The Gentle People and the Quiet Land
Cast & Crew
Richard H. Bartlett
Patsy Mcbride
Reed Apaghian
Robert Counsel
Jeff Warren
Harold Ayer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, within the close-knit religious Amish society that shuns modern ways and inventions, young Amish girl Tess Ziegler works as a schoolteacher. Feeling that there is more to life than what is offered within the confines of her closely knit community, Tess rebels and runs off with hippie Terry McAllister, the fanatical leader of a religious, free love cult. After a mock marriage, Tess becomes pregnant by another member of the cult and tries to abort her child by throwing herself from a horse. Finally, a repentant Tess returns home and is accepted back into the community by her parents and Claude Souders, a young Amish man whom she marries.
Director
Richard H. Bartlett
Cast
Patsy Mcbride
Reed Apaghian
Robert Counsel
Jeff Warren
Harold Ayer
Charles Knapp
Martha Hully
Phillip Kurtz Jr.
Pat Boyer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although a Hollywood Reporter news item on September 13, 1972 indicated that The Gentle People was the first national release of Commercial Film Co., "the motion picture distribution associate of Commercial Steel Co.," no national release date has been located for the film, which was copyrighted in March 1971 under the title The Gentle People and the Quiet Land. Only two reviews have been located for the picture, both from Variety, and both under the copyright title. The first review, on January 12, 1972, was based on a showing at a screening room in Baltimore, MD in December 1971; the other review, on October 11, 1972, followed a screening at the Branmar Cinema in Wilmington, DE on October 4, 1972. The October review noted that the film had had its premiere on 4 October at two theaters of the George M. Schwartz circuit in Dover and Wilmington, DE. Although the January 1972 review noted that approximately twenty minutes had recently been eliminated from the picture, records from the Maryland State Board of Censors indicate that the film, which they listed as Gentle People, Quiet Land, ran 147 minutes as of December 9, 1971, when it was approved for exhibition in Maryland.
As noted in the two Variety reviews, the film was inspired by The Gentle People and The Quiet Land, two books by photographer James A. Warner, whose photographs chronicled the lives of the characteristically camera-shy Amish population in and around an area commonly known as "Amish country" in Lancaster County, PA. The reviewers reported that the film appeared to have been made by amateur technicians and actors who worked in Hartford County and Lancaster, PA. Another location noted was the area in and around the Bel Air, MD area, which was where BJW Productions, Ltd. had its headquarters.
Miscellaneous Notes
color
