SOMETHING WILD (1961)

Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker

SOMETHING WILD (1961). Director/co-screenplay: Jack Garfein.

Mary Ann Robinson (Carroll Baker of Bridge to the Sun) walks home from work one evening, and is pulled into the bushes and raped. This traumatic experience leads into a series of strange actions, such as her leaving home without telling her mother (Mildred Dunnock) or stepfather (Charles Watts), taking a job in a five and dime store in another neighborhood, and moving into a cramped "apartment" about the size of a closet. One afternoon on the Brooklyn Bridge she tries to throw herself into the river, but she is stopped by the intervention of a worker named Mike (Ralph Meeker). But this apparently kind stranger may have even more problems than Mary Ann does and she finds herself locked in his apartment ...

Carroll Baker

Something Wild was based on a novel named Mary Ann and directed (and co-written) by theater man Jack Garfein, who was married to Carroll Baker at the time. Baker is deglamourized in this and generally gives a good performance, as does Meeker, although both are given rather impossible characters to play. I believe the film is trying to say that two damaged individuals can find love with each other, but there's a big difference in being a (rape) victim and being (in essence) someone who commits criminal actions like holding someone against their will, so turning this into a "love" story -- and yes the film does try to make us believe this has a happy and romantic ending -- would be almost as ludicrous as having Mary Ann fall in love with her rapist (who never shows up after the opening sequence). Apologists for the film -- and there are many -- try to suggest that Mike only locked Mary Ann in because he didn't want her killing herself, but she could just have easily killed herself in the apartment and his motives for keeping her a prisoner aren't nearly so noble.

Cinematography by Eugene Shufftan

The shame of it is that this hopelessly muddled, even offensive film has a lot going for it. In addition to the leads we have notable work by Mildred Dunnock as the concerned if ineffectual mother; Jean Stapleton as a slatternly neighbor of Mary Ann's; Doris Roberts as a co-worker at the five and dime who is put off by what she perceives as Mary Ann's stuck-up attitude; Martin Kosleck [The Flesh Eaters] as the somewhat sleazy landlord; and others. The film has a highly interesting score by no less than Aaron Copland [The Heiress], and is strikingly photographed in black and white by Eugen Shufftan, who makes the most of some very familiar New York City locations. Shufftan gives the film a very grim and intense atmosphere throughout. Garfield's direction is good if imperfect. He only directed one other movie, The Strange One. 

Despite all the notable aspects, Something Wild is done in by its contrivances. One suspects the plot was concocted before the characters were conceived, and -- in the film, at least -- they are never developed all that well.

Verdict: Should these two sick individuals get married? Where is Dr. Phil when you need him? **. 

BUTTERFIELD 8

Liz Taylor and Laurence Harvey

BUTTERFIELD 8 (1960). Director: Daniel Mann.

"Every awful moment of it, I Loved!" -- Gloria.

Gloria Wandrous (Elizabeth Taylor) is a model and good-time girl who has a male best friend, Steve (Eddie Fisher), who may be in love with her, to the consternation of his girlfriend, Norma (Susan Oliver). Gloria begins an affair with an unhappily married man named Weston Liggett (Laurence Harvey of Summer and Smoke) and is convinced that her sordid liquor-and-sex past is over, that she has found true love at last. But there is still the wife, Emily (Dina Merrill) to deal with, and more than one ugly misunderstanding ...

Eddie Fisher and La Liz

Butterfield 8 is undoubtedly a sanitized, cliff notes version of John O'Hara's 1935 novel, and has apparently been updated to the late 1950's. Gloria is not an especially sympathetic character (nor Weston) until she reveals to Steve what happened to her in her childhood in a powerful sequence. Like something out of Harvey's film Room at the Top, Weston has apparently married for a good job and social position, although his wife seems to blame her own family for making things too easy for him. Taylor gives a very good performance, and won an Oscar for her portrayal. Harvey is also excellent, and there's good work from Merrill, Oliver, Kay Medford as a motel proprietor, Carmen Mathews as Emily's mother, and especially Mildred Dunnock as Gloria's mother and Betty Field as her very blunt best friend, Frances. Eddie Fisher, who was married to Taylor at the time (after leaving Debbie Reynolds for her), gives a respectable performance.

Verdict: Good performances and some good dialogue lift this a notch above the soap opera level. ***. 

KISS OF DEATH

Victor Mature and Richard Widmark

KISS OF DEATH (1947). Director: Henry Hathaway.

Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) has already served one term in prison, when in desperation he participates in another robbery and is caught. The D.A. (Brian Donlevy) offers him a deal if he names names, but Bianco refuses to squeal. But when he finds out that his wife is dead and his two adorable little girls are in an orphanage, he wants to see them and changes his tune. Unfortunately, this brings him into deadly conflict with the gleefully sociopathic Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark), who thinks nothing of pushing an old lady in a wheelchair (Mildred Dunnock) to her death in the film's most famous scene. Mature gives one of his best performances in this, and Widmark is also swell, although at times he seems like Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, and at other times like Leo Gorcey of the Eastside Kids. Donlevy is also solid, as is lovely Coleen Gray [The Leech Woman] as Nettie, who loves Nick. Taylor Holmes registers as Nick's deceptively pleasant defense attorney. There are tense scenes that work without music but could have used some. Best shot: a sneering Tommy Udo through the slit in a curtain. This picture almost qualifies as film noir except there's no femme fatale, just a brief appearance by one of Udo's girlfriends. This was Coleen Gray's first major role and she delivers.

Verdict: Well-done and well-acted crime film. ***.

BUTTERFIELD 8

BUTTERFIELD 8 (1960). Director: Daniel Mann.

"Let's face it -- I was the slut of all time!"

Gloria (Elizabeth Taylor) is a beautiful "model" who is chased by men and considered a complete slut by the prudish. Her best friend is Steve (Eddie Fisher), whose girlfriend Norma (Susan Oliver), is jealous of Gloria. Gloria's latest conquest -- or is it the other way around? -- is Weston Liggett (Laurence Harvey), who is married to the very wise Emily (Dina Merrill). Things threaten to come to a boil when Emily finds her mink coat missing, unaware that hubby loaned it to Gloria ... Mildred Dunnock is Gloria's concerned mother and Betty Field the mother's friend, Fanny. Kay Medford is an ex-vaudevillian motel owner who sadly remembers the glory days and Carmen Mathews has a good turn as Emily's mother. Harvey is excellent, Taylor is quite good [although perhaps not quite deserving of the Oscar she won], and Fisher -- who was then married to Taylor -- does a nice job as well, although he always tends to get knocked by critics and biographers. Taylor has an especially good scene telling Fisher about her childhood sexual abuse. The movie has the odd distinction of being somewhat "modern" and yet dated at one and the same time. The impression one gets is that the film is trying to paint Gloria as an emotionally wounded "sexaholic" yet there's also that old double-standard that men who sleep around are studs but women who do the same are whores -- and that ending!

Verdict: At least you've got Liz sauntering sexily. ***.

SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH

SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH (1962). Written and directed by Richard Brooks, from Tennessee Williams' play.

"The right doors wouldn't open so he opened the wrong ones."

A struggling actor named Chance Wayne (Paul Newman) comes back to the southern town of his birth with a fading star Alexandra Del Lago (Geraldine Page) in tow. He hopes to see the woman he loves, Heavenly (Shirley Knight) whom he, unbeknownst, left with child on his last dash into town. Heavenly's father, Boss Finley (Ed Begley) and his nasty son Tom (Rip Torn) are not keen on having Chance around, but Heavenly's Aunt Nonnie (Mildred Dunnock) has always been fond of him, and warns him to get out before it's too late. Not a good situation for a fellow to be in. Paul Newman isn't bad as Wayne, but he's not really the right actor for the role; Chance is essentially a male hooker and Newman was always too white bread for that kind of part. [It would have been very interesting to see Elvis Presley, who was first offered the part, in the role. He might have been more on the mark.] Geraldine Page gives a showy performance that occasionally lets us see the human being behind the essential monster that is Alexandra Del Lago. Although this is a sanitized, Hollywoodized version of Williams' play to be sure, some of Williams' genuis comes through, and his depiction of redneck Republicans seems ahead of its time. Madeleine Sherwood has fun as Miss Lucy, Boss Finley's paramour. Doesn't quite work up the sense of dread and terror that the play does, but it comes close.

Verdict: Williams Lite, but not bad for what it is. ***.

BAD FOR EACH OTHER

BAD FOR EACH OTHER (1953). Director: Irving Rapper.

A young medical man is torn between helping the poor miners in his home town or joining a practice in which most of his patients would be bored, wealthy women. No, it's not The Citadel, it's a modern-day rip-off called Bad for Each Other. Charlton Heston is actually a military man with a medical degree who comes home to Pittsburgh after his brother's death. Lizabeth Scott is the rich gal he falls for, and Mildred Dunnock is his mother (both are very good). Arthur Franz is fine as an ex-serviceman who asks Heston for a job and Marjorie Rambeau scores as Scott's aunt. Heston saunters through the movie with his usual star charisma and gives a good performance, but this mediocre soaper with its one-dimensional characters and familiar plot is no substitute for the real thing.

Verdict: Watch The Citadel instead. **.

THE CORN IS GREEN

THE CORN IS GREEN (1945). Director: Irving Rapper.

Lilly Moffat (Bette Davis) comes to a small Welsh village and decides to help the miners -- many of whom are children -- by opening a small school and teaching them how to read and write. She especially focuses on a young man, Morgan Evans (John Dall), whom she thinks has real potential and can get a scholarship to a major university. But Bessie, (Joan Lorring) the impish, rather nasty daughter of Moffat's housekeeper Watty (Rosalind Ivan) has other plans for the young man. Mildred Dunnock and Rhys Williams are two villagers that Moffat enlists as teachers, and Nigel Bruce is the Squire with whom Miss Moffat must cross swords but whom she easily outwits. Bette Davis gives it a good try, and to be fair, her performance is lively and interesting, but she's much too young for the part and she plays Miss Moffat with an affectedness that goes completely against the down-to-Earth quality of the character. The rest of the cast is much better, however, especially Bruce and Dunnock. John Dall gives a superb performance, and young Joan Lorring, who was "introduced" in the film along with Dall, almost walks off with the movie. There are a lot of things one could quibble about in the film -- the miners always sound like a professional chorus as they march by singing, and the ending is a bit pat and has questionable aspects -- but The Corn of Green -- with its emphasis on knowledge and learning and bettering oneself and the plight of one's fellow man -- is still a solid, absorbing, well-crafted film that is undeniably stirring and poignant. Nice Max Steiner score as well.

Verdict: Good show! ***1/2.