Campbell's Kingdom (1957) on Netflix
Terminally ill, Englishman Bruce Campbell inherits a valley in the Canadian Rockies. A hydroelectric dam will flood it, and he sets out to prove the land holds oil.
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- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.3/101,033 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Bruce Campbell, an Englishman, learns he has a terminal disease and that his grandfather has left him a valley in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. He travels from England to the property the locals call Campbell's Kingdom and finds it under threat from a new hydroelectric dam, which will flood the valley once it is finished. Convinced his grandfather was right that the land holds oil, Campbell sets out to prove it before the water rises. Corrupt construction contractor Owen Morgan resorts to dirty tricks to stop him. Jean Lucas and geologist Boyd Bladen assist him, and drilling contractor James MacDonald joins the effort.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Campbell's Kingdom (1957)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ray Milland had tried to buy the rights to Hammond Innes's novel and offered to play Bruce Campbell for no cash payment plus a percentage of the profits, but Rank cast Dirk Bogarde in the part instead.
- Art director Maurice Carter had to build a cable-car strong enough to carry a lorry for the Italian shoot; the actors rode it and much of the filming was done from it, and he said they took terrible risks overloading it, built with Italian labor in bitter cold and snow.
- Although the film is set in Alberta, it was too expensive to film there; producer Betty Box said dollars were scarce and shooting in Europe saved the cost of moving people and equipment to the Rockies, so the landscape exteriors were shot in the Italian Dolomites and the rest at Pinewood Studios.
- Plans to make the film after Doctor at Sea (1955) were derailed when a financial crisis in the British film industry led Rank to ask Betty Box, Ralph Thomas and Dirk Bogarde to make a third "Doctor" film, Doctor at Large (1957), instead; while that was done, Box, Eric Ambler and Hammond Innes worked on the script to reduce the budget.
- The novel the film was based on, published in 1952, drew on the Canadian oil boom of the late 1940s; Hammond Innes researched it extensively and it was a best seller.
