Although I would not rank Gone to Earth very high among The Archers' output, it has a special significance for me because I grew up near its filming locations in the Shropshire countryside. As a child, I knew about the film many years before eventually seeing it, when it was restored in the 1980s.mteller wrote:Mister Lime confirmed on HTF it's the Selznick butcher job. A shame.
There really isn't anything to recommend in the Selznick US version over the UK original, despite Rouben Mamoulian's involvement as director of some reshot scenes. The only positive I can point to is that Selznick at least had the decency (or perhaps it was a contractual requirement) to rename the butchered product. Since the forthcoming release appears to be under that US title, The Wild Heart, it tells us what to expect. I presume the roadshow overture will be new to home video though.
In exceptional cases, I might defend a producer's wishes taking precedence over the director's, if the producer is risking his or her own money whilst the director is not. However, Powell & Pressburger always did have a financial stake as co-producers, so they were entitled to object when Selznick's interference became unreasonable.
I feel sorry for contemporary US audiences who were denied a chance to see the original film, but at least that still exists and perhaps one day we can look forward to it on Blu.
