God's Little Acre

God's Little Acre is a 1958 American comedy-drama film of Erskine Caldwell's 1933 novel of the same name. It was directed by Anthony Mann and shot in black and white by cinematographer Ernest Haller. Although the film was not released until August 1958, its production schedule was indicated as September 11 to late October 1957. The film was as controversial as the novel, although unlike its source material it was not subjected to prosecution for obscenity. Although both the book and film were laced throughout with racy innuendo calling into question the issue of marital fidelity, the film adaptation may have been the more alarming because it portrayed a popular uprising, or workers' insurrection, in the Southern United States by laid-off millworkers trying to gain control of the factory equipment on which their jobs depended. When the film was first released, audiences under 18 years of age were prohibited from viewing what were perceived to be numerous sexy scenes throughout, although in recent decades the film's scandalous reputation has diminished. Philip Yordan was officially given credit for the screenplay, but Ben Maddow claimed he wrote it. Since Maddow was blacklisted for his radical, and suspected but unproven, communist activities during the 1950s Red Scare, working without credit was the only way he could successfully submit screenplays. After decades of neglect, the film was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive under the supervision of master restorer Robert Gitt. As part of Gitt's restoration, Yordan's name was removed and replaced by Maddow's in the main titles, although it does not appear on most current releases. Plot Widower Ty Ty Walden and three of his children (sons Buck and Shaw and daughter Darlin' Jill), live in the backwoods of Georgia during the Great Depression. Buck's comely wife Griselda also lives with the family. Ty Ty's daughter Rosamund lives in the town of Peachtree Valley with her millworker husband Will. The final member of the Walden family is estranged son Jim Leslie, also a widower, who is a wealthy cotton broker living in the city of Augusta.