Darryl F. Zanuck, in the grand old Hollywood tradition of nepotism, allowed his son Richard (who was still in his 20's) to produce this for Fox. Based on two Faulkner books (
Sanctuary and
Requiem for a Nun) and the stage adaptation of the latter by Ruth Ford, it's a Grecian tragedy set in
Mississippi in the late 1920s. Odetta, a black woman in her early 30's, is sentenced to death for having murdered Remick's baby by her husband, Dillman. Odetta has scant hours left and Remick tells her father, St. John, who is the governor of Mississippi, the truth about what's gone on in the past
few years as she attempts to get St. John to pardon Odetta. Flash back...
Released:
1961
Rated:
NR
Length:
90 mins