Editing Blossoms in the Dust

{{short description|1941 film by Mervyn LeRoy}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Blossoms in the Dust
| image          = Blossoms_dust_movieposter.jpg
| alt            = Blossoms in the Dust theatrical release poster
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Mervyn LeRoy]]
| producer       = [[Irving Asher]]
| screenplay     = [[Anita Loos]]
| story          = [[Ralph Wheelwright]]
| based_on       = [[Personal life|Life]] of [[Edna Gladney]]
| starring       = [[Greer Garson]]<br />[[Walter Pidgeon]]<br />[[Felix Bressart]]
| music          = [[Herbert Stothart]]
| cinematography = [[Karl Freund]]<br />[[W. Howard Greene]]
| editing        = [[George Boemler]]
| studio         = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]<br />Mervyn LeRoy Productions
| distributor    = [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loew's Inc.]]
| released       = {{film date|1941|06|26|New York City|ref1=<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 23, 1941 |title=The Broadway Parade |journal=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=2 }}</ref>|1941|07|25|US}}
| runtime        = 99 minutes
| color_process  = [[Technicolor]]
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $1,112,000<ref name="Mannix">{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.</ref>
| gross          = $2,658,000<ref name="Mannix"/>
}}
'''''Blossoms in the Dust''''' is a 1941 American [[biographical film|biographical]] [[drama film]] directed by [[Mervyn LeRoy]] and starring [[Greer Garson]], [[Walter Pidgeon]], [[Felix Bressart]], [[Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)|Marsha Hunt]], [[Fay Holden]] and [[Samuel S. Hinds]]. It tells the story of [[Edna Gladney]], who helped orphaned children find homes and began a campaign to remove the word "illegitimate" from Texas birth certificates, despite the opposition of "good" citizens. The screenplay was by [[Anita Loos]], with a story by [[Ralph Wheelwright]]. Some of the important aspects of her life fictionalized in the film are the fact that it was Edna herself who was born out of wedlock; she and Sam eloped on the eve of her marriage to someone else, and they had much more time together before his death (26 years)  than given them in the film.

The film was one of the biggest hits of 1941 for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] and began the rise of Greer Garson as one of the largest stars of the decade.<ref name="catalog.afi.com">{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/26626|title=AFI&#124;Catalog|website=Catalog.afi.com|access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref> ''Blossoms in the Dust'' won an Oscar for [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color]], and was nominated for [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in a Leading Role]] (Garson), [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography, Color]], and [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]].

==Plot==
Edna Kahly and her adopted sister Charlotte are both to be married. However, 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 Sam Gladney, a brash cashier at a 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 ease the pain she still endures by trying to get her to adopt a foundling fails. However, 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 runs a mill. Edna starts a home for orphans and extramarital children, and works hard to find them appropriate homes, matching parents to child by interests and inclinations. Sam becomes ill and dies. 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 as poor Charlotte. After insisting the girl's fiancé won't care that her parents weren't married, she decides to campaign to have the word "illegitimate" removed from Texas birth certificates.

After succeeding in her quest, Edna faces one more trial—the little crippled boy Tony she raised from an infant and nursed back to health, finds a new home at last. She is reluctant to let him go, but as she takes in two new foundlings, brought to her door by a policeman, she at last realizes it is for the best.

==Cast==
[[File:Blossoms In The Dust trailer.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon]]
{{div col}}
* [[Greer Garson]] as Edna Kahly Gladney
* [[Walter Pidgeon]] as Samuel 'Sam' Gladney
* [[Felix Bressart]] as Doctor Max Breslar
* [[Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917)|Marsha Hunt]] as Charlotte Kahly
* [[Fay Holden]] as Mrs. Kahly
* [[Samuel S. Hinds]] as Mr. George Kahly
* [[Kathleen Howard]] as Mrs. Sarah Keats
* [[George Lessey]] as Mr. Keats
* [[William Henry (actor)|William Henry]] as Allan Keats
* [[Henry O'Neill]] as Judge Hartford
* [[John Eldredge (actor)|John Eldredge]] as Damon McPherson, Edna's Fiancé
* [[Clinton Rosemond]] as Zeke, Edna's Servant
* [[Theresa Harris]] as Cleo, Edna's Maid
* [[Charles Arnt]] as G. Harrington Hedger
* [[Cecil Cunningham]] as Mrs. Gilworth
* [[Ann Morriss]] as Mrs. Loring
* Richard Nichols as Sammy
* Pat Barker as Tony
* [[Marc Lawrence]] as LaVerne
{{div col end}}

==Production==
The film was directed by [[Mervyn LeRoy]] and produced by [[Irving Asher]]. [[Anita Loos]] wrote the screenplay, and Ralph Wheelwright the story. [[Mildred Cram]], [[Dorothy Yost]] and [[Hugo Butler]] made uncredited contributions to the script.<ref name="catalog.afi.com"/>

==Reception ==
When the film premiered at [[Radio City Music Hall]], [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote "There is a shade too much of shining nobility in this film, too often tiny fingers tug deliberately on the heartstrings. And the dramatic continuity seems less spontaneous than contrived. The career of Mrs. Gladney is drawn out over a tedious stretch of time. But it is an affecting story and one which commands great respect ... As pure inspirational drama with a pleasant flavor of romance, 'Blossoms in the Dust' should reach a great many hearts."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B05E1DA153FE13BBC4F51DFB066838A659EDE |title=Movie Review - Blossoms in the Dust |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |author-link=Bosley Crowther |date=June 27, 1941 |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 14, 2015 }}</ref>

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' called the film "a worthy production on which much care has been showered by Mervyn LeRoy and others, but it is questionable as to draft. Though meritorious as to production value, cast and background, plus being in color, the picture fails to impress as being big." The review also called the film "a trifle over-done on occasion."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 25, 1941 |title=Blossoms in the Dust |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=16 }}</ref>

''[[Film Daily]]'' wrote "Mervyn LeRoy is at his directorial best here, and makes the most of the fine screenplay fashioned by Anita Loos ... Greer Garson's performance is rousing, and that of Walter Pidgeon, as her husband, as inspiring as will be found in any '40-'41 picture."<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 23, 1941 |title=Reviews of New Films |journal=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=6 }}</ref>

[[John Mosher (writer)|John Mosher]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote "The subject matter receives very conventional treatment of the inspirational order, with an occasional tear, and, of course, a sad smile here and there."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mosher |first=John |author-link=John Mosher (writer) |date=June 28, 1941 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |publisher=F-R Publishing Corp. |page=53 }}</ref>

''Blossoms in the Dust'' placed tenth on ''Film Daily'''s year-end poll of 548 critics naming the best films of 1941.<ref>{{cite journal |date=January 14, 1942 |title=GWTW Captures Critics' Poll |journal=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=1 }}</ref>

==Academy Awards==
;Wins<ref name="Oscar">{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1942 |title=The 14th Academy Awards (1942) Nominees and Winners|access-date=2014-02-28|work=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]}}</ref><ref name="NY Times">{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/6209/Blossoms-in-the-Dust/awards |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017202502/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/6209/Blossoms-in-the-Dust/awards |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-10-17 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2012 |title=NY Times: Blossoms in the Dust |access-date=2008-12-14}}</ref>
* [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction (Color)]]: Art Direction: [[Cedric Gibbons]], [[Urie McCleary]]; Interior Decoration: [[Edwin B. Willis]]
;Nominations
* [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Motion Picture]]: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
* [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]: Greer Garson 
* [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography (Color)]]: [[Karl Freund]], [[W. Howard Greene]]

==Box office==
According to MGM records, the film earned $1,272,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,386,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $552,000.<ref name="Mannix"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Blossoms in the Dust (film)}}
* {{IMDb title|0033407}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/blossoms-in-the-dust-am6148 ''Blossoms in the Dust'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title|55}}
* {{AFI film|26626}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|blossoms_in_the_dust}}
* [https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/74636 ''Blossoms in the Dust''] at Turner Classic Moves ''Spotlight''

{{Mervyn LeRoy}}
{{Anita Loos}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blossoms In The Dust}}
[[Category:1941 films]]
[[Category:1940s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:Films about orphans]]
[[Category:Films directed by Mervyn LeRoy]]
[[Category:Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Anita Loos]]
[[Category:Films scored by Herbert Stothart]]
[[Category:1941 drama films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:English-language biographical drama films]]