I saw an old movie from the 50s or 40s (I think) a few years ago that I am trying to recall the name of, but I only remember a few details of it. It was in color, and I think it was a rather big budget film at the time. I can’t remember the plot but it was set on a tobacco plantation, and the female lead was a famous actress who was playing a character 20 or 30 years younger than she was, perhaps more. There was some kind of forbidden romance element to it as well.
That’s about all I can remember. Does any cinephile out there know what I am talking about? I tried to find it on imdb.com but had no luck.
No, it’s not Gone With the Wind. It was more modern in setting. Very melodramatic. I seem to recall implied hanky panky in the barns where the tobacco was cured.
Could it be Finian’s Rainbow?. Finian was played by Fred Astaire and his daughter was Petula Clark. IMDB has the trailer - check it out and see if it looks familiar.
I thought of Finian’s Rainbow, but the racial issues are so much more in the forefront of that film than the romantic subplot. Besides, it’s so obviously a 60s movie: doesn’t look at all 50s, let alone 40s.
The most familiar seeming one is Parrish, but I don’t think that is it. I remember that during some of the commentary during the break, where they provide trivia about the movie (like on AMC) they mentioned that the fact the casting of this one actress as a young lady (if her character was not a teenager she was in her early 20s) was unusual as she was very old for that part - I’m thinking she was in her 40s at the time, at least.
When I was a little kid in the sixties I was forced to watch a movie on TV that scarred me for life and I have always wanted to know the name of it. I vaguely remember the film being described as an American classic. It was about a boy who lived on a ranch in the American desert. There was a drought and he was forced to watch his donkey die because his father wouldn’t give him any water for it. I have never been able to watch programmes with any animal content since then. I hate Walt Disney, I need trauma counselling if I even think of zoos and I have to leave the room if someone is watching a wildlife documentary. So this is a serious inquiry. It’s not really a hijack.
Ohmygod I bet that’s it! It certainly had an element of “forbidden romance”–Paul Newman’s character was implied to be gay, and was hated for it by himself and his father, Burl Ives. Elizabeth Taylor plays the woman who’s in love with him and tortures him for not loving her back.
Or could it be “Written on the Wind”? Not a tobacco plantation–an oil field–but otherwise it fits your criteria. Again, there are implications that the Rock Hudson character is gay (!) and, again, the female lead (Dorothy Something) comes to hate him because he can’t love her back.
Or “Giant”? Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, on a Texas cattle ranch.
Some of these sound SO close, but I’m 95% certain that a tobacco plantation was the setting. I remember that one of the scenes was in a huge barn-like structure where the tobacco was hung to age. I was reminded of this thread by this one.
It’s not ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’. I’ve seen that one fairly recently.
These are the only two of those named that have the tobacco setting and “Bright Leaf” is a “period” piece. As for “Parrish”, all the “young” principals were played by actors/actresses in their late teens/early 20s.
“Tobacco Road” 1941 was a B&W. Gene Tierney was 21.
This one has me stumped.
Do you remember what was supposed to be “forbidden” about the romance if this “older” actress was supposed to be playing a young woman?
It’s gotta be a 50s one because, with the exception of MUSICALS and SPECTACULARS, movies in the 40s were B&W.
Maybe it IS Parrish - I just read the Goofs section on that and the line about ‘tobacco poisoning’ sounds really familiar…were any of the actresses in that a lot older than the character they played?