After The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Gone to Earth has been one of the most eagerly awaited cases for re-appraisal in the Powell-Pressburger, Technicolor canon during the recent years of critical rediscovery enjoyed by these extraordinary filmmakers. Like Blimp, this sensual and striking adaptation of Mary Webb's famous Victorian rural melodrama has been unjustly neglected. David Selznick, who commissioned the film as a vehicle for his future wife, Jennifer Jones (she plays the earthy Shropshire-lass heroine) hired Rouben Mamoulian to shoot additional scenes before releasing a shortened version under the title The Wild Heart. Rarely seen for many years, the authentic P and P version has been triumphantly restored and revived in its original full-length version by London's National Film Archive.