They reunite as Elnora forgives her mother.