Desire in the Dust

Desire in the Dust
Directed by William F. Claxton
Produced by William F. Claxton
executive
Robert L. Lippert
Written by Charles Lang
Based on novel by Harry Whittington
Starring Raymond Burr
Martha Hyer
Joan Bennett
Music by Paul Dunlap
Cinematography Lucien Ballard
Edited by Richard W. Farrell
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
 Oct 1960[1]
Running time
 102 min
Country USA
Language English

Desire in the Dust is a 1960 film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by William F. Claxton, and produced by Robert L. Lippert. The film stars Raymond Burr, Martha Hyer and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Charles Lang, based on a novel by Harry Whittington.[2][3]

Plot

Lonnie Wilson (Ken Scott), the son of a sharecropper, Zuba Wilson (Douglas Fowley), returns to his small southern hometown of Clinton, Louisiana after spending six years on the chain-gang for killing Colonel Ben Marquand's son, Davey, in an automobile accident. He revives his love affair with Melinda Marquand (Martha Hyer), who is now Mrs. Melinda Thomas, having married Dr. Ned Thomas (Brett Halsey) while Lonnie was serving time in her place for the accident she caused.[4]

Somewhat miffed about all this, Lonnie incites Dr. Ned about his wife's infidelity, which Dr. Ned verifies when he catches Lonnie and Melinda in a semi-torrid embrace in Colonel Marquand's hunting lodge. Melinda, looking for an explanation, shoots and wounds Lonnie to defend her innocence by claiming she was being raped.

Colonel Marquand (Raymond Burr), who had bribed Lonnie to take the blame for his daughter, uses her story to have Sheriff Wheaton (Kelly Thordsen) kill Lonnie, thereby putting an end to all this mess. Mrs. Marquand (Joan Bennett) eventually faces Davey's death and realizes that she witnessed Melinda run down her little brother.

Peter Marquand (Jack Ging) and Ned return to the lodge and inform Otis that the charges against Lonnie are all lies. Exonerated, Lonnie gives Zuba the deed to the farm, and the old man dances in delight, thrilled to finally own his land.[5]

Cast

Production

In September 1959 Robert L. Lippert bought the screen rights to Harry Wittington's novel Desire in the Dust. He wanted Patricia Owens and Tuesday Weld for the leads.[6] It, along with Freckles and The Purple Hills, was the first in a new eight-picture deal between API and 20th Century Fox.[7] (It was later followed by Squad Car, Secret of the Purple Reef and Frontier Judge.[8])

Lippert said he wanted to film the novel to attract a more adult novel and "attract important people in the business to what we're trying to do."[9]

Dana Andrews was originally cast in the lead but backed out. He was replaced by Raymond Burr, then three years into Perry Mason, which was on a production break due to a writers strike.[10][11]

Filming started in July 1960 in Baton Rogue Louisiana.[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ By, E. A. (1960, Oct 01). DISTRIBUTORS LIST 9 MOVIE BOOKINGS. New York Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/115162373?accountid=13902
  2. ↑ FILMLAND EVENTS. (1960, Sep 23). Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167732902?accountid=13902
  3. ↑ DESIRE IN THE DUST. (1960, Monthly Film Bulletin, 27, 170. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/1305821195?accountid=13902
  4. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053762/ IMDB
  5. ↑ https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/89222/Desire-in-the-Dust/overview
  6. ↑ Novel of the south purchased by lippert. (1959, Sep 23). Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167557526?accountid=13902
  7. ↑ Scheuer, P. K. (1960, Apr 28). Laughs ill-timed in college comedy. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167694965?accountid=13902
  8. ↑ FILMLAND EVENTS. (1960, May 30). Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167615023?accountid=13902
  9. ↑ Scheuer, P. K. (1960, Sep 05). Showman divulges first-aid program. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167764425?accountid=13902
  10. ↑ Hopper, H. (1960, Jun 03). Looking at hollywood. Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/182529132?accountid=13902
  11. ↑ FILMLAND EVENTS. (1960, Jun 02). Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167750888?accountid=13902
  12. ↑ FILMLAND EVENTS. (1960, Jul 02). Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167731942?accountid=13902
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.