God's Little Acre
About God's Little Acre
Widower Ty Ty Walden, played by Robert Ryan, digs for gold on his Georgia farm and lets the cotton go. His daughter Rosamund's husband, Will Thompson, played by Aldo Ray, joins laid-off mill hands who try to start the factory. Will is killed. Affairs and fights pull the house apart. The family goes back to farming. Ty Ty lifts the shovel again, then stops.
Cast & crew
More about God's Little Acre
Anthony Mann directed. Sidney Harmon produced. United Artists released it on August 13, 1958. Philip Yordan took the screenplay credit. Ben Maddow later said he wrote it while blacklisted. Ernest Haller photographed it in black and white. Elmer Bernstein wrote the score. A UCLA restoration supervised by Robert Gitt put Maddow's name on the main titles of that version. Most later copies still carry Yordan.
Themes
Look
Ernest Haller shot it in black and white. The Georgia farm was staged at Stockton, California.
Music
Elmer Bernstein wrote the score.
Preservation
UCLA Film & Television Archive restored a version under Robert Gitt, with Ben Maddow named on the titles.
Notes
- It is from Erskine Caldwell's 1933 novel. The book was prosecuted for obscenity. The film was not.
- On first release, viewers under 18 were kept out.
- Tina Louise plays Griselda. Michael Landon plays Dave Dawson. Jack Lord plays Buck Walden. Buddy Hackett plays Pluto Swint. Fay Spain plays Darlin' Jill. Vic Morrow plays Shaw Walden. Rex Ingram plays Uncle Felix.
- The title is the acre Ty Ty sets aside and then moves whenever the digging reaches it.
Scenes
- Ty Ty keeps shifting the hole he calls God's acre.
- Will is killed when the mill hands try to start the factory.
Influenced by
- Erskine Caldwell's novel God's Little Acre (1933)
