Word: faulkner
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...produced and directed by Clarence Brown and he has given it a production that is beautifully detailed and atmospheric. For the latter quality, Mr. Brown took his east and crew to the small university town of Oxford, Mississippi, which is the story's setting as well as Faulkner's hometown...
Once the plot of "Intruder in the Dust" has been separated from Mr. Faulkner's unique prose style, its characters are found sadly lacking in fullness. The author's writing was frequently so confusing as to give the story an additional element of mystery and suspense it would not otherwise have...
Both the white young boy who works to save an arrogant and stubborn Negro from a lynching, and the Negro himself, are obscure characters in the film, though they are most important ones. Many things in the movies compensate for the loss of Mr. Faulkner's method of storytelling, but to have been a thoroughly satisfactory piece of drama, the principal characters, particularly the boy, need more dimension...
...Faulkner's book suggested that the North, East and West should leave Southerners alone to work out their own redemption for mistreating the Negro. The Faulknerian message is left out of a movie that could have stood almost any sort of clear social comment...
Since Frankenberg doesn't mean Pleasure Dome to be profound literary criticism, and since it isn't, it can be judged by only one standard: Does it really help the ordinary intelligent reader-the kind who might tackle a Faulkner novel but shies away from an Eliot poem-to understand and enjoy 20th Century poetry...