So Red the Rose
Die Farm am Mississippi
Source: Filmarchiv Austria, Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing, LLC.
In 1861, gentlemen gather at the Portobello plantation manor house to bid farewell to the Bedford family daughter, Valette. The only man not rushing off to fight in the Civil War is Valette’s cousin, Duncan Bedford. Believing that “Americans should not fight Americans”, pacifist Duncan does not join the Confederate troops until their situation becomes hopeless. Although he proclaims his love for Valette, that is put to the test when he finds her tending a wounded Yankee soldier in her bed … In this forerunner to Gone with the Wind, the patriarchal values of the American South are personified by a southern belle. After averting a revolt by the family slaves, but unable to deny them their freedom, she must maintain the plantation herself. The screenplay, written by Maxwell Anderson (“What Price Glory?”) and Laurence Stallings (who adapted his own autobiographical novel for The Big Parade), was careful not to open any old wounds in the “New South”. Under King Vidor’s direction, the decline of Dixie was depicted in soft focus. Specked with nods to southern cultural traditions, be it mint juleps for the White overlords or gospel singing by Black slaves, it aims for respect, not revenge.
With
- Margaret Sullavan
- Walter Connolly
- Randolph Scott
- Janet Beecher
- Elizabeth Patterson
- Robert Cummings
- Harry Ellerbe
- Dickie Moore
- Charles Starrett
- Johnny Downs
Crew
Director | King Vidor |
Screenplay | Laurence Stallings, Maxwell Anderson, Edwin Justus Mayer |
Story | Stark Young So Red the Rose (1934) |
Cinematography | Victor Milner |
Editing | Eda Warren |
Music | W. Franke Harling |
Sound | Harold Lewis, Louis Mesenkop |
Art Director | Hans Dreier, Ernst Fegte |
Costumes | Travis Banton |
Assistant Director | Vernon Keays |
Producers | Adolph Zukor, Douglas MacLean |
Produced by
Paramount Pictures Corp.
Additional information
Print: NBCUniversal, Universal City, CA