The Sound and the Fury (1959)

Director:

Martin Ritt

Writers:

Irving Ravetch (screenplay) and
Harriet Frank Jr. (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

6 April 1959 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Loosely based on the William Faulkner novel, this movie follows the lives and passions of the Compsons:...

Plot Keywords:

The Family | Sister | Home | Southerner | Mental Retardation

Cast

Yul Brynner	...	Jason Compson
Joanne Woodward	...	Quentin Compson / Narrator
Margaret Leighton	...	Caddy Compson
Stuart Whitman	...	Charlie Busch
Ethel Waters	...	Dilsey
Jack Warden	...	Ben Compson
Françoise Rosay	...	Mrs. Caroline Compson
John Beal	...	Howard Compson
Albert Dekker	...	Earl Snopes
Stephen Perry	...	Luster
William Gunn	...	T.P., Dilsey's Grandson
Roy Glenn	...	Job
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean Carson	...	Mary Ellen (uncredited)
William Challee	...	Roustabout (uncredited)
Esther Dale	...	Mrs. Maud Mansfield (uncredited)
Gary Diamond	...	Boy (uncredited)
Buddy Hart	...	Boy (uncredited)
Thaddeus Jones	...	Reverend Shegog (uncredited)
Adrienne Marden	...	Effie Mansfield, Maud's Old Maid Daughter (uncredited)
Barry Seltzer	...	Extra (uncredited)
George Standefer	...	Boy (uncredited)
William Stevens	...	Roustabout (uncredited)
Emerson Treacy	...	Selby, Pawnshop Owner (uncredited)
Donald Ward	...	Carnival Hawker (uncredited)
Robert Williams	...	Carnival Manager (uncredited)

Directed by
Martin Ritt

Writing credits
Irving Ravetch		(screenplay) and
Harriet Frank Jr.		(screenplay)
William Faulkner		(novel)

Produced by
Jerry Wald	....	producer

Original Music by
Alex North

Cinematography by
Charles G. Clarke		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Stuart Gilmore

Art Direction by
Maurice Ransford
Lyle R. Wheeler

Set Decoration by
Paul S. Fox
Walter M. Scott

Costume Design by
Adele Palmer

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Helen Turpin	....	hair stylist
Gladys Rasmussen	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Thomas Tuttle	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Saul Wurtzel	....	unit production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eli Dunn	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
Charles Peck	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Walter Fitchman	....	head grip (uncredited)
James Mitchell	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Charles Wise	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	executive wardrobe designer (as Charles LeMaire)
Willie Mae Neal	....	costumer: women (uncredited)
Wesley Trist	....	costumer: men (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Leonard Doss	....	color consultant

Music Department
Lionel Newman	....	conductor
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Teresa Brachetto	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1966) (USA) (TV) (original airing) (pan/scan)

Other Companies

• Bausch & Lomb  CinemaScope lenses
• DeLuxe Laboratories  color (as De Luxe)

Also Known As:

"William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury" - USA (complete title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Louisiana, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Ethel Waters' final film.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Caddie and Quentin are talking in Caddie's bedroom, the shadow of the boom mic is visible in the mirror above the dressing table.

Quotes:

Jason Compson:Any men will make you feel like a woman!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 2 Days in Paris (2007)

Soundtrack:

Beautiful Dreamer

Faulkner meets Tennessee Williams

This is "based on" William Faulkner's classic novel, The Sound and The Fury. If you were wondering how they managed to get the nifty incomprehensible narrative onto the big screen...they didn't, instead opting for all the clichés of the Steamy South.

Of the two Quentins in the novel, the filmmakers decided to do away with male Quentin and instead focus on Caddy's illegitimate daughter. This did not upset me as much as it does some fans of the novel- all Quentin really does is lust after his sister. The scene in which the incestuous desire is most apparent is transposed to the big scene, except it's girl Quentin (Joanne Woodward) being forced to say her sleazy travelling circus artist's name by her "uncle" Jason (Yul Brynner).

In this film, the novel is re-done as Quentin's coming-of-age. Jason is now adopted rather than being her blood uncle so the writers can have their cake and eat it. Quentin is Jason's only hope to save his adopted family's good name: his adopted sister Caddy (Margaret Leighton)is an ageing nympho; one brother is an alcoholic; and the other one, Benjy, is a mentally-retarded mute. The parents were no good either.

It's almost a parody of Southern Literature: nymphos, lushes, incest, lust, and it's quite entertaining on this level. However, the casting choices were poor. Joanne Woodward has a lovely Southern accent but she was pushing thirty when she played seventeen-year-old Quentin, making her look more like an idiotic woman rather than a schoolgirl (although this family are a bunch of misfits). Yul Brynner does not exactly come to mind when you think of a Southern brute but he is suitably brutish and sensual. Jason in the book was hardly sensual but the film-makers need their romance.

Margaret Leighton isn't that bad as Caddy. It's not clear why her brothers would be so infatuated with her but she fills the role of decadent mother quite well.

Whoever is playing the travelling circus man is risible, as is the person who wrote the dialogue. We get a bunch of clichés, pseudo-meaningful lines and illogical flirtation. It all looks like somebody filmed a dud Tennessee Williams play.

If you're looking to punish a student too lazy to read the novel, please show them this film. Unless you desperately need your fix of steamy Southern melodrama, I would return to Tennessee Williams. Poor William Faulkner must have got a bit of a shock when he saw this.