Product Details

• Actors: Liam Aiken, Frances Fisher, Alice Drummond, Frances Sternhagen, Jackie Bateman
• Directors: Tom Rice
• Writers: Tom Rice, David Armstrong
• Producers: Tom Rice, Bob Johnston, Marshall Peck, Tracy Ford
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Monarch Video
• VHS Release Date: October 28, 2003
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000C2IS5
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #381,858 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reverie from the deep South, December 9, 2003

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rising Place (DVD)

A RISING PLACE is a fine film, one that explores many aspects of adolescent America. By 'adolescent' I refer to the age of innocence in the 1940s when life in America moved slowly, emotions were tested by racism, the Pearl Harbor bombing alert and subsequent World War II, single motherhood, death of friends/loved ones, among other challenges. Director and screenwriter Rice has capably re-created the languid misty afternoons in Mississippi rural towns, finding actors who appear so natural in their roles that the film feels more like a memory that a story.

Through a series of flashbacks from the present to 1940 we are introduced to a beautiful young woman who falls in love with a pilot, becomes pregnant, is ostracized by the community for her indiscretion and finds solace in the strong friendship with a bright, knowledgeable African American woman unafraid of the racist slurs and 'enter through the back door' milieu of this town. The two girls align with another young male 'rebel' who is searching for his own identity in this stew pot of life. Slowly we discover that the story is that of one Aunt Millie who is failing and whose life comes floating to the surface to her niece as Millie approaches death. The background includes redneck white extremists, hatred of anything foreign (e.g. the Japanese invasion, whites mixing with blacks, unwed motherhood) and it is against this background that the three main characters search for and find the meaning of friendship, forgiveness, and equality.

Yes, stories such as this are familiar, but rarely has a director found a cast so strong, visuals so hauntingly beautiful, and a composer so in tune with the message of the movie. The members of the cast - all superb - include many well known actors as well as introducing some new faces whose presence is indelibly fine. Singling them out would be inappropriate in an ensemble effort as excellent as this.

The DVD includes an alternate ending and deleted scenes. View these, as it seems that the deleted scenes should have been included, so very fine are these moments. This is a beautifully touching film that deserves a wide audience. Perhaps that will come with the welcome release of this DVD.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Tale of the Times, March 7, 2004

By 

Bruce R Keith (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rising Place (DVD)

Tom Rice and (the author of the original book) have captured a period, a place and a feeling that will take you back in time. A seemingly simpler place with the amazingly similar concerns of today. The relationship of two women portrays what is missing in all of us, and those too willing to judge our shortcomings.
With an amazing cast and wonderful period piece settings, the only thing lacking in this film was greater box office success. This movie shows that passion can more than offset a limited budget, with a resultingly wondrful postcard from the past.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but could have been better, January 11, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Rising Place (DVD)

I enjoyed this movie and particularly enjoyed that I could watch it with an elderly person without being embarassed.
Although the movie was good it could have been better. In watching the deleted scenes I think if those had been added we would have had a better picture of the father, played by Gary Cole. His part was largely cut out.
Music is good, too.
Watching the alternate ending, I feel the best ending was selected.