June 22- Raintree County

Here is a film with a scene that happens today - June 22. I hope you enjoy the movie and watch it tonight. 

RAINTREE COUNTY

In 1858 Indiana’s Raintree County  John Shawnessey and Nell Gaither are about to graduate when their professor, Jerusalem Webster Stiles  tells them the legend of the golden raintree. Johnny Appleseed supposedly planted one in a swamp in the county. He uses the tree as a metaphor for the idea of seeking achievement, instead of money. John looks for the tree, but is unsuccessful.  John is challenged to a footrace by ‘Flash’ Perkins and he meets Susanna Drake, a southern belle who now lives in the county. John wins the race on the Fourth of July and has an amorous interlude with Susanna. He helps professor Stiles get out of the county after he is accused of dallying with someone else’s wife.  Susanna tells John she’s pregnant and they get married. They move to New Orleans, but as an abolitionist John does fit in well in the South. He learns there is some kind of scandal surrounding the death of her parents in a fire when Susanna starts displaying signs of insanity like her mother. She tells him she lied about being pregnant and they return to Raintree County.  John persuades her to get rid of her large doll collection, including one that is partly burned. Their son Jimmy is born.  Two years later on June 22, 1863 [1:37:55 to 1:40:03] Johnny meets Nell again and they talk about the golden rain tree and Copperheads. Susanna finally tells John about what really happened with the fire. After her mother went insane her father took Henrietta, a woman of color, who was Susanna’s nanny as his mistress. Susanna found out about it and wrote her mother a note. The mother shot her husband and Henrietta and started the fire. Susanna flees to Georgia taking Jimmy with her. John enlists in the army to fight and look for Susanna. He meets ‘Flash’ Perkins and Jerusalem Stiles, who’s now a war correspondent. John reaches Susanna’s plantation, but only Jimmy is there. Susanna has been committed to an insane asylum. He finds her and takes her back to Raintree County. John  is later asked to run for congress, but he declines. Susanna realizes that it is because he has a crazy wife that he won’t run. She decides to find the golden raintree and heads into the swamp, but Jimmy sees her and follows. There is a massive search. Susanna is found dead. John and Nell search on and find Jimmy, not realizing that the child found the golden rain tree.   

This is not Taylor’s best film. Some of her scenes border on being carpet chewers. This melodrama tries to be Gone With the Wind, but it unfortunately doesn’t even come close. The story is interesting enough, with just a hint of mystery to keep it fresh.

Vicksburg: 1863 by Winston Groom (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000) at page 339 gives the date of the start of the siege. Poster put up about results of 35^th day of siege, at 1:38: 05, which was June 22.

Producer - David Lewis

Director - Edward Dmytryk

Awards – The film was nominated for the Best Actress(Taylor), Best Set Decoration,

                 Best Costume Design and Best Music Scoring at the 30^th Academy Awards. 

Screenplay -  Millard Kaufman

Runtime – 3 hours 2 minutes

Released – December 20, 1957

Starring -

Montgomery Clift as John Wickliff Shawnessey

Elizabeth Taylor as Susanna Drake

Eva Marie Saint as Nell Gaither

Nigel Patrick as Prof. Jerusalem Webster Stiles

Lee Marvin as Orville 'Flash' Perkins

Rod Taylor as Garwood B. Jones

Agnes Moorehead as Ellen Shawnessy

Walter Abel as T.D. Shawnessy

Jarma Lewis as Barbara Drake

Tom Drake as Bobby Drake

Rhys Williams as Ezra Gray

Russell Collins as Niles Foster

DeForest Kelley as Southern officer

Watch a trailer for Raintree County