''A Walk in the Spring Rain'' is a 1970 American
romantic drama film
Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...
in
Eastmancolor
Eastmancolor is a trade name used by Eastman Kodak for a number of related film and processing technologies associated with color motion picture production and referring to George Eastman, founder of Kodak.
Eastmancolor, introduced in 1950, was o ...
made by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...
, directed by
Guy Green and produced by
Stirling Silliphant, from his own
screenplay
A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...
based on the novel by
Rachel Maddux. Outside location scenes were filmed in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in the southeastern United States, southeast, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline o ...
,
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg is a city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is located southeast of Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville and had a population of 3,577 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a popular mountain resort town, as it ...
and
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
.
The film stars
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
and
Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...
, with
Fritz Weaver,
Katherine Crawford, and
Virginia Gregg
Virginia Lee Gregg (March 6, 1916 – September 15, 1986) was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas and television series.
Early life
Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, she was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta (née T ...
. The music score was by
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...
and the cinematography by
Charles Lang. Martial arts superstar
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...
, a personal friend of producer Stirling Silliphant, choreographed the fight between Will Cade (Anthony Quinn) and his son.
Plot
Libby Meredith and her law-professor husband, Roger, 52, move from New York to a small house in the Tennessee backwoods during a snowy winter. Their married neighbor, Will Cade, is attracted to Libby and very helpful and friendly to them. While her intellectual husband is busy writing a book, Libby comes to like the country life and finds herself attracted to Will's rural sensibilities, culminating in a brief affair.
Libby is surprised when her daughter, Ellen, arrives to ask them to return to New York so Libby can help raise grandson Bucky while Ellen attends Harvard Law School. Will's erratic son, who had seen his father and Libby embracing in the woods, molests her when she is out walking. Will rescues her but accidentally kills his son in rescuing her from his clutches. After attending the funeral, the disillusioned Merediths decide to return to New York because they have drifted apart, Roger has failed to finish his book, and Ellen needs Libby for Bucky. When Libby bids the Cades goodbye, he follows her for a private conversation and says he will wait for her to return, but she says she no longer believes in miracles. The last scene, very similar to the first one, shows Libby wearing the same clothes and picking up Bucky from school, and part of the song "A Walk in the Spring Rain" plays over the end credits.
Cast
*
Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...
as Will Cade
*
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
as Libby Meredith
*
Fritz Weaver as Roger Meredith
*
Katherine Crawford as Ellen Meredith
*
Tom Holland as Boy (as Tom Fielding)
*
Virginia Gregg
Virginia Lee Gregg (March 6, 1916 – September 15, 1986) was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas and television series.
Early life
Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, she was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta (née T ...
as Ann Cade
* Mitchell Silberman as Bucky
* Janet Nelson Chadwick as Singer at Festival (segment "Oh Shenandoah")
Production
Writer-producer Stirling Silliphant heard about Bergman's interest in the 1966
Rachel Maddux novel, ''A
Walk in the Spring Rain'', and she joined the project. It was her first American film in more than 20 years. Silliphant and would-be director Kevin Billington had a creative disagreement, and Guy Green directed. Green said he made it to work with the stars.
Production was slated for West Virginia, but was moved to the Tennessee part of the Great Smoky Mountains and the national park, primarily the Cades Cove area. Some filming was done in nearby Knoxville and in Gatlinburg, which borders the park;
the Merediths spend a weekend at the Gatlinburg Motor Inn (now The Gatlinburg Inn) on Parkway and do some shopping along the street. Rehearsals began in April 1968, and principal photography started in April 1969.
It moved to New York City in May or early June and was delayed a day when thieves stole $250,000 worth of equipment.
Replacement gear was brought in from Los Angeles.
Release
The world premiere was held April 9, 1970 at the Capri 70 theatre, as part of Knoxville's annual Dogwood Arts Festival. It grossed $17,561 in its opening week, a Knoxville record, and expanded into other theaters in the South East of the United States.
"Critical reception was largely negative, and the film proved to be a commercial failure," according to the
American Film Institute Catalog of Feature Films.
A book, ''Fiction Into Film: A Walk in the Spring Rain,'' was published in 1970 by the
University of Tennessee Press
The University of Tennessee Press is a university press associated with the University of Tennessee.
UT Press was established in 1940 by the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees.
The University of Tennessee Press issues about 35 books each ...
. It included Maddux's novel, Silliphant's screenplay, and commentary by Neil D. Isaacs "on the fashioning of the script and various stages of production," according to ''
Variety''.
See also
*
List of American films of 1970
This is a list of American films released in 1970.
Box office
The highest-grossing American films released in 1970, by domestic box office gross revenue as estimated by '' The Numbers'', are as follows:
January–March
April–June
Jul ...
References
External links
*
*
*
Photo Gallery from the filming of ''A Walk in the Spring Rain'' in Knoxville, TN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walk In The Spring Rain
1970 films
1970 romantic drama films
Films about adultery in the United States
American romantic drama films
Columbia Pictures films
1970s English-language films
Films scored by Elmer Bernstein
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Guy Green
Films set in Tennessee
Films with screenplays by Stirling Silliphant
1970s American films
English-language romantic drama films