Duel in The Sun (film) - Production

Production

The film was adapted by Oliver H.P. Garrett, Ben Hecht (uncredited) and David O. Selznick from the novel by Niven Busch. It was directed by King Vidor, Otto Brower (uncredited), William Dieterle (uncredited), Sidney Franklin (uncredited), William Cameron Menzies (uncredited), David O. Selznick (uncredited) and Josef von Sternberg (uncredited).

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jennifer Jones) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Lillian Gish).

The film received the nickname "Lust in the Dust", which eventually became the name of another movie. A scene in which Pearl does a seductive dance for Lewton was cut from the film before it was released. The film as shot could not make it past the Hays Code censors or religious review boards and so was heavily edited. This reportedly included the changing of rape scenes to love scenes and downplaying the original story's more overt sexuality.

Selznick had high hopes that Duel in the Sun would surpass his success with Gone with the Wind. The film received poor reviews, however, and was highly controversial due to its sexual content and to Selznick's real-life relationship with Jones, which broke up both of their marriages. Despite the bad press, it was a box-office success for Selznick, although not a second Gone with the Wind. It earned $11,300,000 in rentals during its initial release and much more overseas and in the 1954 re-release. Because of the film's huge production costs (rumoured to be over $6,000,000), its $2,000,000 advertising campaign (unheard of at the time) and Selznick's costly distribution tactics, the film apparently only broke even.