When she discovers that Icarus Xenophon (Gene Kelly) is Greek, Janet Leigh does a spot-on imitation of S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall's (S.Z. Sakall) trademark response to upsetting news, placing her palms against her cheeks and emitting an exasperated "Sheeeesh!"
The St. Thomas Episcopal Church in the film is located at 18th and Church Streets near DuPont Circle in NW Washington, DC. Completed in 1899, it was largely destroyed by an arson fire in 1970.
The scars on Van Johnson's face in this film are real, not make-up. While filming Un nommé Joe (1943), Johnson was in an automobile accident and thrown through the car's windshield. The plastic surgery of the day could not totally remove his scars. In most of his later films, he wore heavy make-up to hide them, but probably felt that in this film, makeup on a reverend was not in his character's nature, whereas in Ouragan sur le Caine (1954), he felt leaving the scars added to his character.
The underscoring for the farmland sequence, featuring Gene Kelly and Janet Leigh, utilizes themes originally heard in Le Magicien d'Oz (1939).
Along with La loi du Seigneur (1956), this is one of precious few films that allowed character actress Marjorie Main to stretch beyond her cantankerous, salt-of-the-earth screen persona to enact a subtle, heartfelt characterization, which she does here to dazzling effect.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was It's a Big Country: An American Anthology (1951) officially released in India in English?
Answer