Sanctuary (1961 film)

Last updated
Sanctuary
Sanctuary (1961 film).jpg
Directed by Tony Richardson
Written by
Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck
Starring
Cinematography Ellsworth Fredericks
Edited by Robert L. Simpson
Music by Alex North
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • April 18, 1961 (1961-04-18)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,915,000 [1]

Sanctuary is a 1961 drama film directed by Tony Richardson. The film, based on the William Faulkner novels Sanctuary (1931) and Requiem for a Nun (1951), is about the black maid of a white woman who kills the latter's newborn in order to give her employer a way out of a predicament, and then faces the death penalty. [2]

Contents

Plot

In 1928, in the county of Yoknapatawpha, Mississippi, Nancy Mannigoe, a 30-year-old black woman, is condemned to death for the willful murder of the infant son of her white employer Mrs. Gowan Stevens, the former Temple Drake. On the eve of the scheduled execution, Temple tries to save Nancy by telling her father, the governor, of the events leading up to the murder.

Six years earlier, Temple was a pleasure-loving college girl carrying on a flirtatious romance with young Gowan Stevens. One night, Gowan got drunk and took her to a backwoods still where she was raped by Candy Man, a Cajun bootlegger. The next morning, although in a state of semi-shock, she willingly submitted to more of his lovemaking, and then agreed to live with him in a New Orleans brothel. Nancy became her personal maid, and Temple reveled in her new life, until Candy Man was reported killed in an auto accident and Temple was forced to go home. Marriage to Gowan followed; but for Temple it was a dull life, and she hired Nancy as a servant to remind her of the brothel life she had loved so much. Suddenly, Candy Man returned, and Temple decided to abandon her home and marriage and once more run off with him. To bring Temple to her senses and prevent her from ruining her life, Nancy sacrificed the infant child by smothering it to death.

Though shocked by the candor of his daughter's confession, the governor is unable to grant a pardon for Nancy. The next morning Temple visits Nancy in her cell. As the two women beg each other's forgiveness, Temple realizes that it is only through Nancy's sacrifice that she has been able to find salvation.

E. Pauline Degenfelder of Worcester Public Schools estimated that thirty percent of the plot takes place in the present time with the remainder in flashback; of that seventy percent flashback material, she attributed forty percent to the original novel, eight percent to the sequel novel, and the remainder to "a transition between Sanctuary and Requiem". [3] The Lee Goodwin/Tommy element is not included. [4] A car accident was used as a plot device for Temple to be discovered as, due to the absence of the aforementioned element, [5] Horace Benbow is not in this version and therefore cannot track her down. [6]

Cast

Horace Benbow, Lee Goodwin, and Tommy do not appear in this version. [4]

Degenfelder wrote that the merging of characters results in "ludicrous coincidence" being a feature of the plot. [3]

Production

Richard D. Zanuck produced the film. [12] He made it an adaptation of both Faulkner novels because there were more commercial opportunities and because he believed the sequel novel alone could not be properly adapted into a film. [13] Zanuck acquired the filming rights to both novels, and as part of this he spent $75,000 on the rights to The Story of Temple Drake as he was required to do so to get the said rights to the original novel. [3]

James Poe wrote the script, [11] using an outline and prologue made by Zanuck because the latter was unable to contact Faulkner through employees sent to visit the author. [3]

Richardson stated that he wished to work on the film partly due to the depiction of the 1920s and 1930s United States in the original script, but he disliked the editing process for American films at the time and therefore he disliked the completed film. [9]

Reception

Phillips characterized the reaction from the general audiences and from film critics as "lukewarm". [9]

Crowther wrote that the film "no more reflects or comprehends the evil in the Faulkner stories or the social corruption suggested in them than did" the previous adaptation, and that Sanctuary was a "melodrama of the most mechanical and meretricious sort" that lacked the explanation for Temple's behavior. [11] Crowther praised Remick's acting. [11]

Degenfelder argued that the source material was poorly combined and adapted, with the work "woefully deficient in movement", resulting in "an artistic disaster." [3] In addition she felt this version was misogynistic. [7]

Phillips argued that the film does have "much of the flavor of Faulkner" and that it would be difficult to depict the original novel's events in a film that would be acceptable for general audiences. [9] Phillips argued that the black and white filming, versus color, was "in keeping with the stark atmosphere of Faulkner's somber tale." [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Laura</i> (1944 film) 1944 American film noir directed by Otto Preminger

Laura is a 1944 American film noir produced and directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, and Clifton Webb along with Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. The screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel Laura by Vera Caspary. Laura received five nominations for the Academy Awards, including for Best Director, winning for Best Black and White Cinematography. In 1999, Laura was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The American Film Institute named it one of the 10 best mystery films of all time, and it also appears on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple Drake</span>

Temple Drake is a fictional character created by William Faulkner. She appears in the novels Sanctuary (1931) and Requiem for a Nun (1951). The 1962 play Requiem for a Nun and the films The Story of Temple Drake (1933) and Sanctuary (1961) also feature the character. In the two films she is played, respectively, by Miriam Hopkins and Lee Remick.

<i>As I Lay Dying</i> Novel by William Faulkner

As I Lay Dying is a 1930 Southern Gothic novel by American author William Faulkner. Faulkner's fifth novel, it is consistently ranked among the best novels of the 20th century. The title is derived from William Marris's 1925 translation of Homer's Odyssey, referring to the similar themes of both works.

<i>Pickup on South Street</i> 1953 film by Samuel Fuller

Pickup on South Street is a 1953 Cold War spy-themed film noir written and directed by Samuel Fuller, and released by 20th Century-Fox. In 2018, Pickup on South Street was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The film stars Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, and Thelma Ritter. It was screened at the Venice Film Festival in 1953.

<i>Sanctuary</i> (Faulkner novel) 1931 novel by William Faulkner

Sanctuary is a 1931 novel by American author William Faulkner about the rape and abduction of an upper-class Mississippi college girl, Temple Drake, during the Prohibition era. The novel was Faulkner's commercial and critical breakthrough and established his literary reputation, but was controversial given its themes. It is said Faulkner claimed it was a "potboiler", written purely for profit, but this has been debated by scholars and Faulkner's own friends.

"That Evening Sun" is a short story by the American author William Faulkner, published in 1931 in the collection These 13, which included Faulkner's most anthologized story, "A Rose for Emily". The story was originally published, in a slightly different form, as "That Evening Sun Go Down" in The American Mercury in March of the same year.

To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romantic war adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot, centered on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter, is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France.

<i>Requiem for a Nun</i> 1951 novel by William Faulkner

Requiem for a Nun is a work of fiction written by William Faulkner. It is a sequel to Faulkner's early novel Sanctuary, which introduced the characters of Temple Drake, her friend Gowan Stevens, and Gowan's uncle Gavin Stevens. The events in Requiem are set in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County and Jackson, Mississippi, in November 1937 and March 1938, eight years after the events of Sanctuary. In Requiem, Temple, now married with a child, must learn to deal with her violent, turbulent past as related in Sanctuary.

<i>The Razors Edge</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by Edmund Goulding

The Razor's Edge is a 1946 American drama film based on W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel of the same name. It stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, and Herbert Marshall, with a supporting cast including Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore, and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham. The film was directed by Edmund Goulding.

<i>The Sun Also Rises</i> (1957 film) 1957 film by Henry King

The Sun Also Rises is a 1957 American drama film adaptation of the 1926 Ernest Hemingway novel of the same name directed by Henry King. The screenplay was written by Peter Viertel and it starred Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer, and Errol Flynn. Much of it was filmed on location in France and Spain as well as Mexico in Cinemascope and color by Deluxe. A highlight of the film is the famous "running of the bulls" in Pamplona, Spain and two bullfights.

<i>The Story of Temple Drake</i> 1933 film by Stephen Roberts

The Story of Temple Drake is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Stephen Roberts and starring Miriam Hopkins and Jack La Rue. It tells the story of Temple Drake, a reckless woman in the American South who falls into the hands of a brutal gangster and rapist. It was adapted from the highly controversial 1931 novel Sanctuary by William Faulkner. Though some of the more salacious elements of the source novel were not included, the film was still considered so indecent that it helped give rise to the strict enforcement of the Hays Code.

<i>No Orchids for Miss Blandish</i> (film) 1948 British film

No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1948 British gangster film adapted and directed by St. John Legh Clowes from the 1939 novel of the same name by James Hadley Chase. It stars Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, and Linden Travers, with unbilled early appearances from Sid James, as a barman, and Walter Gotell, as a nightclub doorman. Due to the film's strong violence and sexual content for its time, amongst other reasons, several critics have called it one of the worst films ever made.

<i>Intruder in the Dust</i> (film) 1949 film by Clarence Brown

Intruder in the Dust is a 1949 crime drama film produced and directed by Clarence Brown and starring David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr. and Juano Hernandez. The film is based on the 1948 novel Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner, and was filmed in Faulkner's hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

<i>Tomorrow</i> (1972 film) 1972 film directed by Joseph Anthony

Tomorrow is a 1972 American drama film directed by Joseph Anthony and starring Robert Duvall. The screenplay was written by Horton Foote, adapted from a play he wrote for Playhouse 90 that was itself based on a 1940 short story by William Faulkner in the short story collection Knight's Gambit. The PG-rated film was filmed in the Mississippi counties of Alcorn and Itawamba. Although released in 1972, it saw limited runs in the U.S. until re-released about ten years later. Duvall has called the film one of his personal favorites.

<i>The Sound and the Fury</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Martin Ritt

The Sound and the Fury is a 1959 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt. It is loosely based on the 1929 novel of the same title by William Faulkner.

<i>Moss Rose</i> (film) 1947 film by Gregory Ratoff

Moss Rose is a 1947 American film noir mystery film directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Peggy Cummins, Victor Mature and Ethel Barrymore. It is an adaptation of the 1934 novel Moss Rose by Marjorie Bowen based on a real-life Victorian murder case.

Gavin Stevens is a lawyer and the county attorney in Jefferson in Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. He was educated at Harvard and Heidelberg universities.

Requiem for a Nun is a play by Albert Camus, adapted from William Faulkner's 1951 novel of the same name. The play was published in 1962.

Popeye is a character in William Faulkner's 1931 novel Sanctuary. He is a Memphis, Tennessee-based criminal who rapes Temple Drake and introduces her into a criminal world which corrupts her.

Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation is a 1988 non-fiction book by Gene D. Phillips, published by University of Tennessee Press. It is about William Faulkner, his works, and film adaptations of his works.

References

Notes

  1. Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN   978-0-8108-4244-1. p253
  2. TCM Database entry
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Degenfelder, 554.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Phillips, "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"," p. 269. Note that the article says "Ira Stevens" is the new name even though credits state the name is "Ira Bobbitt".
  5. 1 2 Phillips, Gene D. Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation . University of Tennessee Press, 2001. ISBN   1572331666, 9781572331662. p. 82.
  6. Phillips, "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"," p. 269-270.
  7. 1 2 Degenfelder, p. 555.
  8. 1 2 Phillips, Gene D. Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation. University of Tennessee Press, 2001. ISBN   1572331666, 9781572331662. p. 80.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Phillips, "Faulkner And The Film: The Two Versions Of "Sanctuary"," p. 271.
  10. Phillips, Gene D. Fiction, Film, and Faulkner: The Art of Adaptation. University of Tennessee Press, 2001. ISBN   1572331666, 9781572331662. p. 82-83.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Crowther, Bosley (1961-02-22). "The Screen: 'Sanctuary':Adaptation of Faulkner Novels Has Premiere". The New York Times . Retrieved 2019-08-11.
  12. Degenfelder, 553.
  13. Degenfelder, 553-554.