SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS

Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961). Director: Elia Kazan. Original screenplay by William Inge.

In 1928 Kansas high school students Wilma Loomis (Natalie Wood) and Bud Stamper (Warren Beatty) are a couple, although they come from opposite sides of the tracks. Bud's father is a wealthy brewer while Wilma's family is of more modest means. Bud's hormones are really kicking in, but he knows Wilma is not the kind of girl who would want to go "all the way." Wilma's mother (Audrey Christie) assures her daughter that sex is just something that women "have to put up with." Bud's father (Pat Hingle) suggests that he get , in essence, a "bad girl" to satisfy him while continuing his relationship with Wilma, but instead Bud thinks it's best to break things off with Wilma -- this decision has unfortunate consequences.

Pat Hingle and Warren Beatty

I have to confess that when I was finished watching Splendor I had to wonder why it is so acclaimed. I think the main reason is that the film has a great, well-played and moving ending that sent moviegoers home happy. It's just that the rest of the film is well ... odd. I must say Natalie Wood gives a very good performance, although I'm not certain she quite gets across the emotional fragility of the character which might explain some of the things that happen to her. In his first film role, Beatty is acceptable, but he's too old for the part -- he was 24 at the time of filming -- and while good-looking enough, in some shots he just looks weird. I found Audrey Christie merely annoying as Wood's mother, although Hingle was better as Beatty's dad. One of the worst-played scenes in the movie is a scene in an alley when Beatty is shown his father's corpse.

William Inge

There are some good supporting performances in the film: Barbara Loden as Bud's free-wheelin' sister, Virginia; the ever-strange Zohra Lampert as a waitress Bud meets in college (going from Wood to Lampert is sort of like going from the sublime to the ridiculous!); the even-stranger Sandy Dennis as a classmate of Wilma's; Gary Lockwood [The Magic Sword] as a handsome boy who goes out on a date with Wilma with unfortunate results; Jan Norris as "bad girl" Juanita; Joanna Roos as Bud's somewhat overwhelmed and neglected mother; Charles Robinson [Brotherhood of Satan] as Wilma's more-than-friend, Johnny; and others. William Inge, whose screenplay was not based on one of his stage works, even appears briefly as a minister -- a former actor, he's fine. Of all people, Phyllis Diller [The Fat Spy] shows up in a New Year's Eve scene as Texas Guinan, making tasteless jokes about the stock market crash suicides.

From the sublime to the ridiculous? Zohra Lampert

Splendor is mostly about S-E-X, but it's also about romantic longing and the hatred that children often feel for their own parents. I'm not certain that, when all is said and done, Inge was able to lift the movie that much above the soap opera level, as some of the characters are stereotypes and not as well-developed as they could have been. A self-hating homosexual in real life -- one can't call him gay as he was not self-accepting -- Inge nevertheless understood the universality of romantic and sexual feelings just as his contemporary Tennessee Williams did. NOTE: The title comes from a Wordsworth poem.

Verdict: Some lovely things in this movie, yet ... **1/2. 

THE SCREAMING WOMAN

THE SCREAMING WOMAN (1972 telefilm). Director: Jack Smight.

Wealthy widow Laura Wynant (Olivia de Havilland) has just returned from a stay in a sanitarium when she encounters a strange little dog while out walking on her property, and then hears a woman calling for help from below the ground. Laura tries to get her family, staff and police to take her seriously, but no one will believe her, thinking she's "nuts," and when they finally go out to investigate, hear nothing. In spite of this Laura is determined to free the poor buried woman before she dies, and when she can't do it herself tries to enlist the aid of some neighbors, one of whom knows more about the situation than she suspects ... The Screaming Woman is based on a short story by Ray Bradbury which was adapted [probably more than once] for the infamous EC comics back in the fifties. [I believe in the original story the protagonist is a child given to tall tales.] This version is intriguing, although it runs out of gas long before the expected finale. Another problem is that the audience knows all along that Laura isn't imagining things because we're shown the woman under the ground at the beginning. Along with de Havilland there are some other familiar faces, including Ed Nelson as a neighbor, Walter Pidgeon as Laura's doctor, Charles Drake as another embittered neighbor, and Lonny Chapman as the police sergeant. Charles Robinson is Laura's son; Laraine Stephens is his hateful wife; and Alexandra Hay is a young woman who is friends with Nelson. This was presented as an ABC "Movie of the Week." Miss de Havilland [spelled DeHavilland in the credits] is adequate but then this is not exactly The Heiress.

Verdict: Acceptable TV thriller. **1/2.