TV Guide review
Gone to Earth (1950)
aka The Wild Heart (edited from Gone to Earth)
A rare misfire from the normally reliable team of Powell and Pressburger
(The Red Shoes), this 1890s British-based film was taken from a fair
novel and only barely came up to the novel's standards, despite an excellent
and lively turn by Jones in the lead. She is an innocent Shropshire lass
who lives in the country and takes care of various little animals in the
woods. She is especially devoted to her pet fox, a cute critter, and her
main goal in life seems to be rescuing the innocents of the forest from
the shotguns, and slings and arrows of outrageous hunters searching for
trophies. Farrar is the local landowner and he would love to marry Jones,
but she marries clergyman Cusack instead. Cusack is a pleasant chap but
has no sexual interest in his comely wife, something that causes the curvy
Jones a great deal of frustration. This being the case, she takes up with
Farrar, who satisfies her lust but, as it turns out, is cruel to animals,
specifically her fox. She returns to husband Cusack who, while not being
particularly virile, does have a sympathetic nature toward her pet. Farrar
leads a hunt to find the fox and kill it, so Jones tries to get the pet
before the squire does. In doing so, she dies when she falls down a long,
dark mine shaft. Not believable on any level, the movie came in at 110 minutes
in the British version, then was recut by Selznick for the US. He added
some scenes, directed by Rouben Mamoulian, plus narration by Joseph Cotten
in a vain attempt to make some sense out of the mish-mash story. The
Wild Heart was filmed near the Welsh border with additional scenes done
in Hollywood. Two tasteful men, Selznick and Alexander Korda, financed the
project, and their participation plus that of Powell and Pressburger should
have insured that this film had some merit. It has very little.
[Of course others may say that the editing and additional scenes shot
for Selznick totally ruined a good film, over explaining and missing
some essential scenes (such as hearing the fairy music at the Devils's
chair)]
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