Raintree County (1957)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Ross Lockridge Jr. (novel)
Millard Kaufman (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In The Great Tradition Of Civil War Romance

Plot:

A graduating poet/teacher falls in love with a Southern woman, and then the Civil War and her past create problems.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Beautiful Woman | Melodrama | Southern Belle | American Civil War

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Montgomery Clift	...	John Wickliff Shawnessy
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Susanna Drake
Eva Marie Saint	...	Nell Gaither
Nigel Patrick	...	Prof. Jerusalem Webster Stiles
Lee Marvin	...	Orville 'Flash' Perkins
Rod Taylor	...	Garwood B. Jones
Agnes Moorehead	...	Ellen Shawnessy
Walter Abel	...	T.D. Shawnessy
Jarma Lewis	...	Barbara Drake
Tom Drake	...	Bobby Drake
Rhys Williams	...	Ezra Gray
Russell Collins	...	Niles Foster
DeForest Kelley	...	Southern officer

Runtime:

USA:168 min (original version) | 188 min (Turner Library Print) | Australia:160 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Danville, Kentucky, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Of the many films produced in the very wide aspect-ratio of (2.55:1) from 1953 to 1957, this was the last film released at that largest aspect-ratio; after this, films were reduced to merely (2.35:1).

Goofs:

Anachronisms: After Lincoln's 1860 election, the crowd sings "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". However, Julia Ward Howe wrote the poem, on which the song was based, for the Atlantic Monthly in 1861.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Voice of the Camera (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Never Till Now

Typical late MGM, trying to recapture past glory

It takes forever for the Civil War to begin, but this expensive, massively scaled MGM adaptation and bowdlerization of Ross Lockridge's now-forgotten best seller is moderately entertaining. Elizabeth Taylor, stunning in lushly detailed period costumes, has some fine moments of hysteria, a good warm-up to the meatier roles she starred in the 60's. Montgomery Clift holds his own against the melodramatic machinations of the plot and, as always, he looks great paired with Taylor. Agnes Moorehead is miscast, as she so often was during her film career, but the rest of the players come through nicely.

The film lacks the detailed historical touches that enrich "Gone With the Wind", so which it has often been compared. There are a few howling anachronisms (the interiors, particularly, reflect 1950's Decorator Dreams of home decor) and, in the usual MGM style, everyone is ludicrously over-dressed. The outdoor location shooting is refreshing, however. The scene where Taylor and Clift visit the burned-out ruins of her childhood home is particularly striking (the actual ruins of Windsor, a Mississippi plantation house, where used for the shot).

Director Edward Dmytryk keeps things moving along, and the score by Johnny Green is a nice additon, though Johnny Mathis' title ballad is an odd disappointment.