Drylanders

Drylanders is a 1963 Canadian film directed by Don Haldane from a screenplay by M. Charles Cohen. It was the National Film Board of Canada’s first English-language feature film.

Synopsis

Drylanders is set in Canada at the turn of the century. Daniel Greer (James Douglas) returns home after the Boer War to find city life not to his liking. Instead,he opts for the life of a wheat farmer. At first, his farm is prosperous, but he becomes victim to a nationwide drought. He struggles to keep his farm afloat, but dies before he could see the end of the drought. His wife(Frances Hyland) continues her husbands work on the farm.

Production

Drylanders was a fictionalized documentary similar to earlier French-language productions from the NFB's Panoramique series and dramas in the English-language Perspective series. Heavily promoted during its release, the film was modestly successful at the box office.

Drylanders came about after a documentary on farming and irrigation in Saskatchewan, suggested by writer Charles Cohen, had been rejected by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Director Donald Haldane then suggested making a fiction film. Cohen wrote a personal story, concentrating on the trials of the "Greer" family, who had come from Montreal to try their luck at farming.