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Raintree County

  • 19571957
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 3h 2m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and Eva Marie Saint in Raintree County (1957)
A student falls in love with a Southern belle, but their relationship is complicated by her troubled past and the on-set of the Civil War.
Play trailer2:23
1 Video
88 Photos
  • Drama
  • Romance
  • War

A student falls in love with a Southern belle, but their relationship is complicated by her troubled past and the on-set of the Civil War.A student falls in love with a Southern belle, but their relationship is complicated by her troubled past and the on-set of the Civil War.A student falls in love with a Southern belle, but their relationship is complicated by her troubled past and the on-set of the Civil War.

IMDb RATING
6.3/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Edward Dmytryk
  • Writers
    • Millard Kaufman(screenplay)
    • Ross Lockridge Jr.(novel "Raintree County")
  • Stars
    • Montgomery Clift
    • Elizabeth Taylor
    • Eva Marie Saint
Top credits
  • Director
    • Edward Dmytryk
  • Writers
    • Millard Kaufman(screenplay)
    • Ross Lockridge Jr.(novel "Raintree County")
  • Stars
    • Montgomery Clift
    • Elizabeth Taylor
    • Eva Marie Saint
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 67User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 4 Oscars
      • 1 win & 8 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:23
    Trailer

    Photos88

    Elizabeth Taylor in "Raintree County" 1958 MGM
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor 1958 MGM
    Elizabeth Taylor in "Raintree County"
    Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift on the set of "Raintree County," MGM 1956.
    Elizabeth Taylor and Jarma Lewis on locaton for "Raintree County" in Natchez, Mississippi, 1956.
    Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift on the set of "Raintree County," MGM 1956.
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in the make-up room
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift during lunch
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift during lunch
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift during lunch
    "Raintree County" Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift during lunch

    Top cast

    Edit
    Montgomery Clift
    Montgomery Clift
    • John Wickliff Shawnessyas John Wickliff Shawnessy
    Elizabeth Taylor
    Elizabeth Taylor
    • Susanna Drake Shawnessyas Susanna Drake Shawnessy
    Eva Marie Saint
    Eva Marie Saint
    • Nell Gaitheras Nell Gaither
    Nigel Patrick
    Nigel Patrick
    • Professor Jerusalem Webster Stilesas Professor Jerusalem Webster Stiles
    Lee Marvin
    Lee Marvin
    • Orville 'Flash' Perkinsas Orville 'Flash' Perkins
    Rod Taylor
    Rod Taylor
    • Garwood B. Jonesas Garwood B. Jones
    Agnes Moorehead
    Agnes Moorehead
    • Ellen Shawnessyas Ellen Shawnessy
    Walter Abel
    Walter Abel
    • T.D. Shawnessyas T.D. Shawnessy
    Jarma Lewis
    Jarma Lewis
    • Barbara Drakeas Barbara Drake
    Tom Drake
    Tom Drake
    • Bobby Drakeas Bobby Drake
    Rhys Williams
    Rhys Williams
    • Ezra Grayas Ezra Gray
    Russell Collins
    Russell Collins
    • Niles Fosteras Niles Foster
    DeForest Kelley
    DeForest Kelley
    • Southern Officeras Southern Officer
    Fred Aldrich
    Fred Aldrich
    • Townsmanas Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    Ruth Attaway
    Ruth Attaway
    • Partheniaas Parthenia
    • (uncredited)
    John Barton
    • Townsmanas Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    Oliver Blake
    Oliver Blake
    • Jake - Bartenderas Jake - Bartender
    • (uncredited)
    Nesdon Booth
    • Spectatoras Spectator
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Edward Dmytryk
    • Writers
      • Millard Kaufman(screenplay)
      • Ross Lockridge Jr.(novel "Raintree County")
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit
    In mid-19th-century Freehaven, Raintree County, Indiana, John Wickliff Shawnessy (Montgomery Clift) has just graduated from high school at the top of his class, with a promising career as a writer. He is a romantic, principled idealist, believing the story of the golden raintree after which the county is named growing somewhere, most likely in the county's swamp area, searching for it because locating it would provide all the answers to life's questions--an idea passed down from his father. John also has a strong sense of place as belonging, and there is much anticipation in the probable marriage between him and his sweetheart Nell Gaither (Eva Marie Saint), a born-and-bred Raintree girl. However, there is an undeniable mutual attraction on first sight between him and Susanna Drake (Dame Elizabeth Taylor), a visiting southern belle. Despite Susanna's temporary stay in Raintree County suggesting that she and John have a limited future, they eventually do marry out of circumstance, leaving behind a heartbroken Nell. As their relationship progresses, differences in their outlooks mirroring the differences between the north and the south emerge and charge to to the forefront, both personally and on a global level with the onset of the American Civil War. Their relationship issues are also exacerbated by secrets, both facts and beliefs, Susanna is keeping about her family history, including her parents and her Black nanny being killed in a mysterious house fire when she was a child. —Huggo
    • southern belle
    • american civil war
    • melodrama
    • based on novel
    • two word title
    • 212 more
    • Plot summary
    • Plot synopsis
    • Taglines
      • In The Great Tradition Of Civil War Romance
    • Genres
      • Drama
      • Romance
      • War
      • Western
    • Certificate
      • Approved
    • Parents guide

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      On the evening of May 12, 1956, during the shooting of this movie, Montgomery Clift was involved in a serious car accident on his way back home from a party at the house of Dame Elizabeth Taylor. He apparently fell asleep at the wheel of his car while driving and smashed his car into a telephone pole. His friend Kevin McCarthy witnessed the accident from his car, drove back and informed Taylor and her then husband Michael Wilding, who immediately drove to the accident location together with Rock Hudson. Taylor entered the car through the back door, crawled to the front seat and removed the two front teeth from Clift's throat that threatened to choke him. Hudson finally managed to pull Clift out of the wreck and together with Wilding and McCarthy they protected him from being photographed by reporters until the ambulance arrived. This was necessary because soon after the emergency call had come in to the local police station, reporters were already on their way and arrived at the scene when Clift was still in the car. The accident was well publicized. After nine weeks of recovery and with plastic surgery, Clift returned to the movie set and finished this movie, but with considerable difficulties. His dashing and looks, though, were gone forever. In some scenes throughout the movie, despite the cinematographer's skill, Clift's nose and chin look different, and the entire left side of his face is nearly immobile.
    • Goofs
      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.
    • Quotes

      John Wickliff Shawnessy: To see the Raintree is not nearly as important as what you find looking for it.

    • Alternate versions
      The longer Roadshow version was released on VHS by Warner, where it was labeled as Reconstructed Original Version. It has also been shown on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. This version contains nearly 15 minutes of additional material not found on the General Release Version.
    • Connections
      Edited from Gone with the Wind (1939)
    • Soundtracks
      Raintree County
      Music by Johnny Green (uncredited)

      Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

      Sung by Nat 'King' Cole

    User reviews67

    Review
    Top review
    Luxurious parts = lumpen whole.
    M-G-M assigned some pretty heavy-hitters to cobble together this almost indigestible attempt to tell a Civil War story without a producer like David O. Selznick to insist that the whole thing should somehow come together. Other comments on this site tell the sad story of miscasting, a seemingly unfocused script, apparently disinterested direction and the obvious tragedy of Montgomery Clift's catastrophic automobile accident during production and its effect on all the performances he was to give thereafter.

    Elizabeth Taylor is about the only central player who emerges relatively unscathed and her Academy Award nomination was deserved (and certainly more worthy of the Oscar she did win for "BUtterfield 8".)

    I bought reserved seat tickets for this before its initial engagement began and the reviewers' generally negative appraisals were available. M-G-M's new big screen process, MGM Camera 65 ("Window of the World" as they termed it, used only once again by the studio for "Ben-Hur"), afforded a handsome showcasing of all the expense lavished upon this production, but, even as a teenager, I squirmed in my seat as its oh-so-lengthy reels unspooled and I left the theater regretting that its makers hadn't somehow achieved something memorable for its quality and dramatic impact, rather than for its longueurs. Johnny Green's score (and Nat King Cole's rendition of the title song) did sound awfully good over the stereophonic sound system at that Beverly Hills, California theater and that's one aspect of this disappointment that is now probably lost forever.
    helpful•32
    12
    • gregcouture
    • May 26, 2003

    FAQ1

    • Which scenes were filmed before and after Montgomery Clift's car accident that left his face disfigured?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 20, 1957 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Drvo zivota
    • Filming locations
      • Paducah, Kentucky, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      3 hours 2 minutes

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