{ "id": "ep2f7se7af", "slug": "gone-to-earth-1950-film", "title": "Gone to Earth (1950 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s", "label": "Drama films 1950s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946", "label": "Western Europe · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Gone to Earth (1950) is Powell and Pressburger's Technicolor melodrama of Mary Webb's novel, starring Jennifer Jones as Hazel Woodus; Selznick recut it as The Wild Heart (1952), and a 4K restoration premiered in 2026.", "snippet": "Gone to Earth (1950) is Powell and Pressburger's Technicolor melodrama of Mary Webb's novel, starring Jennifer Jones as Hazel Woodus; Selznick recut it as The Wild Heart (1952), and a 4K restoration premiered in 2026.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s", "markdown": "# Gone to Earth (1950 film)\n\n**Gone to Earth** is a 1950 British Technicolor melodrama written, produced, and directed by [Michael Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-powell) and Emeric Pressburger, adapted from Mary Webb's 1917 novel of the same name. [Jennifer Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-jones) stars as Hazel Woodus, a free-spirited country woman on the Welsh border of [Shropshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/shropshire) in the 1890s, caught between a Baptist minister, Edward Marston (Cyril Cusack), and the squire and fox hunter Jack Reddin (David Farrar). The film was released in London in September 1950, but its history was shaped by producer David O. Selznick, who re-edited it for the American market as *The Wild Heart* in 1952, cutting it from about 110 minutes to 82 and making his changes directly onto the original negative.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) • [2](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html) • [3](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Directors and writers | Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, credited as \"written, produced and directed\"; produced through their company The Archers[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) |\n| Source | Mary Webb's 1917 novel *Gone to Earth*, described by the BFI as a Thomas Hardy-esque story[4](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/28/gone-to-earth/) |\n| British release | First released in London on 19 September 1950 at a running time of 110 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) |\n| American version | *The Wild Heart* (1952), 82 minutes, with reshoots directed by Rouben Mamoulian and narration spoken by Joseph Cotten[2](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html) • [5](https://www.timeout.com/movies/gone-to-earth) |\n| Principal cast | Jennifer Jones (Hazel Woodus), David Farrar (Jack Reddin), Cyril Cusack (Rev. Edward Marston), Esmond Knight, Sybil Thorndike, Hugh Griffith[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) |\n| Key crew | Photography Christopher Challis, music Brian Easdale, editing Reginald Mills, production design Hein Heckroth[6](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2005/cteq/gone_to_earth/) |\n| Restorations | BFI National Film Archive restoration shown in 1986; new 4K restoration by Walt Disney Studios premiered at the 64th New York Film Festival in 2026[7](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/RadioTimes.html) • [3](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and setting\n\nThe film is set in the late 1890s on the border between Wales and Shropshire. Hazel Woodus, the daughter of a Welsh father and a Roma mother, lives with her widowed father Abel (Esmond Knight), a coffin maker, harpist, and bee keeper, in a hamlet called God's Little Mountain. She keeps a tame fox named Foxy and reads a book of spells left by her mother, which her father dismisses as superstition.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) • [8](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/gone-to-earth/1266544)\n\nTwo men pursue her. Jack Reddin, the squire of Undern Manor, wants her for himself; after fleeing his advances, Hazel becomes engaged to Edward Marston, a newly arrived Baptist minister. The BFI's synopsis notes that the conflict emerges when Marston fails to consummate the marriage while Reddin relentlessly pursues her, a tragedy the BFI reads as the dilemma of female autonomy trapped between conflicting male desires of love and lust.[4](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/28/gone-to-earth/) The title itself is a fox-hunting term that means the hunted fox has taken refuge underground; it is uttered at the end of the picture, when Hazel and Foxy fall into a mine shaft.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) • [15](https://www.huntingact.org/hunting/hunting-terms/)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was a co-production between [Alexander Korda](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander-korda)'s London Film Productions and the American producer [David O. Selznick](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-o-selznick), with production beginning in July 1949 in London. Selznick, whose new wife was Jennifer Jones, saw the film as a starring role for her; a later account says that throughout the shoot he deluged the film-makers with telegrams ordering alterations, and even menaced them with legal action when Powell, who controlled the British cut, would not give in.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) • [2](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html)\n\nShooting took place on location in the Shropshire countryside, with local people used for crowd scenes and small parts, and the onscreen credits note photography \"at the actual settings on the Welsh border\" as well as at [Shepperton Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/shepperton-studios) and in Hollywood.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) The production ran into an unexpected obstacle near completion: the British Field Sports Society took objection to the film's perceived anti blood-sports stance and advised members not to lend hunting packs to the production company. Powell appealed for help in *The Times* in October 1949, and a Cardiganshire farmer finally lent his own hounds to finish the shoot.[4](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/28/gone-to-earth/)\n\nThe film continued the Archers' series of post-war [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor) melodramas, following *Black Narcissus* (1947) and *[The Red Shoes](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-red-shoes-1948-film)* (1948).[4](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/28/gone-to-earth/) Powell's regular cinematographer Jack Cardiff had moved on to other films, so the duo turned to Christopher Challis, whose three-strip Technicolor photography renders the Shropshire countryside in the same ethereal register as its heroine.[9](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/73974)\n\n## Selznick, the lawsuit, and The Wild Heart\n\nThe picture was released first in London on 19 September 1950 at 110 minutes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717) Selznick, unhappy with the directors' cut, attempted in 1950 to sue Korda's company for not keeping to the spirit of Webb's novel but was overruled in court. London Films was given the British rights to the film, while Selznick retained the American rights.[4](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/28/gone-to-earth/) In December 1951 Selznick sold the Western hemisphere distribution rights to RKO for $500,000.[10](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50717-THE-WILDHEART)\n\nFor the American market Selznick hired the Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian to reshoot major scenes and made substantial cuts, releasing the result as *The Wild Heart* in 1952. The re-edit added a doom-laden prologue narrated by [Joseph Cotten](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseph-cotten), explanatory \"labels\" for American audiences, and inserts such as a sign warning of the abandoned mine, while deleting shots of cinematic or symbolic rather than narrative significance; a retrospective account describes this as reclaiming the film's wild imagery in favor of the word.[2](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html) Selznick made his changes directly onto the negative, which made reconstructing the original version exceedingly difficult.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/) The 82-minute *The Wild Heart* was subsequently shown on television and issued on video, and for years it was the only version available in Britain and America.[2](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html) • [7](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/RadioTimes.html)\n\n## Reception and reappraisal\n\nContemporary British criticism was harsh. Gavin Lambert, writing in the *Monthly Film Bulletin* in October 1950, called it the worst piece of kitsch its makers had yet produced, and Powell himself was deprecatory, saying \"We never licked the script\" and admitting that Webb's writing was difficult to translate into cinema.[2](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html) Later aggregate scores have been mixed: Metacritic lists a Metascore of 60 based on six critic reviews, ranging from 90 in *The Observer* to 40 in *Variety*.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/gone-to-earth/)\n\nReappraisal followed the restoration of the original cut. For the London Film Festival in 1985 the BFI Archive produced a new print that Michael Powell declared closer to his initial intention in terms of color printing than he had been able to obtain in 1950, and in 1986 the [National Film Archive](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-archive) restored the original version with its saturated colors; the film historian Clyde Jeavons later recalled that when the saturated colors were recovered, the film \"looked magnificent\" and was reappraised as one of the masterpieces.[12](https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/87677632/Thesis.pdf) • [7](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/RadioTimes.html) • [13](https://historyproject.org.uk/sites/default/files/BEHP%200694T%20Clyde%20Jeavons%20Transcript%20%281%29.pdf) The BFI now describes the film as long overshadowed within the Powell and Pressburger canon and one of their most misunderstood works.[14](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=gone-to-earth-lff26)\n\n## The 2026 4K restoration\n\nA new 4K restoration, described as the first complete restoration of the original version, had its world premiere in the Revivals section of the 64th [New York Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-film-festival) in 2026 and screened at the [BFI London Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/bfi-london-film-festival) on 7 October 2026.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/) • [14](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=gone-to-earth-lff26) It was restored by Walt Disney Studios in association with [The Film Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-film-foundation), with the participation of the British Film Institute, the George Eastman Museum, and The Museum of Modern Art. Image restoration was by Cineric, Inc. and audio restoration by Audio Mechanics, and the work was supervised by Thelma Schoonmaker, Powell's widow, with special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/) Because Selznick had altered the negative, the restorers combined positive materials held at the BFI with the film's tattered negative to bring the Technicolor version of Webb's novel back to life.[3](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Wild Heart (1952) / Gone to Earth, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/50717)\n2. [Monthly Film Bulletin retrospective on Gone to Earth (November 1986), powell-pressburger.org](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/GTE08.html)\n3. [Gone to Earth, Film at Lincoln Center, NYFF64 Revivals](https://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2026/films/gone-to-earth/)\n4. [Gone to Earth, BFI Southbank programme notes, Cinema Unbound (Trish Sheil, BFI Screenonline)](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/cinema%20unbound%3Cbr%3Ethe%20creative%20worlds%20of%20powell%20%2B%20pressburger/2023/10/28/gone-to-earth/)\n5. [Gone To Earth, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/gone-to-earth)\n6. [Gone to Earth, Senses of Cinema CTEQ annotation (Martyn Bamber, 2005)](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2005/cteq/gone_to_earth/)\n7. [Gone to Earth, Radio Times review, powell-pressburger.org](https://powell-pressburger.org/Reviews/50_GTE/RadioTimes.html)\n8. [Gone to Earth, Eye Filmmuseum programme notes](https://www.eyefilm.nl/en/whats-on/gone-to-earth/1266544)\n9. [The Wild Heart / Gone to Earth Blu-ray review, DVD Talk (Stuart Galbraith IV, 2019)](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/73974)\n10. [The Wild Heart, AFI Catalog (history and details)](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/50717-THE-WILDHEART)\n11. [Gone to Earth, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/gone-to-earth/)\n12. [Thesis on film restoration quoting the 1985 London Film Festival print, Universiteit van Amsterdam repository](https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/87677632/Thesis.pdf)\n13. [Clyde Jeavons oral history transcript, BECTU History Project](https://historyproject.org.uk/sites/default/files/BEHP%200694T%20Clyde%20Jeavons%20Transcript%20%281%29.pdf)\n14. [Gone to Earth, BFI London Film Festival 2026 programme](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=gone-to-earth-lff26)\n15. [Hunting Terms, The Hunting Act](https://www.huntingact.org/hunting/hunting-terms/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1950s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Gone to Earth (1950 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Gone to Earth (1950 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Gone to Earth (1950 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/gone-to-earth-1950-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Gone to Earth is Powell and Pressburger's Technicolor melodrama of Mary Webb's novel, starring Jennifer Jones as Hazel Woodus; Selznick recut it as The Wild Heart, and a 4K restoration premiered in 2026." }