God's Little Acre (film)

God's Little Acre is a 1958 American film of Erskine Caldwell's 1933 novel of the same name. It was directed by Anthony Mann and shot in black and white by cinematographer Ernest Haller. Although the film was not released until August 1958, its production schedule is indicated as September 11 to late October 1957.

The film was as controversial as the novel, although unlike its source material there was no prosecution for obscenity. Though both book and film were laced throughout with racy innuendo calling into question the issue of marital fidelity, it was the film adaptation that may have been the more alarming because it portrayed a popular uprising, or workers' insurrection, in the Southern United States by laid-off millworkers trying to gain control of the factory equipment on which their jobs depended.

Philip Yordan was officially given credit for the screenplay, but Ben Maddow claimed he wrote it. Since Maddow was blacklisted for his radical, and suspected, but unproven, Communist activities during the 1950s Red Scare, working without credit was the only way he could successfully submit screenplays. When it was first released, audiences under eighteen years of age were prohibited from viewing what were perceived to be numerous sexy scenes throughout, though in recent decades the film's scandalous reputation has diminished. After decades of neglect, the film was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive under the supervision of master restorer Robert Gitt. As part of Gitt's restoration, Yordan's name was replaced by Maddow's in the main title roll althought it doesn't appear on any current releases.

Plot
Widower Ty Ty Walden (Robert Ryan) and his two daughters live in the backwoods of Georgia during the Great Depression. While Ty Ty searches for gold on his farm, his son-in-law Will (Aldo Ray) cheats on his wife Rosamund (Helen Westcott) with Griselda (Tina Louise). Ty Ty has been digging for gold on his land for 15 years, constantly searching for the treasure his grandfather left him. Consequently, the farm has suffered from years of neglect.

Pluto Swint (Buddy Hackett) arrives to announce he's running for sheriff. Swint is invited to come around back where Darlin' Jill (Fay Spain) is taking a bath in an outdoor bathtub positioned near a handpump and spigot. She asks him to pump some more water (the camera never dips lower than the top of the tub). Asked to keep his eyes closed, he sneaks a peek.

In the belief that having an albino with him in his quest for treasure will bring him great fortune, Ty Ty transports and wrongfully imprisons Dave Dawson (Michael Landon), a man with white hair and pink eyes, demanding that he help him locate the buried treasure. Dawson, using a divining rod, claims the gold lies on the neighboring church's land (referred to as "God's Little Acre"). Ty Ty pulls the marker out of the ground explaining that God told him to move it, thereby absolving him from giving any gold found in this new spot to the church.

In the middle of the night Will leaves his house, followed by Griselda. He breaks open the mill's gates and enters the property. At first, she distracts him from his purpose, and they kiss. He then escorts her back to the gates and asks the growing crowd to restrain her. He reenters and turns on the power, and the machines reactivate to the cheers of the crowd.

Hearing the rioters' assembly and the mill's power turned on, the caretaker comes from an inside office and shoots Will for trespassing. The crowd carries his body back to his house. Griselda enters to tell Rosamund the bad news, but the other cries out that she already knows what has happened. Implicitly, at this point the tide in the county elections turns irreversibly. The populist Pluto Swint is elected sheriff, replacing the incumbent. The Walden family squabble after Will's funeral, particularly over Griselda's actions at the mill, and the numerous affections which she attracts from the other sons. The family decides to give up searching for the gold. The film ends with the family contentedly plowing for the first time in years. Ty Ty finds the blade of an old shovel in the ground, and speculates about whether the gold might lie in that spot. As he begins digging again, the camera pans to the pond and the final resting place of the marker for God's Little Acre.

Cast

 * Robert Ryan as Ty Ty Walden, a widower
 * Aldo Ray as Will Thompson
 * Buddy Hackett as Pluto Swint
 * Jack Lord as Buck Walden
 * Fay Spain as Darlin' Jill Walden, Ty Ty's daughter
 * Vic Morrow as Shaw Walden


 * Helen Westcott as Rosamund, Will's wife
 * Lance Fuller as Jim Leslie
 * Rex Ingram as Uncle Felix
 * Michael Landon as Dave Dawson, the albino


 * Russell Collins as watchman
 * Davis Roberts as farm worker with hoe
 * Janet Brandt [also listed in credits as dialogue coach] as angry woman
 * Tina Louise as Griselda Walden, Buck's wife