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Desire In The Dust

1960, Movie, NR, 102 mins

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After the success of such seamy, Faulkner-based films as THE LONG HOT SUMMER (1958), and THE SOUND AND THE FURY (1959), Fox produced this film which emulates the sex, murder, deceit, and seediness of the earlier films, but has none of the depth of the Faulkner-based material. Scott plays a lowly farmer who returns to his home town after having served a six-year sentence in a chain gang for a crime he didn't commit. He goes to the home of wealthy politician Burr to collect his due. It seems that Scott was having an affair with Burr's daughter Hyer six years ago, and when Hyer accidentally killed her 4-year-old brother, Burr talked Scott into taking the rap for her. He was promised that he would be taken care of, and that Hyer would be waiting for him when he got out. In the meantime, Burr's wife, Bennett, has gone insane since witnessing the accident, and Hyer has married her mother's doctor, Halsey. Scott intends to collect his debt, and he does so for one night, but soon the family leaves him in the lurch and kicks him out. Scott then exposes the whole plot, destroying Burr's political career and leaving father and daughter to themselves. (There are strong suggestions of incest between them.) The drama is labored and overblown, but the performances do lend some credibility to the material. Outstanding black and white cinematography by Lucien Ballard. leave a comment
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