Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20213 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-08-23
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Synopsis
Chuck Glover is a field administrator who comes to Alabama to oversee the building of a dam on the Tennessee River. He has to deal with opposition from the local people who object to him employing black labourers. Also an elderly woman has to be evicted from her home and Chuck's relationship with her widowed granddaughter does not help the situation.

Customer Reviews

This is a widescreen presentation
Just to give some extra information to anyone who may consider buying this DVD: Although the Amazon presentation does not give any information on the matter, and although (strangely enough) the cover of the DVD states that this is a full screen version, the movie is in fact shown in a beautiful widescreen presentation. I do not know if it's anamorpich or not. I do not have a widescreen TV. There are no subtitles, and that is a pitty for people like me, with English as second language, since quite a lot of the dialogue is in the dialect of the US south states. But somehow I managed to understand most of it. If there had been subtitles, I would have given 5 pionts.

It is a very good, rather sad, and very realistic film about an old and very stubborn lady who refuses to move away from her little island in the middle of the Tennessee river. And about all the problems this leads to. It is a beautifully played, directed and photographed little movie (in colour), and absolutely worth seeing. The story takes place in the middle of the thirties, but to be honest, it looks rather like the period when it was made,- the early sixties. That is my only complaint. And I gather that most movies made today with stories from the fifties and sixties probably will end up looking like the beginning of our century instead, when viewed in 2045... That is just how it goes.

Lee Remick is a beautiful young, almost transperant girl in this one. Very down to earth and believable. Jo van Fleet is marvellous as the old lady, and on top of it we get one of the last performances by the legendary Montgomery Clift. This was made several years after a terrible car accident ruined his face, so his extreme beauty was gone, but he was still one of the most sensitive players around. Directed by Elia Kazan, this is an overlooked little masterpiece. And definitely no glamour movie!

Brilliant Film / So-So DVD
There are so many things that can be said about this film, which has particular resonance for me since I grew up in the region of the U.S. where this was filmed. Some of the most poetic imagery and performances ever presented on film can be found in this movie.

However, be aware that the film was shot in *true* CinemaScope, which has a screen ratio of 1-to-2.35

This DVD (although thankfully it has not been altered into a "full screen" adaptation which cuts out about 40% percent of the original frame) is presented in the popular 1-to-1.85 screen ratio instead of its original screen format. Therefore, when you watch this disc, about 20% of the original screen image has been cropped out.

Otherwise, the colors and audio are of very high quality.

This is the only edition available anywhere of this beautiful film. So I'm glad to have it despite the bad choice of Optimum DVD to present the film in a truncated version.