Blossoms in the Dust
| Blossoms in the Dust | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
| Produced by |
Irving Asher Mervyn LeRoy |
| Written by | Anita Loos |
| Starring |
Greer Garson Walter Pidgeon Felix Bressart |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography |
Karl Freund W. Howard Greene |
| Edited by | George Boemler |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,112,000 |
| Box office | $2,658,000 |
Blossoms in the Dust is a 1941 American Technicolor film which tells the true story of Edna Gladney who takes it upon herself to help orphaned children to find homes, despite the opposition of the "good" citizens who think that illegitimate children are beneath their interest. It stars Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Felix Bressart, Marsha Hunt and Fay Holden.
The movie was adapted by Hugo Butler (uncredited), Anita Loos and Dorothy Yost (uncredited) from the story by Ralph Wheelwright. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Irving Asher.
The story is a highly fictionalized telling of the story of Edna Gladney, an early advocate for the rights of illegitimate children in Texas.
Edna Kahly (Greer Garson) and her adopted sister, Charlotte (Marsha Hunt), are to be married. But, when Charlotte's mother-in-law-to-be discovers that Charlotte was a foundling, she declares the wedding must not occur, and Charlotte kills herself from shame. Meanwhile, Edna falls for a brash cashier, Sam Gladney, at the bank, and eventually marries him and moves with him to his home state of Texas.
Sam Gladney has a flour mill in Sherman, Texas, and at first the couple has an idyllic life, though after a difficult delivery Sam is told Edna must have no more children. Several years later, their son dies, and Sam's effort to replace him with a foundling fails. But the little girl's story touches Edna's heart, and she starts a day care center for the children of working women.
Sam's business fails, and they must auction off all their possessions. The local women take over the day care center, and Sam and Edna move to Fort Worth, Texas, where he has a job in a mill. Edna starts a home for orphans and illegitimate children, and works hard to find them appropriate homes, matching parents to child by interests and inclinations. When a young woman comes to try to donate a large sum of money, Edna worms the young woman's story out of her, and discovers she is in a similar situation to poor Charlotte. After insisting the girl's fiancé won't care that she is illegitimate, she decides to campaign to have the word illegitimate removed from Texas birth certificates.
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Wikipedia