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So Red the Rose

Die Farm am Mississippi
Retrospective 2020
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.
by King Vidor
with Margaret Sullavan, Walter Connolly, Randolph Scott, Janet Beecher, Elizabeth Patterson, Robert Cummings, Harry Ellerbe, Dickie Moore, Charles Starrett, Johnny Downs USA 1935 English 82’ Black/White

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

King Vidor

Filmography (selection)

1919 The Turn in the Road; Lost film 1925 The Big Parade (Die große Parade) 1928 The Crowd (Ein Mensch der Masse) 1929 Hallelujah 1934 Our Daily Bread (Der letzte Alarm) 1938 The Citadel 1940 Northwest Passage (Nordwest-Passage) 1947 Duel in the Sun (Duell in der Sonne) 1949 The Fountainhead (Ein Mann wie Sprengstoff) 1956 War and Peace (Krieg und Frieden) 1959 Solomon and Sheba (Salomon und die Königin von Saba)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020