A news item in the 7 May 1964 DV reported that Elizabeth Taylor was in negotiations with Seven Arts Pictures to star in This Property Is Condemned, based on a one-act play by Tennessee Williams. Vincente Minelli was the intended director. One month later, Taylor’s husband, actor Richard Burton, replaced Minelli, as stated in the 12 Jun 1964 DV. However, on 12 Aug 1964, DV announced that both Taylor and Burton had withdrawn from the project due to “prior commitments.” A brief in the 30 Sep 1964 DV revealed that Taylor had chosen Montgomery Clift as her leading man. Following Taylor’s replacement by Natalie Wood, and Burton’s replacement by John Huston, the producers were considering several veteran actresses for the role of “Hazel Starr,” including Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Vivien Leigh, and Rita Hayworth. Two weeks later, the 13 Oct 1964 DV noted that actor James Garner was under consideration to play a lead role. Within days, the 21 Oct 1964 DV mentioned French actor Alain Delon as a possible co-star. The 11 Nov 1964 DV noted that actor Grayson Hall was screen tested for the picture. Items in the 6 and 13 Jan 1965 DV reported that Judy Garland would likely be cast as Hazel Starr.
       The project remained in limbo for six months, until the 26 Jul 1965 LAT announced Sydney Pollack as the new director. Known at the time for his work in television, This Property Is Condemned was Pollack’s second theatrical feature. The role of Hazel Starr was assigned to Canadian stage actress Kate Reid, marking her screen debut. Reid told the 12 Dec 1965 LAT that Seven Arts president Ray Stark offered her the part after seeing her in the Broadway production of Dylan. On 30 Jul 1965, DV announced actor Robert Redford for the role of “Owen Legate.” Redford also co-starred with Wood in her previous film, Inside Daisy Clover (1965, see entry). Production was expected to start 15 Sep 1965. A news brief in the 7 Sep 1965 DV stated that shooting was postponed until 27 Sep 1965. The 20 Oct 1965 LAT included child actors Mary Badham and Jon Provost among the cast. Provost had recently “retired” from a seven-year stint in the television series, Lassie (CBS, 1954 – 1971). A column in the 17 Nov 1965 LAT mentioned former “actor and band leader” Nick Stuart as a cast member, after he was recognized by a spectator during a location shoot.
       DV production charts conflict as to the start of principal photography, with the 1 Oct 1965 issue stating 4 Oct 1965, and the 8 Oct 1965 issue stating 11 Oct 1965. Both charts appeared under the “Films Now Shooting” heading. According to the 28 Nov 1965 LAT, location filming began in Bay St. Louis, MS, near the Mississippi River delta. Ten percent of the $3.5 million production budget was reportedly spent to regress the town’s 3rd Street neighborhood to the way it might have appeared in 1932. The boarding house at the center of the story was, in reality, the unoccupied former home of Mayor John Scafide, purposely dilapidated by a team of carpenters and laborers. Storefronts along 3rd Street were given false facades, displaying products at their Depression-era prices. One town resident remarked that the street looked just as it had thirty years earlier.
       The 27 Oct 1965 DV revealed that shooting that evening would coincide with a nearby Ku Klux Klan meeting. Reporter Army Archerd hopefully predicted that local residents would prefer to see movie stars at work. On 5 Nov 1965, DV announced that filming would continue in Los Angeles, CA, due to inclement weather. Sydney Pollack told the 17 Nov 1965 DV that the company encountered hostility from local residents during its five weeks in MS, noting that several blocked cameras while filming was underway. He attributed their behavior to a general dislike of Tennessee Williams, “Yankees,” and the movie industry. According to the 16 Jan 1966 NYT, the publisher of the Bay St. Louis newspaper filed a petition “to deny the company access to public roads,” while the mayor made an unsuccessful attempt to force the production to leave town. Although the work environment improved when the company moved to New Orleans, LA, one prudish resident pushed a cameraman off the sidewalk in front of her house, declaring her disapproval of Tennessee Williams’s work. Natalie Wood claimed that Redford was suffering from a fever, and Pollack was “coming down with pneumonia,” following repeated exposure to the city’s torrential rains. Regardless, Pollack was confident that location filming would become his “trademark.”
       The 13 Dec 1965 DV reported that Natalie Wood performed a nude swimming scene at the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles. However, the water in the “studio-made lake” was dyed black to preserve the actress’s modesty. On 24 Dec 1965, DV announced the company’s return from ten days in New Orleans. Completion of principal photography was scheduled for 10 Jan 1966.
       Articles in the 6 Mar 1966 NYT and 25 Jul 1966 LAT revealed that between fourteen and sixteen writers attempted to script the film. None were identified on screen, except for Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Coe, and Edith Sommer.
       An item in the 18 Mar 1966 DV stated that This Property Is Condemned received the Production Code seal of approval after only three edits were made. Months earlier, Pollack told the 17 Nov 1965 DV that Geoffrey Shurlock, of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), approved the screenplay, and “cleared” scenes that were likely to encounter censorship. On 30 Jan 1966, LAT reported that Tennessee Williams removed his name from the film, which focused on two characters who were merely incidental in his play. Nearly five months later, however, the 24 May 1966 DV announced that Williams reinstated himself as source author, following a private screening of the picture.
       This Property Is Condemned opened 15 Jun 1966 in Los Angeles, and 3 Aug 1966 in New York City to mixed reviews. While the 13 Jun 1966 DV and 17 Jun 1966 LAT praised the cast, the 4 Aug 1966 NYT dismissed their characters as Hollywood contrivances. An article in the 17 Jul 1966 NYT, concerning the scarcity of African Americans in mainstream entertainment, puzzled as to why a story, set in the 1932 American South, was completely devoid of black characters.
       Despite such criticisms, the film enjoyed considerable popularity, and produced the hit song, “Wish Me A Rainbow” by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. Natalie Wood was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Dramatic Actress. This Property Is Condemned is the last of three consecutive “period” films that Wood starred in between 1965 and 1966, including The Great Race (1965, see entry) and Inside Daisy Clover. It was also the last release from Seven Arts through its association with Paramount Pictures, as noted in the 6 Oct 1965 DV.