Raintree County (1957)
(Edward Dmytryk, US 1957, 182 min., 35mm)
Based on the best-selling 1947 novel by Ross Lockridge Jr. — though the opening credits misname him “Ross Rockridge, Jr.” — Edward Dmytryk’s sweeping epic follows the trials and tribulations of a feisty Civil War-era Southern belle (Elizabeth Taylor) who ensnares Montgomery Clift by claiming she’s pregnant. Midway through shooting, a tragic shadow fell across this lavish production: Clift suffered a near-fatal car accident that left one side of his face paralyzed. The first film shot in the 65-millimeter anamorphic widescreen process called MGM Camera 65, it was later renamed Ultra Panavision 70, which was used for the next decade and revived for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful 8.