When you have a spare two hours watch this delicious 1951 Paramount comedy THE MATING SEASON, directed by (gay) Mitchell Leisen (whom we have blogged about here before: reviews of MIDNIGHT, HOLD BACK THE DAWN, FRENCHMAN'S CREEK etc) with a great role for the great Thelma Ritter, one of our favourites here. Gene Tierney and Miriam Hopkins also score. Thelma is the all-wise owner of a hamburger joint whose diplomat son marries rich Gene, and gets snarky Miriam as his mother-in-law, but the rich man she has her eyes on falls for down-to-earth Thelma, whom the rich folk think is the son's cook, not his mother. The scene is set ...
We love Thelma (1902-1969) as Clancy, Susan Hayward's companion/nurse in WITH A SONG IN MY HEART in 1952, and as Doris's tipsy maid in PILLOW TALK, and the older Themla back with Marilyn (from ALL ABOUT EVE) as her Reno landlady in THE MISFITS, and ..... out west with Debbie in HOW THE WEST WAS WON and THE SECOND TIME AROUND, as James Stewart's masseuse in Hitch's REAR WINDOW, and her great early roles in A LETTER TO THREE WIVES and PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET and more (Cukor's THE ,MODEL AND THE MARRIAGE-BROKER. DADDY LONG LEGS, A HOLE IN THE HEAD) among her 44 credits.
Onscreen, she's billed fourth after Gene Tierney, John Lund, and Miriam Hopkins, even though she's obviously the main character and gets the most screen time. Sad, but that's how they did things in Hollywood back then (and maybe still do.)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this one! It's my favorite of all her films and the one she should have won that ever elusive Oscar for.
ReplyDeletePick-up on South Street required more from her and is probably her most complex performance but this is such a showpiece for her unique personality. She is fourth billed, perhaps so they could justify her supporting nomination-and top billing was more probably than not in Gene Tierney's contract, but Thelma's the indisputable star of this trim little comedy. It's great that she also gets her own love interest in the attractive and charming Larry Keating-a fine unsung character actor-they have a very nice quippy chemistry together.
As much as this is Thelma's picture both Cora Witherspoon and Miriam Hopkins make their marks in their roles...and Gene Tierney is chic and pleasing as always. Lund's a bit of a stick but he gets the job done.
I've never seen this but I have always wanted to as I am a huge Thelma fan, (who isn't). By coincidence I was watching Discovering Edward G Robinson last night and there she was in a clip from A HOLE IN THE HEAD, another one I need to see again.
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