Another Part of the Forest | |
---|---|
Publicity still with, from left to right, Dona Drake, Dan Duryea, Ann Blyth, Fredric March, Florence Eldridge, Edmond O'Brien, and John Dall | |
Directed by | Michael Gordon |
Screenplay by | Vladimir Pozner |
Based on | Another Part of the Forest 1946 play by Lillian Hellman |
Produced by | Jerry Bresler |
Starring | Fredric March Florence Eldridge Dan Duryea Edmond O'Brien |
Cinematography | Hal Mohr |
Edited by | Milton Carruth |
Music by | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
Production company | Universal-International [1] |
Distributed by | Universal-International |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.3 million [2] |
Box office | $800,000 (est) (domestic) [2] |
Another Part of the Forest is a 1948 American drama film starring Fredric March. Directed by Michael Gordon, its screenplay was adapted by Vladimir Pozner from the 1946 Lillian Hellman play of the same name, a prequel to her 1939 drama The Little Foxes
The Hubbard family of Bowden, Alabama, is led by its ruthless patriarach, the evil, wealthy, duplicitous Marcus. Fifteen years have passed since he made his fortune as a profiteer during the Civil War. His long-suffering wife Lavinia is riddled by Marcus' cold cruelty with physical and mental ailments, patiently waiting for the opportunity to help others and atone for the family crimes through a hospital he promises to build but never will.
Marcus raised himself from poverty in the Piney Woods, toiling at menial labor while teaching himself Greek, Latin, and the Classics. Sharpening his business skills to a deadly point he exploited his poverty-wrought neighbors, making a fortune in salt they desperately needed and collaborating with the North in the slaughter of their sons in an ambush.
He is equaled in ruthlessness only by his cold, calculating, hard-hearted eldest son Benjamin, short-leashed by his father and driven to topple him. Younger son Oscar is a spineless weasel, desperately pursuing cheap, covetous, can-can dancer Laurette Sincee, who merely plays him for what she can get, and resorting to the Klan to vanquish a romantic rival. Regina is the Hubbards' scheming viper of a daughter, who will use anyone for anything and leaves scandal in her wake Benjamin seeks to blackmail her with. Still, she remains always one treacherous twist ahead of him.
Convinced she can manipulate her father into bankrolling a more glamorous life in Chicago, she seeks to escape her outcast family with the socially superior former Confederate officer John Bagtry on her arm. John cares less that the Bagtry family plantation totters near bankruptcy; he is set on a command in Brazil that will restore his life's purpose. Blindly trusting Benjamin, his sister Birdie arranges to pledge everything the Bagtrys own against a loan that will assuredly end in forfeiture – with Benjamin skimming 40% off the top to speculate in stocks in a bid to strengthen his hand against his father.
Everything unravels all at once: John spurns Regina, Marcus discovers Benjamin's duplicity and cancels the loan, and Laurette leaves for New Orleans without her lickspittle Oscar, who crawls about searching for the $1,000 his father had promised him to leave in an envelope on a table.
When Benjamin finally twists his mother's desperate pleas for her hospital into revealing that his father was a collaborator with the Yankees and conspired with them in the massacre of the townsfolks' sons he has all he needs not merely to wrest everything from Marcus but leave the man broken and humiliated. Shifting with the sea change, Oscar and Regina swing round to Benjamin, who offers only strings that will turn them into his marionettes. They jump at the chance. Seeing this, Lavinia declares she despises all her children, and intends to find her personal sanctuary from the family hell alone in the Piney Woods.
Thomas M. Pryor of The New York Times called the film "a compelling entertainment" and added "Vladimir Pozner has preserved the spirit of the play in his screen treatment and Michael Gordon's direction gives a fluency to scenes which might easily have become static due to the profuseness of the dialogue." [3]
Time stated "Under Michael Gordon's direction it is a nearly perfect example of how to film a play. There is hardly a shot which does not set up visual tension against the lashing, steel-spring dialogue; there is not a single performance which is short of adequate; the work of Miss Eldridge, Mr. O'Brien and Betsey Blair, as a shaky-minded neighbor, is much more." [4]
TV Guide stated "This utterly depressing film is salvaged through intense performances that rivet the viewer, along with the literate, acerbic script." [5]
Screenwriter Vladimir Pozner was nominated for two Writers Guild of America Awards, for Best Written American Drama and the Robert Meltzer Award for the Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene.
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.
Fredric March was an American actor, regarded as one of Hollywood's most celebrated stars of the 1930s and 1940s. As a performer he was known for his versatility. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and two Tony Awards as well as nominations for three BAFTA Awards and three Emmy Awards.
The Little Foxes is a 1939 play by Lillian Hellman, considered a classic of 20th century drama. Its title comes from Chapter 2, Verse 15, of the Song of Solomon in the King James version of the Bible, which reads, "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes." Set in a small town in Alabama in 1900, it focuses on the struggle for control of a family business. Tallulah Bankhead starred in the original production as Regina Hubbard Giddens.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1931 American pre-Code horror film, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March, who plays a possessed doctor who tests his new formula that can unleash people's inner demons. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a homicidal maniac.
Mary Astor was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941).
Vladimir Vladimirovich Pozner is a French-born Russian-American journalist and presenter.
Titus is a 1999 epic surrealist historical drama film directed and written by Julie Taymor in her directorial debut. Adapted from William Shakespeare's revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, the movie stars Anthony Hopkins as the titular Roman general, chronicling his downfall after returning victorious from war. The film was co-produced with Jody Patton and Conchita Airoldi. The film was a co-production of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy; produced by Overseas Filmgroup and Clear Blue Sky Productions and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Florence Eldridge was an American actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her performance in Long Day's Journey into Night.
Betsy Blair was an American actress of film and stage, long based in London.
Geraldine Brooks was an American actress whose three-decade career on stage as well as in films and on television was noted with nominations for an Emmy in 1962 and a Tony in 1970. She was married to author Budd Schulberg.
The Little Foxes is a 1941 American drama film directed by William Wyler. The screenplay by Lillian Hellman is based on her 1939 play The Little Foxes. Hellman's ex-husband Arthur Kober, Dorothy Parker and her husband Alan Campbell contributed additional scenes and dialogue.
Another Part of the Forest is a 1946 play by Lillian Hellman, a prequel to her 1939 drama The Little Foxes.
Mourning Becomes Electra is a 1947 American drama film by Dudley Nichols adapted from the 1931 Eugene O'Neill play Mourning Becomes Electra, based in turn on the Oresteia. The film stars Rosalind Russell, Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Katina Paxinou, Leo Genn and Kirk Douglas.
An Act of Murder is a 1948 American film noir directed by Michael Gordon and starring Fredric March, Edmond O'Brien, Florence Eldridge, and Geraldine Brooks. It was based on a novel by the Austrian writer Ernst Lothar. It was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival.
Our Family Wedding is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Rick Famuyiwa. It stars Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Diana-Maria Riva, Lance Gross, Charlie Murphy and Regina King. The story is about an African-American man and a Mexican-American woman getting married and their respective fathers causing hijinks with one another towards their special day. The film was theatrically released in North America by Fox Searchlight Pictures on March 12, 2010, receiving negative reviews from critics but grossed $21.4 million worldwide.
Brenda Lewis was an American operatic soprano, musical theatre actress, opera director, and music educator. She enjoyed a 20-year-long collaboration with the New York City Opera (NYCO) with whom she notably created roles in several world premieres by American composers; including the title role in Jack Beeson's Lizzie Borden in 1965. She also performed with frequency at the Metropolitan Opera from 1952 to 1965, and was active as a guest artist with notable opera companies both nationally and internationally. Although she is mainly remembered as an exponent of American operas and musicals, she performed a broad repertoire of works and was particularly celebrated for her portrayals of Marie in Wozzeck, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, and the title roles of Carmen and Salome; the latter of which she performed for the inauguration of the Houston Grand Opera in 1956.
Carol Hughes was an American actress. She is best remembered for her leading roles opposite Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, and for her role as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940).
Vladimir Solomonovich Pozner was a French writer and translator of Russian-Jewish descent. His family fled the pogroms to take up residence in France. Pozner expanded on his inherited cultural socialism to associate both in writing and politics with anti-fascist and communist groups in the inter-war period. His writing was important because he made friends with internationally renowned exponents of hardline communism, while rejecting Soviet oppression.
Victoria Mercanton, or Victoria Spiri-Mercanton (1911–2007), was a French film editor and director, born Viktoria Aleksandrovna Pozner on 25 January [O.S. 12 January] 1911, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, active from the 1930s to 1970s.
A Little Princess is a 1997 Russian family drama film directed by Vladimir Grammatikov. It is based on the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett.