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| The Quiet One | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sidney Meyers |
| Written by | Helen Levitt Janice Loeb Sidney Meyers James Agee (commentary) |
| Produced by | Janice Loeb |
| Starring | Gary Merrill Donald Thompson Clarence Cooper Sadie Stockton Estelle Evans Paul Baucum |
| Cinematography | Richard Bagley Helen Levitt Janice Loeb |
| Music by | Ulysses Kay |
Production companies | Film Documents, Inc. |
| Distributed by | Arthur Mayer &Joseph Burstyn |
Release date |
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Running time | 65 minutes |
| Country | United States |
The Quiet One is a 1948 Americandocumentary film directed bySidney Meyers. The documentary chronicles the rehabilitation of a young, emotionally disturbedAfrican-American boy; it contains a commentary written byJames Agee, and narrated byGary Merrill.[1] In his 1949 review, Bosley Crowther characterized the film succinctly:[1]
Out of the tortured experiences of a 10-year-old HarlemNegro boy, cruelly rejected by his loved ones but rescued by the people of the Wiltwyck School, a new group of local film-makers has fashioned a genuine masterpiece in the way of a documentary drama.
The still photographerHelen Levitt was one of the film's cinematographers and writers, along with the painterJanice Loeb, who also produced. The neoclassical composerUlysses Kay wrote the score for the film. The film's principal cinematographer, Richard Bagley, also photographed the critically acclaimed New Yorksemidocumentary featureOn the Bowery.
The film was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the21st Academy Awards, losing toThe Secret Land, and was then nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplay at the22nd Academy Awards the next year, losing toBattleground. Along withStreet Angel, it is one of two English-language films to receive Oscar nominations in separate years.
TheNational Board of Review namedThe Quiet One the second best film of 1949.