Fanny Kemble is a famous star of the English stage, but while touring the United States, she gives up her career to marry wealthy American Pierce Butler. Moving with him from Philadelphia to his Georgia plantation, Fanny sees slavery firsthand, and her outrage leads her to help the family's slaves in open defiance of her spouse. Undaunted by the consequences, Fanny eventually writes a book that strengthens the anti-slavery movement.
Acting
Jane Seymour's controlled fury never tips into melodrama
Writing
Adapts Kemble's actual journals with unflinching specificity
Production
Plantation shots contrast Philadelphia elegance with Georgia brutality
Director
James Keach
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kemble's actual 1863 memoir 'Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation' sold 100,000 copies and was banned in the South. The film used her unpublished letters for dialogue.
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