This Land is Mine

Santa Ana, CA: RKO Radio Pictures, 1942. Final Draft screenplay for the 1942 film. Copy belonging to legendary screenwriter Dudley Nichols, inscribed by Nichols to Los Angeles Times film critic Phil Scheuer on the title page: "By Dudley Nichols / Confidential! / For Phil Scheuer from D. Nichols—with admiration." Nichols' ownership name is also in holograph pencil at the top right corner.

Renoir's second American feature, an antifascist propaganda film following a meek schoolteacher in a German-occupied European country who is falsely accused of murder and forced to take a stand against the Nazis and their collaborators.

At the peak of his career Nichols worked with many key Golden Age directors, including John Ford, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, and of course Jean Renoir. He was a founding member of the Screen Writers Guild, and is best remembered for "The Informer" (1935, for which Nichols won an Academy Award), "Bringing Up Baby" (1938), "Stagecoach" (1939), "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943), "Scarlet Street" (1945), "And Then There Were None" (1945), "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1945), and "The Tin Star" (1957). He continued to write prolifically for film up until the time of his death in 1960.

Housed in a custom quarter-leather clamshell box.

Pink titled wrappers, noted as FINAL on the front wrapper, rubber-stamped copy No. 104, dated OCTOBER 2, 1942, with credits for director Jean Renoir and screenwriter Dudley Nichols. Distribution page present, with receipt removed. Title page integral with the front wrapper. 169 leaves, with last page of text numbered 162. Mimeograph duplication, rectos only. Pages Near Fine, wrapper Near Fine, bound with three gold brads.

[Book #151348]