Lost Boundaries

Lost Boundaries
Directed byAlfred L. Werker
Written byCharles Palmer (adaptation)
Eugene Ling
Virginia Shaler (screenplay)
Ormonde de Kay
Maxime Furlaud (additional dialogue)
Based onDocument of a New Hampshire Family
1947 article
by William L. White
Produced byLouis De Rochemont
StarringBeatrice Pearson
Mel Ferrer
Susan Douglas Rubeš
CinematographyWilliam Miller
Edited byAngelo Ross
Dave Kummins
Music byJack Shaindlin
Louis Applebaum
Production
companies
Distributed byFilm Classics
Release date
  • June 30, 1949 (1949-06-30)[1]
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$600,000[2]
Box office$2 million[3]

Lost Boundaries is a 1949 American film starring Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer (in his first leading role), and Susan Douglas Rubeš. Directed by Alfred L. Werker, it is based on William Lindsay White's story of the same title, a nonfiction account of Dr. Albert C. Johnston and his family, who passed for white while living in New England in the 1930s and 1940s. The film won the 1949 Cannes Film Festival award for Best Screenplay.[4] The use of white actors in the film's leading black roles proved controversial.[5] The film was banned in Atlanta, Georgia, and Memphis, Tennessee.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AFI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Lost Boundaries". Variety. June 29, 1949.
  3. ^ "Top Grossers of 1949". Variety. January 4, 1950. p. 59.
  4. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Lost Boundaries". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
  5. ^ Robinson, J. Dennis. "History Matters: The story behind 'Lost Boundaries'". seacoastonline.com.