Gone to Earth

Introduced by Kevin Schaeffer, Director of Restoration and Library Management at The Walt Disney Studios

In late-nineteenth-century England, Hazel Woodus (Jennifer Jones), a fiercely independent yet sensitive country girl, is caught between the lustful advances of an arrogant hunter (David Farrar) and the restrained adoration of a kind-hearted minister (Cyril Cusack). Hazel’s spiritual and libidinal turmoil unfolds amidst the rolling hills of rural Shropshire, guided by folk superstition and captured in vivid Technicolor. Producer David O. Selznick drastically re-edited Gone to Earth for its initial American release in 1952, then re-titled The Wild Heart, but this new 4K restoration overseen by Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker reconstructs and revives directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s longer, original cut of the film in all of its mystical, melodramatic glory.

Restoration Credits

Restored in 2026 by Walt Disney Studios, in association with The Film Foundation, with the participation of the British Film Institute, The George Eastman Museum, The Museum of Modern Art. Image Restoration: Cineric, Inc. Audio Restoration: Audio Mechanics. Supervised by Thelma Schoonmaker, with special thanks to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.