Gone to Earth is a 1950 British Technicolor film created by the director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Jennifer Jones, David Farrar, Cyril Cusack and Esmond Knight. The film was significantly changed for the American market by David O. Selznick and retitled The Wild Heart in 1952.
Gone to Earth is based on the 1917 novel of the same name by author Mary Webb. The novel was largely ignored when it first appeared, but it became better known in the 1930s during the neo-romantic revival.
Plot
Hazel Woodus is a child of nature in the Shropshire countryside in 1897. She loves and understands all of the wild animals more than she does the people around her. Whenever she has problems, she consults the book of spells and charms left to her by her gypsy mother.
Local squire Jack Reddin sees Hazel and wants her, but she has already promised herself to the Baptist minister Edward Marston. A struggle for her body and soul ensues.
Cast
Production
Filming on Gone to Earth, which was shot in Technicolor, began on 1 August 1949. Studio filming took place at Shepperton Studios in Shepperton, Surrey, while most of the film was shot on location at many sites around Much Wenlock in Shropshire. Many locals were recruited as extras, such as the choir from a local Methodist church that appears in the film.
The film was coproduced with American producer David O. Selznick, who had a penchant for dictating long and rambling notes to his directors while under the influence of amphetamines and flooded the production with memos, most of which were ignored.