This Earth Is Mine (1959)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

Alice Tisdale Hobart (novel)
Casey Robinson (writer)

Release Date:

26 June 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Cry that Rocked THE VALLEY OF THE SUN!

Plot:

In 1931, Elizabeth Rambeau comes from England to live in California with her aunt and uncle of a winemaking dynasty...

Plot Keywords:

Vineyard | Wine | Soap | Beautiful Woman | Based On Novel

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	John Rambeau
Jean Simmons	...	Elizabeth Rambeau
Dorothy McGuire	...	Martha Fairon
Claude Rains	...	Philippe Rambeau
Kent Smith	...	Francis Fairon
Anna Lee	...	Charlotte Rambeau
Ken Scott	...	Luigi Griffanti
Augusta Merighi	...	Mrs. Griffanti
Francis Bethencourt	...	Andre Swann
Stacy Graham	...	Monica
Peter Chong	...	Chu
Geraldine Wall	...	Maria
Alberto Morin	...	Petucci
Penny Santon	...	Mrs. Petucci
Jack Mather	...	Dietrich

Runtime:

124 min | West Germany:95 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Beaulieu Vineyards - 1960 St. Helena Parkway, Rutherford, Napa Valley, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

Jean Blake's film debut.

Soundtrack:

THREE LITTLE WORDS

Vintage U.-I./Rock Hudson from the Wine Country

This is not available on video, as far as I can determine, and if it does eventually become available, be sure that the CinemaScope ratio is reproduced. Winton Hoch and Universal-International's master of the color cameras, Russell Metty, did some fine location work on this one, having been granted access to over a dozen properties in northern California's world-famed Wine Country. Their work made the use of Technicolor and CinemaScope more than worthwhile.

The story is a bit pulpy but it's not that badly spun out and, surrounding Mr. Hudson, U.-I.'s all-time box-office draw, there are some fine actors, including Dorothy McGuire, the always regal Claude Rains (playing an autocratic patriarch), and the lovely Jean Simmons, fresh from a number of above-the-title roles in Twentieth-Century Fox CinemaScope costumers. Hugo Friedhofer underscores the plot's halting progress with his usual taste and finesse. I'd forgotten he had written this score (I did see it first-run.) until a broadcast some time ago on American Movie Classics (failing, once more, to "letterbox" it. Wish I could sue them. One thing is for sure...I make a point to avoid purchasing anything offered by the advertisers who now clutter up their broadcasts ad nauseum.) Friedhofer's contribution lifts this film into the Class "A" category, something that cannot be said of many U.-I. releases during the Fifties.

When this film was about to be released a friend and I, up from southern California for a brief vacation in San Francisco, suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a stop on a press junket for this film. There, just a few feet away from where we stood, was Mr. Hudson towering over the diminutive Miss Simmons. I recall the patience they exhibited as they posed for numerous pictures, while answering reporters' questions. If there was any security around for the stars' protection, we weren't aware of it...a far cry from what we might observe in these paranoid times.