Raintree County

Infobox Film | name =Raintree County


image_size =175px
caption =
director = Edward Dmytryk
producer =David Lewis
writer = Millard Kaufman
starring = Montgomery Clift
Elizabeth Taylor
Eva Marie Saint
Lee Marvin
Rod Taylor
music = Johnny Green
cinematography = Robert Surtees
editing =John D. Dunning
distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
released = 1957
runtime = 182 min
language =
budget =
imdb_id = 0050882

"Raintree County" is a novel by Ross Lockridge, Jr.. It tells the story of a small-town Midwestern teacher and poet named John Shawnessy, who, in his younger days before his service as a Union soldier in the Civil War, met and married a beautiful Southern belle; however, her emotional instability leads to the destruction of their marriage.

The novel is essentislly in two parts; before the Civil War and after. It spans the 19th century history of the United States from the pre-Civil War westward expansion, to the debate over slavery, to the Civil War, to the Industrial Revolution and the Labor Movement which followed. The book is often surreal, with dream sequences, flashbacks and departures from the linear narrative. It has been described as an effort to mythicalize the History of America, which to a great degree it succeeds in doing through the eyes and the commentary of John Shawnessy.

The novel was made into a 1957 film starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, Nigel Patrick, Lee Marvin, Rod Taylor and Agnes Moorehead. It was adapted by Millard Kaufman and directed by Edward Dmytryk.

Elizabeth Taylor was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. The film was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design and Best Music, Scoring.

During filming of this movie, Montgomery Clift had an automobile accident which almost killed him. After several weeks of recovery, he returned to finish the film, but the left side of his face was left partially paralyzed.

In the credits for the film, the author's name is misspelled (Ross Rockridge Jr).

The film was shot in a 65 milimeter widescreen process called MGM Camera 65, which was also used for MGM's 1959 version of "Ben Hur".

The fictional town of Waycross was based on Straughn, Indiana.

External links

*http://www.raintreecounty.com/ - Official website, maintained by Lockridge's son, Larry Lockridge