This Earth Is Mine (1959 film)

This Earth Is Mine is a 1959 American drama film directed by Henry King and starring Rock Hudson and Jean Simmons. The film portrays the lives and loves of the Rambeau family, a California winemaking dynasty trying to survive during Prohibition in the United States.

The patriarch of the family, Phillipe Claude Rains, wanting to keep the winemaking heritage of his family pure, refuses to deal with bootleggers eager for a readymade supply of alcohol. John, however, is not so righteous, and arranges deals with Chicago gangsters for the valleys wine supply. Violence, gunplay, and wildfires ensue. Elizabeth is caught in the middle, between Andre, the gentle man she is to marry but who wants to be a priest and John, the passionate man ready to make a deal with the devil to survive. And John may already have started a family of his own, fathering an illegitimate child with a vineyard workerand the womans husband is not one to go along with the whole sordid mess. Months, and years, of lies, blackmail and conflict follow, ending with the romantic union of John and Elizabeth, and their commitment to the Rambeau winemaking heritage.In 1931, Lon Rambeau sends his daughter Elizabeth Rambeau away from London to Napa Valley, California to visit Lons father Philippe Rambeau and Phillipes daughter, Martha Fairon, owners of vast vineyards and a grand estate. Philippe and Martha welcome Elizabeth lavishly, then reveal the real reason for the celebration of her arrival her betrothal, unknown to Elizabeth, between her and her cousin, Andre Swann. John Rambeau, obviously disliked by matriarch Martha, arrives at the party, flirts with Elizabeth and leads her out into the vineyards, where he mischievously reveals Rambeau family secrets Philippe uses marriage to tighten the family hold on the valley Phillipes daughter, Martha and daughterinlaw, Charlotte Johns mother had been married off to local landowners in order to increase the vineyard holdings Phillipe now wants to marry off granddaughter Elizabeth to Andre in order to absorb the Stags Leap District vineyard holdings in the Napa Valley. also, Andre had wanted to become a priest, but was not allowed to do so, and had been forced to join the family business. ........

Source: Wikipedia