Description
The Roots of Heaven is a 1958 American adventure film in CinemaScope and DeLuxe Color made by 20th Century Fox, directed by John Huston and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. The screenplay by Romain Gary and Patrick Leigh Fermor is based on Romain Gary's 1956 Prix Goncourt winning novel The Roots of Heaven (Les racines du ciel). The film starred Errol Flynn, Juliette Gréco, Trevor Howard, Eddie Albert, Orson Welles, Paul Lukas, Herbert Lom and Gregoire Aslan. The film itself was shot on location in French Equatorial Africa. Huston later said Roots of Heaven "could have been a very fine film. And largely owing to me was not a good film at all." Malcolm Arnold struggles with mental health issues throughout his life, but was a prolific composer. His output of works features music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films.