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Raintree County Overview:

Raintree County (1957) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Millard Kaufman, Thomas D. Tannenbaum and David Lewis.

Academy Awards 1957 --- Ceremony Number 30 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActressElizabeth TaylorNominated
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: William A. Horning, Urie McCleary; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Hugh HuntNominated
Best Costume DesignWalter PlunkettNominated
Best Music - ScoringJohnny GreenNominated
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Raintree County BlogHub Articles:

Raintree County (1957)

By Beatrice on Jul 23, 2016 From Flickers in Time

Raintree County Directed by Edward Dmytryck Written by Millard Kaufman from a novel by Ross Lockridge Jr. 1957/USA Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer First viewing/Netflix rental Epic-length melodramas aren’t my thing. This one is just tedious despite Liz Taylor’s Oscar-nominated performance as a... Read full article

Raintree County

By RBuccicone on May 13, 2011 From MacGuffin Movies

Raintree County (1957)      Raintree County marked a significant point in the career of Montgomery Clift, although not a positive one. It was a box office hit because people flocked to the theater to compare the before and after images of the face of a man who had been disfigured in a car accid... Read full article

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Raintree County Quotes:

T.D. Shawnessy: [to Flash, who is drinking beer in public] Flash Perkins, don't you know that your body is the temple of the spirit, and you defile and pollute it with that Devil's brew you have there?
Orville 'Flash' Perkins: [Nonchalantly] Why, if you say so, pappy...
T.D. Shawnessy: Why don't you come 'round to our next temperance rally. Come 'round and take the Total Abstinence Pledge.
Orville 'Flash' Perkins: Why, pappy, I'll take that pledge right now.
T.D. Shawnessy: Orville, we want men to take that pledge only when they're sober.
Orville 'Flash' Perkins: But if they're sober, what's the point in havin' them take the pledge?
[Everybody laughs]
John Wickliff Shawnessy: [On the riverboat with Susanna, visiting the South for the first time] You were right, Mrs. Shawnessy, I like your river. I really do. It even smells good.
Susanna Drake: I knew that you'd understand it. Which is more than most Yankees do. Now, that's something I don't understand. 'Cause all you have to do is go South once and you LOVE it!
John Wickliff Shawnessy: Well, to us Yankees, the South is not too easy to understand... You ever read "Uncle Tom's Cabin"?
Susanna Drake: [Shocked] "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? Phoo... I haven't married an abolitionist, have I?
John Wickliff Shawnessy: That is the skeleton in my closet.
Susanna Drake: Now, you mustn't joke about it.
Susanna Drake: [Arranging a vast collection of dolls on her bed] Anyway, there's worse things than being an abolitionist.
John Wickliff Shawnessy: Like what?
Susanna Drake: Like having Negro blood in you. Isn't it funny? Just one little teeny drop and a person's all Negro. A person can't always tell, either.
T.D. Shawnessy: War is the most monstrous of man's illusions. Any idea worth anything is worth not fighting for.
Susanna Drake: Johnny, I had to come back. I'm going to have a baby.
Susanna Drake: That 4th of July race... what happens when you win?
John Wickliff Shawnessy: Well, according to a friend of mine, if I win, a beautiful girl will place a garland of oak leaves on my sun-colored locks.
Susanna Drake: I'd like to be that girl.
John Wickliff Shawnessy: Maybe it can be arranged?
Susanna Drake: Oh, it can be arranged, all right. *I'll* arrange it.
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Raintree County Facts
Of the many films produced in the very wide aspect-ratio of 2.55:1 from 1953 to 1957, this was the last film released at that aspect-ratio; after this, an optional mono soundtrack was added to many films made in stereo, reducing the aspect ratio on them to 2.35:1. However, the 1959 "Ben-Hur", also filmed in Camera 65, was the first film in that process to be released with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1. When MGM filmed "Raintree County" in Camera 65, they were forced out of necessity to release it in the Cinemascope aspect ratio rather than the correct Camera 65 one.
Finnish censorship visas: 1) theatrical visa delivered on 18-3-1988. 2) visa # T-49650 delivered on 27-9-1995 (video).
This film was the first to be photographed in the MGM Camera 65 process; the second was Ben-Hur. Later, the process was renamed Ultra Panavision 70. It involved using a 65mm negative with the addition of lenses that applied a 1.25 X anamorphic squeeze. When projected, the aspect ratio would be 2.21:1 X 1.25 = 2.76:1. However, around 1957 theaters were still showing Around the World in Eighty Days, which forced MGM to release this film only on 35mm anamorphic prints, with an aspect ratio of 2.55:1. MGM used the older CinemaScope format because it allowed for the inclusion of four-track magnetic audio, in contrast to the mono-only audio offered by 2.35:1 optical soundtrack prints.
The first preview for this film was held January 24, 1957 at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, the film ran 3 hours and 6 minutes. On March 19, 1957 the New York Times reported that retakes would begin later that month so "that certain dramatic points will be emphasized by re-shooting in close-up and that extra footage will be added to achieve smoother transitions in the sprawling drama." When the film was ready for release two options were offered to exhibitors, either the 168 minute version as a two screenings a day feature or a continuous performance version that ran 151 minutes.
The town of Freehaven of the mythical Raintree County was created in 1956 on MGM's vast Backlot #3 at Jefferson and Overland Boulevards in Culver City, California, by re-designing a portion of an old western set and adding some new buildings such as the Freehaven Town Hall and its clock tower. In 1971, MGM's Lot #3 was demolished to make way for a new apartment and condominium complex which became known as "Raintree Estates," named for this motion picture. Several Chinese Golden Raintrees were planted around the new residential property and many of the complex's streets and buildings were named for various MGM productions.
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