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The Sound and the Fury

  • 1959
  • Approved
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
Yul Brynner and Joanne Woodward in The Sound and the Fury (1959)
Drama focusing on a family of Southern aristocrats who are trying to deal with the dissolution of their clan and the loss of its reputation, faith, fortunes, and respect.
Play trailer2:50
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25 Photos
Drama

Drama focusing on a family of Southern aristocrats who are trying to deal with the dissolution of their clan and the loss of its reputation, faith, fortunes, and respect.Drama focusing on a family of Southern aristocrats who are trying to deal with the dissolution of their clan and the loss of its reputation, faith, fortunes, and respect.Drama focusing on a family of Southern aristocrats who are trying to deal with the dissolution of their clan and the loss of its reputation, faith, fortunes, and respect.

  • Director
    • Martin Ritt
  • Writers
    • Irving Ravetch
    • Harriet Frank Jr.
    • William Faulkner
  • Stars
    • Yul Brynner
    • Joanne Woodward
    • Margaret Leighton
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.2/10
    1.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Martin Ritt
    • Writers
      • Irving Ravetch
      • Harriet Frank Jr.
      • William Faulkner
    • Stars
      • Yul Brynner
      • Joanne Woodward
      • Margaret Leighton
    • 36User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

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    Trailer 2:50
    Trailer

    Photos25

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    Top cast36

    Edit
    Yul Brynner
    Yul Brynner
    • Jason Compson
    Joanne Woodward
    Joanne Woodward
    • Quentin Compson…
    Margaret Leighton
    Margaret Leighton
    • Caddy Compson
    Stuart Whitman
    Stuart Whitman
    • Charlie Busch
    Ethel Waters
    Ethel Waters
    • Dilsey
    Jack Warden
    Jack Warden
    • Ben Compson
    Françoise Rosay
    Françoise Rosay
    • Mrs. Caroline Compson
    John Beal
    John Beal
    • Howard Compson
    Albert Dekker
    Albert Dekker
    • Earl Snopes
    Steven Perry
    Steven Perry
    • Luster
    • (as Stephen Perry)
    Bill Gunn
    Bill Gunn
    • T.P. - Dilsey's Grandson
    • (as William Gunn)
    Roy Glenn
    Roy Glenn
    • Job
    Don Ames
    • Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    Jean Carson
    Jean Carson
    • Mary Ellen
    • (uncredited)
    William Challee
    William Challee
    • Roustabout
    • (uncredited)
    Esther Dale
    Esther Dale
    • Mrs. Maud Mansfield
    • (uncredited)
    Walt Davis
    • Townsman
    • (uncredited)
    Gary Diamond
    • Boy
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Martin Ritt
    • Writers
      • Irving Ravetch
      • Harriet Frank Jr.
      • William Faulkner
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews36

    6.21K
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    Featured reviews

    6Modemom007

    All Star Cast, but Plot a Little Bit Slow

    I came across this movie one afternoon on the FOX channel. There seemed to be well known and respected actors and actresses in it, so I decided to watch it. I was a bit disappointed in the development of the plot. There were times when I was confused as the movie went from one scene to another; from one character to another. I was left scurrying to figure out who was who and what their part was in the overall plot. I also felt that the movie moved a bit slow. A few times I actually became a little bit bored. Yul Brenner played his deep dark part to a "T". Joanne Woodward's character was a little bit ditsy for me, and I was surprised to find on this website that she was 29 years old when she made this movie. Kind of old to be playing a "school girl" who had to go to summer school. That part was not believable to me at all. She did look much younger than her 29 years but not that much. I wished that they had developed Quentin's (Joanne Woodward) relationship with her mother a bit earlier, since the character she played in the movie was affected by the absence of her mother while she was growing up. The ending was good, and I am glad that Quentin learned a very important life lesson about men and love at an early age. A lot of woman do not learn that lesson until it is too, too late. I was also glad to see in the last moments of the movie that Jason (Yul Brenner) was more softhearted than I had thought when he gave Quentin what was due her.
    5bkoganbing

    Those Dissolute Compsons

    Watching this adaption of William Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury I can only wonder he must have thought of this abortion of his work. This film seems to have been influenced by Harold Robbins more than Faulkner.

    For one thing the novel is a far better subject for a mini-series as it takes place over a couple of generations and is written from several points of view, not the straight linear narrative we get here. Secondly the novel was updated to present day meaning 1959 Mississippi. The civil rights era was on in Mississippi in 1959 and the attitudes expressed here would have been lost in 1959. The novel came out in the late Twenties and some of the action went back a generation earlier.

    These Compsons are one dissolute bunch and the only one of the family holding them together is Yul Brynner as Jason because heaven forfend he realizes they're not rich any more and that big mansion has gas and electric bills that need paying. He actually works for a living. The hope of the family may be Joanne Woodward as Quentin who is the illegitimate daughter of the most dissolute of all the Compsons Margaret Leighton.

    Leighton has been living away from the family and the genteel Mississippi folks she's been brought up with because of her disgrace with Woodward's birth. But she comes back and that sets off a whole chain of events that causes everyone to reevaluate how things are going for the Compsons.

    Ethel Waters did her last role in The Sound And The Fury as the family maid. Her family even in the servile position that blacks had in Mississippi in those days is still stronger than the Compsons even Yul Brynner. Too bad no musical number got worked into the script for her.

    The cast is a superbly talented one and they do their best with a hard to recognize Faulkner work, but the film as a whole comes up way short.
    6MOscarbradley

    This needs to be even trashier than it is.

    A great source novel, a fine director, a terrific cast and two very good writers so what could possibly have gone wrong? Something obviously did for at best Martin Ritt's film of William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" never rises above camp which is fine by me just so long as you don't expect anything more than a trashy piece of Southern Gothic.

    This was a Jerry Wald production and was aimed at an adult audience or maybe just an adult American audience who took these shenanigans for granted, (its Deep South setting has always been a source of fascination). It's a family saga, (naturally), and set on some kind of plantation, (naturally), though perhaps the most interesting aspect is that the black servants are much more forward thinking than their white employers.

    A miscast Yul Brynner, (with wig), is the head of the household; Joanne Woodward, (too old for the part she is playing), is the rebelious young girl whose mother, (Margaret Leighton), abandoned her as a baby but who has now returned to the fold; Ethel Waters is the 'Mammy' character, Jack Warden is the 'idiot' uncle, Francoise Rosay is Brynner's mother and Stuart Whitman, the carny with an eye on Woodward. With such a disparate cast you could say they are a very strange family. On the plus side it certainly looks good; Charles G Clarke shot it in Cinemascope and it is certainly lush. It might have been better if it had been even trashier; as it is it's somewhat po-faced. If you must have Faulkner go with "The Tarnished Angels" or even "The Long Hot Summer".
    5thermal54

    Interesting Southern Gothic, complete with its clichés

    Why is it that all stories regarding the South have to have at least one character who is mentally challenged? Oh well, at least Jack Warden was convincing.

    Predictably dreary directing by Martin Ritt (Hud; Hombre).

    Brynner was definitely out of place as the lead, but Georgia native Woodward was right on target.

    British actress Margaret Leigton was terrific. She's another reminder that even in the 50's, some of Hollywood's best were skinny, chain-smoking women from across the pond. Some things never change, I guess.

    The print I saw on INHD was in excellent shape. I wonder why this hasn't been released on DVD.
    6blanche-2

    southern turgid drama

    "The Sound and the Fury" from 1959 is based on the novel by William Faulkner, and from what I understand, it's pretty loosely based.

    I can't speak for the book, but the film is certainly derivative, reminiscent in some of its themes of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and even "Gone with the Wind," as it deals with the idea of the old, gentile south versus the new south.

    Yul Brynner is Jason Compson, head of the Compson family, and guardian of Quentin (Joanne Woodward), whose mother Caddy (Margaret Leighton) took off years earlier. As a result, Quentin is a troubled young woman, looking for love in all the wrong places and trying to break from her family. The rest of the family is your typical southern dysfunctional - Ben, the slow brother who doesn't talk, and Howard (John Beal), the alcoholic brother. I had a little trouble putting the family together - Ben, Howard, and Caddy are all siblings, and Quentin is Caddy's daughter; I guess Jason is a half-brother or stepbrother, evidently from Russia. Anyway, Jason is the brains of the outfit, determined to drag the family kicking and screaming into the 20th century and providing for them.

    Caddy returns to the house with Jason's permission, and Quentin, who has needed a mother and waited her entire life for her mother to return, finds she's not much use. Caddy as played by prominent Broadway actress Leighton is Blanche Dubois, dragging herself home to Belle Reve. She is either a nymphomaniac or just promiscuous; my money's on the former.

    The story seems to have been reduced to stereotypes and follows along with several films made at that time, including "The Long Hot Summer" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Except for his accent, Yul Brynner gives a solid performance - mysterious, magnetic, and a dominant presence, and Woodward is excellent as Quentin, a young woman trying to find herself. Ethel Waters gives a wonderful performance as the housekeeper, Dilsy, who has seen all the children grow up and is smarter than all of them.

    Just okay.

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    Related interests

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    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Ethel Waters' final film.
    • Goofs
      When Caddy and Quentin are talking in Caddy's bedroom, the shadow of the boom mic is visible in the mirror above the dressing table.
    • Quotes

      Jason Compson: Anybody could make you feel like a woman!

    • Connections
      Referenced in Family Ties: The Homecoming (1983)
    • Soundtracks
      Kingdom Coming
      (uncredited)

      aka "The Year of Jubilo"

      Music by Henry Clay Work

      Played by the marching band

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    FAQ15

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • April 6, 1959 (Sweden)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury
    • Filming locations
      • Louisiana, USA
    • Production companies
      • Jerry Wald Productions
      • Twentieth Century Fox
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $1,710,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 50m(110 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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