Sanctuary

Sanctuary (1961)

From the Nobel Prize winner...the unadorned truth about the governor's daughter...seared by the fires of her desperate desires...tormented by the new-found emotions within her...

In 1920s rural Mississippi, Nancy Mannigoe, an African-American servant, is placed on death row for the murder of Temple Drake's infant child. Temple, the daughter of the governor, pleads with her father to exonerate Nancy of the charges, explaining that Nancy acted in haste to prevent her from resuming her affair with a roguish Cajun called Candy Man. Details of Temple's sordid past are uncovered as she begs mercy for her faithful servant.

Date of release
1961-04-18
TMDB
5.4 / 10 (13)
Runtime
1h 30m
Genres
Drama
Director
Tony Richardson

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: Sanctuary and Requiem for a Nun

Sanctuary is a 1961 American Southern Gothic drama film directed by Tony Richardson in his Hollywood debut, based on the William Faulkner novels Sanctuary (1931) and Requiem for a Nun (1951). It stars Lee Remick, Yves Montand, Bradford Dillman, and Odetta in her film debut. It was released by 20th Century Fox on April 18, 1961.

Production

Producer Richard D. Zanuck, son of Twentieth Century-Fox head and coproducer Darryl F. Zanuck, sought to combine the William Faulkner novels Sanctuary (1931) and its sequel Requiem for a Nun (1951) into one screenplay as a more commercially viable option than basing the film on one of the books alone.

Director Tony Richardson had previously directed a stage adaptation of Requiem for a Nun in 1957 at the Royal Court Theatre, which was well received. He took it to Broadway in 1959, but it was less successful.

The Zanucks approached Tony Richardson to direct, who hired novelist Doris Lessing to write an initial script. Richardson then discovered that James Poe had been contracted to write a script. Poe used an outline and prologue prepared by Zanuck, who was unable to contact Faulkner.

Horace Benbow, Lee Goodwin, and Tommy do not appear in this version. Additionally, multiple characters were merged together and/or characters replaced roles of other characters. The character of Candy Man is an amalgamation of characters from both source novels: Popeye, Red and Red's brother Pete (Red's brother).

The novel version of Ira Bobbitt is Gavin Stevens. Gene Phillips of Loyola University of Chicago wrote that the name was likely altered to avoid confusion with Gowan Stevens.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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