This Land is Mine
With Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Hara, George Sanders.
US, 1943, 35mm, black & white, 103 min.
Print source: Warner Bros.
Renoir reports that when he arrived in Hollywood, he was offered various films set in Europe, but that he refused them, feeling that films made in America ought to be set in America, and so he agreed to direct Swamp Water. He changed his mind for his second Hollywood film, deciding to confront head-on the situation of occupied France. This Land is Mine remains the one of Renoir’s American films with the shakiest critical support today, but its tale of the transformation of a weak and cowardly man—who shifts from Nazi collaborator to member of the resistance—has retained its resonance. In the hopes of both attracting an American audience and showing the Hollywood studios how adaptable he could be, Renoir abandons the long take and the mobile camera for mainstream continuity editing, obediently shooting establishing shots, medium shots and close-ups. Regardless, he succeeds in portraying the ambiguous, muddy nature of life in an occupied country.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
The Diary of a Chambermaid
This Land is Mine
The Woman on the Beach
Catherine, or A Life Without Joy
The Southerner
The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir
The Elusive Corporal
The Testament of Dr. Cordelier
Boudu Saved From Drowning
Elena and Her Men
Jean Renoir, the Boss, Part 2: Directing the Actor
