Gone to Earth

The choir was the real choir from the local Methodist chapel. When he heard them singing, director Michael Powell said they were too good and he wanted them to sound "more ragged, like a choir of country folk" only to be told "But we ARE country folk, Mr. Powell."

As Abel and Hazel Woodus come down the hill to the chapel, the mine engine house disappears and then reappears between shots

The reedited and shortened version titled "The Wild Heart" was produced after a disagreement and court case between director Michael Powell and producer David O. Selznick. Selznick's changes are mainly:- (1) Adding a prologue. (2) Adding scenes explaining things, often by putting labels or inscriptions on them. (3) Adding more close-ups of Jennifer Jones (Selznick's wife). He also deleted a few scenes that he felt weren't dramatic enough. Sadly some of these were major plot points so the story doesn't make as much sense as the original. In his autobiographies, Powell claimed that Selznick only left about 35 mins of the original film. In fact there's a lot more than that. About 2/3 of the original remains.

Featured in The Late Show: Michael Powell (1992)