Raintree County (1957)

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

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

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

Stars:

Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Montgomery Clift	...	John Wickliff Shawnessy
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Susanna Drake Shawnessy
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

Storyline

An abolitionist John Wickliff Shawnessy drifts away from his high school sweetheart Nell Gaither and enters into a passionate love affair with a wealthy New Orleans belle Susanna Drake but is tricked into marrying her when she falsely tells him that she is pregnant. But even after Susanna tells him the truth his still stays with her out of love. But John soon learns that Susanna is hiding a dark secret which leads her into madness. This madness causes Susanna to flee to the South during the Civil War taking their son with her. John leaves home and enlisting in the Northern Army as his only means to pursue Susanna.

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Plot Keywords:

love | civil war | marriage | faked pregnancy | mental illness | 

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Taglines:

In The Great Tradition Of Civil War Romance

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 December 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

El árbol de la vida

Filming Locations:

Danville, Kentucky, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

160 min 168 min (original) 188 min (Turner Library Print)

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The all-too-brief scenes which Montgomery Clift shot for this picture just before his accident represent the only color footage available of him before he was disfigured. All of his previous movies had been shot in black and white.

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Goofs

After Lincoln wins the election, John and Nell say good night in front of John's house. The same wagon with the same people in it pass by them twice in the background.

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Quotes

Prof. Jerusalem Webster Stiles: Greatness? Ha! If that great philosopher, Socrates, were living today, he'd be reduced to sitting on a cracker barrel, chewing tobacco. That's what America does for greatness.

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Connections

Referenced in Gods and Monsters (1998)

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Soundtracks

"The Battle Hymn of The Republic"
Lyrics by Julia Ward Howe
(written on 18-11-1861)

User Reviews

He Married Scarlett O'Hara and Wound up with Blanche Dubois

When MGM filmed Raintree County it had high hopes that it would be a second Gone With The Wind. It didn't quite come up to that, but it is still a good film on its own merits.

It took about 10 years for MGM to finally bring this to the screen. Shortly before the tragic suicide of author Ross Lockridge, MGM acquired the screen rights to this one and only novel by Lockridge which was a number one best seller in post World War II years.

The story opens in ante bellum Civil War Indiana, specifically in RaintreeCounty. Our hero is John Shawnessy, a sort of aimless young man who teaches school for lack of better direction. He's a sensitive soul with deep abolitionist convictions and no one was a more sensitive soul on the screen than Montgomery Clift.

If all had gone well, Monty would have probably married the girl from home played by Eva Marie Saint. But a visiting Southern belle played by Elizabeth Taylor in her best fiddle-dee-dee Scarlett O'Hara manner sweeps Monty off his feet. He hasn't got a prayer.

But Liz Taylor got her first Academy Award nomination not for simply imitating Scarlett O'Hara. Her role requires her to descend into the madness of Vivien Leigh's other Southern belle Oscar part, Blanche Dubois. It's on this devolution of character that Liz Taylor the actress really shines. She lost the Oscar sweepstakes that year to Joanne Woodward's Three Faces of Eve.

The film almost wasn't finished because of a horrible automobile accident that nearly killed Monty Clift during production. As it was, it was held up for three months while the best plastic surgeons looked to reconstruct Montgomery Clift's face. You can see clearly those shots before and after the accident.

Liz Taylor in her documentary tribute to her favorite leading man and best friend in the world said that Monty Clift did not lose the physical beauty, but he did lose the delicacy of his features which were her own words. In a strange way it probably helped his performance because John Shawnessy does go to war and war is an experience known for scarring and aging people.

As in A Place In the Sun, Monty and Liz's scenes together have that extra dimension that people who care about each other deeply can give a scene. Raintree County should be seen for that alone.

Eva Marie Saint as the good girl from home does all right, but her character just doesn't have the depth that Liz's and Monty's do. Eva Marie is just given less to work with. Others in this nicely rounded cast are Lee Marvin as Clift's friend and rival from his hometown, Agnes Moorehead and Walter Abel as Clift's parents, Rod Taylor as a sleazy politician and Nigel Patrick who observes it all as a wandering reprobate who takes a liking to Clift.

It's not Gone With the Wind, but it's pretty good.