Raintree County
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Year Released: 1957
Rating: 1.0
Horribly bloated Civil War epic about a teacher from the North (Montgomery Clift) and his love for a student (Eva Marie Saint), his forced marriage to a racist Southerner (Elizabeth Taylor) and his tenure as a soldier in the conflict. The script is simply dreadful, and everything is spelled out: the title 'rain tree' - which brings 'redemption and bliss' - is actually a real object (!?). Lee Marvin provides some fire as an old rival of Clift's and gives the picture a needed jolt whenever he's around (which is shamefully little) - sorry the same cannot be said for Taylor's affected accent and over-acting (she seems to think she's in a Tennessee Williams play).
