With an estimated cost of $5 million , it was the most expensive film MGM had produced up to that point. Despite being a box office success, its massive costs meant it struggled to turn a profit.
Midway through filming in 1956, Clift was involved in a near-fatal car crash after leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor’s home. Taylor famously saved his life by pulling dislodged teeth from his throat to keep him from choking. Clift returned to finish the film after weeks of surgery, leaving a visible "before and after" difference in his appearance between scenes. Plot Summary Raintree County 1957
Set in 1859, the story follows (Montgomery Clift), an idealistic student in Indiana obsessed with finding a legendary "raintree" that supposedly grants all of life's answers. With an estimated cost of $5 million ,
The film was the first ever shot using the MGM Camera 65 process (later renamed Ultra Panavision 70 ), which provided an extremely wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio. It was the same tech later used for the legendary Ben-Hur (1959). Taylor famously saved his life by pulling dislodged
John is torn between his childhood sweetheart, Nell Gaither (Eva Marie Saint), and Susanna Drake (Elizabeth Taylor), a wealthy, captivating Southern belle from New Orleans.