This Earth Is Mine (1959) User Reviews

Shamefully Neglected Minor Blockbuster.

[jpdoherty · 6/10 · 21 June 2011]

Universal International's THIS EARTH IS MINE is an unfairly dismissed and generally disregarded minor blockbuster! Produced for the studio in 1959 by Casey Robinson and Claude Heilman the picture - nicely written for the screen by Robinson - derived from the novel THE CUP & THE SWORD by Alice Tisdale. With attractive Art Direction by George W. Davis and Eric Orbom it was stunningly photographed in Cinemascope and glowing colour by two masters of the camera Winton Hoch of "The Searchers" (1956) fame and Russell Metty who knocked everyone out with his unique work on Welles "Touch Of Evil" in 1958. Engagingly directed by Henry King (Tyrone Power's favourite director and friend for many years at Fox) THIS EARTH IS MINE is the engrossing story of the Rambeau wine dynasty, a proud family caught up in its own internal conflicts. The all star cast is agreeably fleshed out by Rock Hudson, Jean Simmons, Claude Rains and Dorothy McGuire and the whole thing is perfectly underlined with a great score by Hugo Friedhofer.

It is 1931 and America is in the throes of Prohibition. The law against alcohol consumption is having a devastating effect on the grape growers and wine makers of the Napa Valley in California. The wine family dynasty of patriarch Phillipe Rambeau (Claude Rains) is worried about survival. In an attempt to consolidate his dynasty he sends to England for his granddaughter Elizabeth (Jean Simmons). But illegitimate cousin John Rambeau (Rock Hudson) is immediately attracted to her and a stormy affair begins. With falling wine sales the younger Rambeau endeavors to convince Phillipe to sell just the grapes ("We grow grapes. Why can't we sell grapes? There's a fortune to be made" exhorts John). But Phillipe is set in his ways ("I wont sell grapes to gangsters and bootleggers so they can make their cheap sour belly wine" retorts an intransigent and determined Phillipe). Later, to the chagrin of Elizabeth, a scandal erupts when John is accused of fathering a child with one of the vineyard work-hands (Cindy Robbins) ("What sort of cock & bull story is this - there's not a word of truth in it" exclaims John to a disbelieving and appalled Elizabeth). Then in a follow-up confrontation with the girl's husband (Ken SCott) he is shot and badly wounded. After a massive fire destroys one of the vineyards and Phillipe dies the picture comes to an end with a recovering, limping and exonerated John Rambeau working alone replanting the burnt-out vineyard (willed to him by Phillipe). He is then joined by a forgiving Elizabeth and sealed with a kiss they now vow to face the future together.

Performances are excellent across the board. Hudson is good in what is one of his best serious roles and much better than his one note performance in the tiresome "Giant" three years earlier. Jean Simmons, always an intense actress and ever so British, is her usual unsmiling and over zealous self. Good too is the likable Dorothy McGuire as Martha the stern and authoritarian daughter of Phillipe who runs the grand household like a business. But best in it is Claude Rains as Phillipe the crusty dictatorial head of the family. As always Rains delivers one of his well measured character portrayals.

Also of note is the fine score by Hugo Friedhofer. There is a haunting title song by Sammy Fain and Jimmy Van Heusen heard over the opening credits and well rendered by popular singer of the day Don Cornell. Friedhofer interpolates this song into his score and is poignantly utilized in an exquisite setting for muted strings for the love scenes. And then for the finale it is especially moving and uplifting as full orchestra, with humming female chorus, plays under the end scene where John and Elizabeth caress in the burnt-out vineyard and as the camera pans back from them the music swells to bring the picture to an arresting and satisfying denouement.

THIS EARTH IS MINE is a handsomely mounted colourful melodrama with splendidly drawn characters. Shame it isn't liked more! But now it has just been released on DVD in Spain in a resplendent sharp 2.35 transfer. So it is time for a re-evaluation and reassessment of this fine but neglected movie.

Maybe it lost something after Watergate...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 25 August 2019]

... after all this film was made in 1959, in the age of "good government", the pledge of allegiance every morning etc. Part of the plot is that John Rambeau (Rock Hudson), one of the grandsons in a family that oversees a sprawling vineyard empire, supposedly will do anything to get what he wants when he wants it. This is towards the end of Prohibition, and the patriarch of the family, (Claude Rains), insists on only selling table grapes, on buying the crops of all of the smaller vineyards and plowing them under, and doing so because "this is the law gentlemen", to quote Kevin Costner. And he has been doing this for a dozen years. Except nobody followed the law. People drank more because of Prohibition, and the mafia, which was a two bit outfit confined to gambling and prostitution before 1920, became richer than they could ever imagine because it was illegal to sell alcohol but not to buy or possess it.

Today John Rambeau seems like the only one smart enough to figure out that this is a silly law not worth following, and why go broke when you can sell the grapes to bootleggers and make money? You are not violating any moral code, or actually the silly law itself by selling the grapes to bootleggers. Like I said, in the age of 50's conformity this may sound selfish, but not today. John also has a bad habit of loving and leaving the ladies, so no wonder when he meets one he really likes (Jean SImmons as a distant English cousin) , she can't take him seriously and is considering going through with an arranged marriage to a guy so boring he could double as a department store mannequin.

It's really a beautifully photographed film, but it is like a badly organized Douglas Sirk film - just too much melodrama and too many subplots that really have nothing to do with one another. Still, I have to wonder why it is so hard to find considering the all star cast. With Claude Rains as the kind old patriarch, Rock Hudson as the big as life prodigal, Dorothy McGuire in a role that is more...well, let me just say, more witchy than her usual well meaning passive characters, with Kent Smith as her neglected husband.

Vintage U.-I./Rock Hudson from the Wine Country

[gregcouture · 1 May 2003]

This is not available on video, as far as I can determine, and if it does eventually become available, be sure that the CinemaScope ratio is reproduced. Winton Hoch and Universal-International's master of the color cameras, Russell Metty, did some fine location work on this one, having been granted access to over a dozen properties in northern California's world-famed Wine Country. Their work made the use of Technicolor and CinemaScope more than worthwhile.

The story is a bit pulpy but it's not that badly spun out and, surrounding Mr. Hudson, U.-I.'s all-time box-office draw, there are some fine actors, including Dorothy McGuire, the always regal Claude Rains (playing an autocratic patriarch), and the lovely Jean Simmons, fresh from a number of above-the-title roles in Twentieth-Century Fox CinemaScope costumers. Hugo Friedhofer underscores the plot's halting progress with his usual taste and finesse. I'd forgotten he had written this score (I did see it first-run.) until a broadcast some time ago on American Movie Classics (failing, once more, to "letterbox" it. Wish I could sue them. One thing is for sure...I make a point to avoid purchasing anything offered by the advertisers who now clutter up their broadcasts ad nauseum.) Friedhofer's contribution lifts this film into the Class "A" category, something that cannot be said of many U.-I. releases during the Fifties.

When this film was about to be released a friend and I, up from southern California for a brief vacation in San Francisco, suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a stop on a press junket for this film. There, just a few feet away from where we stood, was Mr. Hudson towering over the diminutive Miss Simmons. I recall the patience they exhibited as they posed for numerous pictures, while answering reporters' questions. If there was any security around for the stars' protection, we weren't aware of it...a far cry from what we might observe in these paranoid times.

NOW ON YOU TUBE

[grahamvr · 10/10 · 26 October 2019]

It looks like it was posted on you tube by Universal as their name appears in the bottom left hand corner. It is the full Cinemascope version and beautiful color. Excellent cast with names to remember. I have not seen this for many, many years but have been looking for it constantly. Now thanks, hopefully to Universal it is available for all to see again.

Locations in the Napa Valley give absolute realism to the production.

"Grapes must be tutored to become good wines...and to know how to educate them is the art of a good winemaker."

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 5 September 2017]

The patriarch of a winemaking dynasty in 1931 Napa Valley welcomes his pretty young granddaughter from England--she thinks she's there for a visit, but her grandfather is plotting to marry her off to a cousin in order to absorb vineyard holdings and keep the winery in the family for future generations. Meanwhile, another cousin has an eye for the girl, though he's in the middle of a devil's bargain between Chicago gangsters and bootleggers ("modern dealings") due to the current Prohibition, all behind the old man's back. Wooden adaptation of Alice Tisdale Hobart's novel "The Cup and the Sword" is an exposition-heavy soaper full of hotheads spouting off, and Rock Hudson explaining everything to Jean Simmons (and to the audience) to keep her up to speed on the cast of characters, their functions and relationships to each other. If this story were to work at all, Hobart's book should have been thrown out or rethought altogether. There are too many people here with different agendas, too much conniving and manipulation, and melodrama as thick as a wine vat full of rotting grapes. Casey Robinson is responsible for the pedantic screenplay, which isn't much better than director Henry King's execrable staging (check out that welcoming dinner for Simmons, with everyone at one long table facing a swimming pool). The film, which gets off to a poor start with an awful theme song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, has been produced with considerable polish, and it certainly benefits from Claude Rains' performance as grandfather Phillipe. Otherwise, overwrought and occasionally laughable. *1/2 from ****

Not to be missed.

[davidallen-84122 · 8/10 · 1 July 2017]

This is a most attractive movie featuring a stunning cast.It has a haunting quality that left me thinking and wanting to view it again.Jean Simmons and Dorothy McGuire play their parts with absolute conviction and both ladies look lovely too.Claude Rains is superb and Rock Hudson gives a star performance in a challenging role.I love so many films made at Universal in the late 50's and early 60's;nice photography,costumes,make-up,hair etc. David Allen (New Zealand)

The first Rambeau film

[Ambak · 4/10 · 15 November 2012]

Nice photography, but this is dull stuff. For a start, it is difficult to take seriously when you learn that the family name is Rambeau, (pronounced, of course, Rambo) and that Hudson's character is John Rambo, sorry, Rambeau! In any case it is impossible to have any sympathy with any of the characters is this. How can we give a damn about Hudson's character when he condones intimidation and torture in order to get his way. This whole episode is simply swept under the carpet and we are supposed to care whether Hudson and Simmons get together. I hope this doesn't sound like sour grapes, but the movie is definitely corked.

Brought wine to the national forefront

[HotToastyRag · 8/10 · 29 December 2020]

The story of This Earth Is Mine is very interesting, and it marks a new topic not yet seen in films as of 1959: wine. While Sideways has brought a new love of wine to modern audiences, back in 1959, moviegoers didn't know their way around wineries. It must have been extremely exciting and educational to see the inside of real wineries: casks, caves, tasting rooms, etc. Filmed on location, this movie brought an up close view of Napa to the rest of the country. Beringer, Stags' Leap, Paul Masson, Beaulieu, Mayacamas, Inglenook, Schramsberg, and eight other Napa Valley wineries let Hollywood add authenticity to this movie.

Claude Rains plays the patriarch owner of a Napa vineyard. I love seeing Claude in such a meaty role nearly thirty years after The Invisible Man. When he talks about his love for the land and the history in the soil, it brings tears to his eyes (and to ours). His daughter Dorothy McGuire (with an excellent, completely believable performance) is devoted to his care and to working the land, especially because her childless marriage to Kent Smith is fraught with problems. Kent has an illegitimate son with the invalid Anna Lee: Rock Hudson. And when the long-lost granddaughter Jean Simmons moves to Napa, she might go against her better judgment and fall for the rebellious Rock.

Doesn't that sound interesting? And that's just the beginning. This is one gigantic soap opera with double-crosses, deceit, forbidden love, secrets, passion, and violence. Set during Prohibition, it's fascinating to see what a family winery handles their situation. I look at it as a story of loyalty, sometimes tested, broken, and kept. If you like sweeping sagas, you've got to check this one out. 1959 was a contentious year, and the Members of the Board here at Hot Toasty Rag reluctantly didn't include This Earth Is Mine with a Best Picture nomination. It really is a wonderful movie, though, and if there were less competition, it certainly would have been honored.

Rock Hudson did his best to make a good story out of this.

[agilemik · 10 May 2002]

If the director and other participants had done as well as Rock Hudson to make a good story out of this, it would have been a real success. Had forgotten just how handsome and talented he was. Sure do miss special actors like Mr. Hudson. Saw this movie last night, 5/9/02, and enjoyed it. Even if it was mediocre, it was far better than the trash filmed today.

Rambeau Family Values

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 28 January 2011]

Set during the last years of Prohibition, This Earth Is Mine tells the story of the Rambeau family of the Napa Valley, prominent wine makers who are having a rough go of it during those years. Family patriarch is Claude Rains who through arranged marriages has gained control of a good deal of the real estate in the valley.

Rains reminds me a whole lot of Melvyn Douglas in Hud, an honorable man, possibly too honorable. Even though Prohibition is killing his business, he's surviving on selling his grapes to make jelly and grape juice, he won't sell to bootleggers to make illegal wine. Not like he's got control over what happens to his grapes once they are sold, but Rains has an exaggerated and somewhat naive morality.

Those arranged marriages aren't always the happiest ones either. Kent Smith is married to daughter Dorothy McGuire an iron willed lady, but who was in love with Anna Lee the wife of a son of Rains and the two of them had a not so discreet affair that produced Rock Hudson. He's the black sheep of the family and his parentage is just not discussed in polite company.

But all that makes it OK for Hudson to get romantically interested in Jean Simmons the daughter of another son of Rains who is over in the United Kingdom. She's come to the USA to be the arranged bride of another landed wine family Francis Bethencourt who once considered the priesthood.

Hudson has no such scruples about who the grapes are sold to. He organizes some of the smaller growers to sell their crops to bootleggers and some of those who resist get the usual gangster treatment. All this threatens to tear the Rambeau family apart and that's without going into what's going on with Rock and Jean.

I compared Claude Rains to Melvyn Douglas in Hud and truth be told Rock Hudson's part was probably better suited to someone like Paul Newman. But I don't think either of them could have lifted this story above the soap opera level. This Earth Is Mine tries for an Edna Ferber epic like quality and misses.

But for those of you who like this sort of stuff you could have seen all this and more on the Eighties prime time TV soap opera Falcon Crest where they had a matriarch of a wine growing family, Jane Wyman, who weekly was involved in some machinations trying to control all the people around her.

This Earth Is Mine does boast some beautiful scenery of the Napa Valley and Henry King as director does do his best to breathe credibility into an unbelievable story.

I guess she really DIDN'T know what she wanted!!

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 23 June 2020]

"This Earth Is Mine" is a very glossy film from Universal Studios that obviously cost a lot of money. It featured some top stars and was set in lovely Napa Valley....but, sadly, the story was apparently written by chimpanzees...albeit moderately talented chimps! In other words, it looks great...but is, essentially, trash when it comes to writing.

The film begins with Elizabeth Rambeau coming to Napa to see the family she's never met. Apparently, her father ran off with her mother long ago and she was raised away from her father's extended family's influence. As for this new family, they are wealthy grape growers...the pride of the county.

When Elizabeth meets her cousin, John (Rock Hudson), she sees that he's a bit of a black sheep in the family. While the patriarch (Claude Rains) seems content to wait until prohibition EVENTUALLY ends (it's been 12 years already...so he's an insanely patient man), John is in favor of selling the grapes to the highest bidders...which, not surprisingly, are the mob who is eager to convert this grape juice into wine.

As far as John and Elizabeth go, this is a HUGE problem with the film. First, she detests him and he insists she REALLY means 'yes'...a very dangerous trope. Second, out of the blue, she DOES come to love him. Not only was this dangerous, as it lends credence to the 'she says NO when she means YES' mentality but also because she goes from hating him to loving John for no discernible reason. This makes no sense and really is bad writing. What's next? See the film...or not.

So, if this is just a bad but very slick film, why did I watch it in the first place? Well, I recently moved to California wine country and live within relatively short driving distance from Napa. And, the film is interesting in this sense. Seeing the old vineyards and what Napa was like long ago (it's set in the 1930s) was interesting. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is poorly written and dull. There are some nice story elements (such as the illegitimate child portion of the movie), but overall it's tedious and not the movie it could have been. It only earns a 4 because it is interesting historically and looks nice. Otherwise, it's a slick and glitzy bad movie.

The lord's vineyard

[dbdumonteil · 10 September 2009]

"This earth is mine" is a melodrama of its time.It pits the outsider against the clan ,the wealthy family:this was the story of "Giant" ,"The long hot summer" ,and mainly Minnelli's " home from the hill" -the users who have seen that one and King's "this earth is mine" will notice how Theron Hunnicut (George Peppard) and John Rambeau (a French surname!and with hindsight what a surname !)(Rock Hudson) look like each other.

This is not King's best or even among his best but it nevertheless helped build the big TV sagas ,for it is primarily a serial:there are many characters ,some of their parts are underwritten (John's mother for instance)and to tell all their stories would have taken four hours.

The most interesting side of "this earth in mine" is the part religion plays .We already knew that Henry King was a believer at least since he made " the song of Bernadette" ,one of the best Christian movies ever made ,beating all the numerous French attempts at their own game.In the present movie,it's through Claude Rains' character that he shows us his fascination for the rites:the little boy who once drank sacred wine and wanted to have a vineyard to give his wine to the Lord.If you read the Gospels ,wine is omnipresent from the marriage feast at Cana when Jesus turned water into wine till the last supper.His grandson ,when the movie ends,learned from his failure ,and while he works to save the place the old man used to love ,he is rebuilding his life too.(in the last sequence,Rambeau seems as solid as the proverbial rock -no pun intended- although the doctors said he would be crippled )

This film is like flat champagne.

[glenx22 · 4/10 · 10 February 2002]

The story of the wine-making Rambeau family during Prohibition sounds like an amazing premise for a movie. Unfortunately, it degenerates into a flat, soap-operatic and trite tale of an over-privileged dynasty. It's hard to develop any sympathy for the characters, the acting and dialogue are stiff, and the story unfolds with all the gusto of watching wine ferment. If this was champagne, it would have been born flat.

Napa Valley grapes, and no falcon insight!

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 8 December 2019]

I'll never forget the Jane Wyman line, "You'll be the raisin Queen of the Tuscany Valley!", told to rival Melissa Agretti on "Falcon Crest". I can imagine how Angela Channing would have dealt with prohibition had she been around with the same power back in the 1930's. This deals with a powerful Family, once prosperous winemakers, and now unable to distribute their vintage thanks to the Halstead act. Patriarch Claude Rains isn't as ruthless as Wyman would be, and he spouts the same theories of how God invented the great for each new visitor.

The newest visitor is British Jean Simmons, his granddaughter who has been brought to the United States to marry a distant cousin in order to keep the business in the family. It's a strange custom for this strange clan, and the secrets that come out during this film excessive two hours are indeed bizarre. As decent as Rains is, he is surrounded by ruthless relatives, starting with daughter-in-law Dorothy McGuire who seems to control everybody in the family, and grandson Rock Hudson, as amoral as Rains is honest. Unable to sell the wine grapes, he decides bury them so they will replenish the earth as fertilizer, making Hudson decide to sell them to Chicago mobsters so they can make them into bootleg wine. Hudson gets a local girl pregnant, with McGuire forcing her to marry another man while Hudson is away.

The saga of Hudson's birthright becomes another subplot as the relationship between his bedridden mother (Anna Lee) and McGuire's husband (Kent Smith) is The number of characters becomes outrageous for a two hour film, and as beautiful as this film is to watch, it is simply just a mess. A theme song over the opening credits, melodramatically son, doesn't help matters. I had high hopes for this, but indeed, their vines do turn out sour grapes. The direction by veteran Henry King has this going all over the place, and superb photography (along with a beautiful performance by Rains) cannot save it.