Gone to Earth (1950)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Gone to Earth (1950) – M. Powell & E. Pressburger

The Archers (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) declared this a success (by having the arrow hit the bullseye before the opening credits) and it does achieve a certain sense of time and place (with some beautiful Technicolor images) as their best work does (e.g., Black Narcissus, I Know Where I’m Going!, The Red Shoes, etc. etc.). Jennifer Jones (then wife of executive producer David O. Selznick who took the finished film and drastically re-cut it, releasing it as The Wild Heart, an inferior version) plays Hazel Woodus, a naïve young girl, daughter of the local harp player, who is courted by both the mild-mannered local parson (Cyril Cusack) and the randy local squire (David Farrar). Impetuously, she can’t make up her mind (even after being married) and seemingly prefers the world of animals to humans, especially her pet fox, who is under threat from the squire and his fox-hunting mates.  It’s a small film, situated in a folksy backwoods part of Scotland (I think), where some locals believe in the world of faeries and their magic while others have devoted themselves to Christianity. If I were a young girl, I might be entranced by the romantic angle but this left me a little cold despite appreciating Hazel’s confusion and ambivalence toward being loved and controlled.  The ending is quite a doozy however and worth the price of admission!