Directed by Daniel Mann
Written by James Poe from a novel by Lonnie Coleman
1958/USA
Wallis-Hazen
First viewing/YouTube
I think every family is dysfunctional, and some manage to control it better than others. Viggo Mortensen
This kitchen sink drama is sort of a Dixie-Fried clone of Come Back, Little Sheba (1952).
Alma Duval (Shirley Booth) is engaged in a futile struggle to keep her family intact. She is caught in a web of delusion about both her family’s rural past and their present situation in New Orleans. Her husband Jack (Anthony Quinn) feels trapped by Alma’s forced domesticity and spends as much time away from home as possible, lately with his 19-year-old girl friend. He’s frustrated with his sons as well. He feuds with the eldest who wants money to get in business on his own and dismisses the younger, gentler, boy. He seems to be closest to daughter Virginia (Shirley MacLaine) but wants to run her love life.
Things have gone from bad to worse and Alma’s friend (Eileen Heckart) thinks she needs a total personality overhaul to keep her man. But Alma can’t be taught to drink, smoke, or toughen up at her age and the time is coming for her to face reality.
The acting just has to be good with this cast. Booth had her character honed to a fine edge by this time and it is almost painful to watch her cheerful desperation. Despite that, the story never really clicked with me. It seemed derivative and dated.
The Graduate and Bonnie And Clyde were about to happen, and film censorship was still strongly in force, so there was much in this film obvious yet unspoken: the young MacLaine, for instance, wasn’t just playing house in the bushes with her medical school boyfriend, and Quinn couldn’t be frank with his wife–so Shirley Booth, who also made Come Back Little Sheba in the same fragile vein, was sadly disillusioned, but being A Mom, had to maintain her illusions as long as she was able. The stunning Alex North score (he also did Virginia Woolf and Streetcar) is far too lush for this simple small-town melodrama and the emotions too transparent for such small town tragedy, but I found the film worth the time for four strong central performances.
It’s now a few years since I saw it. I agree its worth a watch. Thanks for commenting!