Hollywood blonde - Lana and Madame X

Let's have a Lana Turner day: I have just, finally, watched MADAME X - and she is terrific in it. You too will be sobbing by the end as we are manipulated by Ross Hunter. Lana really emotes here. 

I remember Pauline Kael being hilariously mean about it in one of her books, referring to it as a cast of waxworks, particularly 1930's star Constance Bennett (BED OF ROSES, LADIES IN LOVE - 30s label) as John Forsyth's mother. Constance (15 years older than Lana) had a facelift for the role and died before it was released! 

I also liked Lana in THE RAINS OF RACHIPUR, 1955, another seen for the first time this week where she is ideal as the faithless wife finding romance with Richard Burton as an Indian, in a nice selection of turbans and a good tan.
Old hand Jean Negulesco orchestrates this nicely (rather too much of the Fred McMurray subplot though) as the earthquake and rains arrive in the midst of Lana/Edwina's realisation that she is finally in love with the noble Indian doctor - but he has been meant for higher things by the Maharani; Lana/Edwina gets a good pay-off final scene with the Maharani before leaving to resume her playgirl life, but somehow ennobled by her pure love for the doctor.
Husband Michael Rennie (he married her money, she married his title) calls her "greedy, selfish, decadent, and corrupt", and her unsatisfied Edwina is probably the most determined femme fatale she has essayed on the screen. .

Lana also romanced 2 James Bonds: young Roger Moore in DIANE in 1955 - and Sean Connery in ANOTHER TIME ANOTHER PLACE, another terrific WWII sudser from 1958 - shot in black and white and in England (Sid James is her taxi driver) as Lana turns up in picturesque Cornwall to see where her dead lover Connery lived, with his trusting wife Glynis Johns and little boy - Martin Stephens (later with Deborah Kerr in COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS and THE INNOCENTS).  I have not seen DIANE since at a Sunday matinee as a kid, but remember it vividly - I loved those MGM costumers then, Lana here in Diane De Poitiers, mistress of the King of France. Then she was German in that odd THE SEA CHASE, a perfect mid-50s war drama with John Wayne, also German - I can remember my father taking me to that; and I certainly love THE PRODIGAL (below), that other mid-50s MGM biblical with Lana as the pagan high priestess Samara with that daring - for the time - outfit, before she topples into the flames when the mob storm the temple ....
For a '40s star Lana certainly had a good run in the '50s, what with Minnelli's THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL lifting her out of B-films.

Then of course there was that sensational court case when her lover, gangster Johnny Stompanato was stabbled, and Lana was bigger than ever in PEYTON PLACE and in Sirk's classic  IMITATION OF LIFE where she emotes all over the place as actress Lora Meredith. I have already done my reviews on favourites PORTRAIT IN BLACK in 1960, and 1966's delirious LOVE HAS MANY FACES (Lana, Trash labels). There is still 1961's BY LOVE POSSESSED to watch, along with another '58 drama, THE LADY TAKES A FLYER with she is teamed with Jeff Chandler.  She also did the obligatory inconsequential comedies in the early 60s with Bob Hope and Dean Martin. Lana ended up in tv series like FALCON CREST and THE SURVIVORS, there was also a dreadful one THE BIG CUBE ... Lana: 1921-1995.

Back though to MADAME X:  A woman married to a wealthy socialite, is compromised by the accidental death of a man who had been romantically pursuing her, and is forced by her mother-in-law to assume a new identity to save the reputation of her husband and infant son. She wanders the world, trying to forget her heartbreak with the aid of alcohol and unsavory men, eventually returning to the city of her downfall, where she murders a blackmailer who threatens to expose her past. Amazingly, she is represented at her murder trial by her now adult son, who is a public defender. Hoping to continue to protect her son, she refuses to give her real name and is known to the court as the defendant, "Madame X." 

This hoary old melodrama (to think this was 1966, the year of BLOW-UP and the new Hollywood emerging and the height of European arthouse) had been done several times before, and again Ross Hunter decks Lana out in Jean Louis outfits with furs and jewels. Before too long though her Holly is on the downward spiral after being railroaded out of the family by pure evil Constance Bennett ... young Keir Dullea is the son she had to abandon, now defending his mother on a murder charge - he of course does not know that, but Holly soon realises as does the new aged Constance and son Forsyth, in court to see his son's first defence case. She had shot seedy Burgess Meredith who was going to profit by revealing her real identity, in order to protect her son, who of course is now defending her. This builds to a deliciously satisfying climax as Madame X takes the stand and one reaches for the tissues, ably directed by David Lowell Rich. Sorry Pauline, but I simply loved every delicious moment of it.

Hitchcock blonde

When I was a kid in the mid-50s TO CATCH A THIEF seemed the height of glamour, no movie stars were more perfect that Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, and this Hitchcock movie was the ultimate with those South of France locations - and so it remains now. Not a major Hitchcock of course, he is rather tongue in cheek here, the film remains a fabulous entertainment, with quite a few Hitch touches he would explore further: someone dangles from a rooftop (VERTIGO), Grant again pulls someone up from a perilous drop (NORTH BY NORTHWEST), and has a rooftop struggle - oops, thats Donen's CHARADE, perhaps the best Hitch movie not made by Hitch and the perfect hommage to TO CATCH A THIEF.  Hitch provides (courtesy of scriptwriter John Michael Hayes) witty, racy dialogue and has a lot of fun with Jessie Royce Landis, splendid as Grace's mother (this is the one where she stubs out the cigarette into a fried egg, Hitch didn't like eggs ...). She seems more or less the same age as Cary but its her daughter (Grace was 26) who is his romantic lead (Audrey and Sophia were also much younger in theirs' with Cary). Landis also played Grace's mother in THE SWAN, another good role for her - and then Cary's mother in N BY NW ! - a very Hitchcock joke.
 

TO CATCH A THIEF must have dazzled audiences in 1955, with those South of France locations, Cary's perfect hilltop home where he serves that new concoction Quiche Lorraine to an appreciative John Williams, the insurance man protecting those jewels which retired burglar The Cat is determined to nab. Cary really is the retired burgler who has to stop the impersonator incriminating him in these jewel robberies. Cue lots of to-ing and fro-ing (odd to see Grace driving on those roads where she had that fatal accident in 1982...) and lots of dressing up, particuarly for that fancy dress ball at the climax. Grace wears that stunning gold ensemble for that; she is dressed by Edith Head here and has some dazzling outfits: that ice blue dress for her first encounter with Grant, and the stunning white dress for the fireworks scene. Hitch is obviously in his element here as he circles the pair, gettting closer and closer, as the fireworks explode and Kelly taunts Grant about her necklace, or maybe her other attributes as encased in that show-stopping dress. Its a stunning scene, surely reprised in the 1968 THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR for that chess-playing scene ...

This is surely Kelly's best role (even more than REAR WINDOW or HIGH SOCIETY) and Hitch showcases her perfectly.  He continued with his blondes of course, transforming Kim Novak and Eva Marie Saint and Janet, until Tippi came along ....

Stylish entertainment doesnt get much better than this, and never goes out of date. We love too Grace's final comment: "So this is where you live, mother will love it up here".

Hitchcock is certainly on a roll now, the new film HITCHCOCK has opened to middling reviews - ok it is a pedestrian work of fiction, but one has to see it - and the classics are on show all over again: THE BIRDS was on again last night, VERTIGO is on tonight, SABOTEUR and TOPAZ also scheduled, as in REAR WINDOW. We watch them over and over .... see Hitchcock label for reports on these and MARNIE and "Sight & Sound"'s last year new list with VERTIGO as the new number one ...
For the record: my Top 10 Hitchs: THE BIRDS, PSYCHO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, VERTIGO, REAR WINDOW, NOTORIOUS, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, ROPE, THE 39 STEPS, REBECCA. and I quite like STAGE FRIGHT and UNDER CAPRICORN, the early RICH AND STRANGE, and that final FAMILY PLOT. 

Montgomery Clift - London screenings & rarities

Montgomery is being celebrated this February as the BFI Southbank in London screen a season of his films. There are only 17, but the BFI in its wisdom is only screening 12 - the most well known ones:
RED RIVER, THE SEARCH, THE HEIRESS, I CONFESS, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, RAINTREE COUNTY, THE YOUNG LIONS, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, WILD RIVER, THE MISFITS, FREUD, and an extended run of 33 screenings of A PLACE IN THE SUN.
So they are ignoring THE BIG LIFT, the De Sica one with Jennifer Jones in '54 INDESCRETION OF AN AMERICAN WIFE, LONELYHEARTS, JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBURG and his final, the odd THE DEFECTOR.

The rather dull 1950 THE BIG LIFT (about the Berlin Airlift) got a few screenings on our TCM recently, I had not seen it before; we hardly ever get to see the De Sica now, and LONELYHEARTS is such a rare move here I had not even heard of it for a long time, but as luck would have it I got a copy a while back and just watched it, its certainly a very peculiar film but Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy and Maureen Stapleton all deliver as Monty seems rather vacant, like he is in SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, in those years after that car crash. I will now though finally see FREUD which should at least be interesting, even if Clift did not have a pleasant shooting experience with Huston here. THE DEFECTOR turned up on tv a few times over the years, but is hardly consequential, Monica Vitti was originally cast in the role played by Macha Meril. It is a pity he did not live to star in Huston's REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE which he was supposed to do, with Taylor again, but of course Brando replaced him ...

With Taylor during RAINTREE
by Bob Willoughby

It would be good though to see RAINTREE COUNTY (a key 1957 movie for me back then, when 11) and WILD RIVER again on the large screen ... Taylor and Remick are ideal co-stars for him, and I love that Kazan film, as per my other reviews on it here (Clift, Remick labels). Perhaps the new generation who may not have seen much of Clift will see Monty as part of that triumvirate of great American actors of the '50s, along with Brando and Dean, he is certainly as revered as they are ... and looked terrific in army outfits, which he wore quite a bit ...

WILD RIVER with Lee Remick

Hawks' RED RIVER, Stevens' A PLACE IN THE SUN and Zinnemann's FROM HERE TO ETERNITY are of course American classics, with Monty at his zenith. I CONFESS is a rather turgid Hitchcock but not without merit, and I used to be obsessed over THE MISFITS .... I like Wyler's THE HEIRESS a lot too, a key late '40s movie, and of course what can one say about SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER has hasn't been said already.... THE YOUNG LIONS is now a bit of a plod (as we follow Clift, Dean and Brando through WWII), and NUREMBURG is of course the all-star Kramer drama with special guest-star concentration camp victims (Monty and Judy Garland, both beyond compelling).  My pal Jerry is now going to lend me the Criterion issue of INDISCRETION (TERMINAL STATION) the 1954 De Sica, which has both the American (just 63 minutes after Selznick had finished with it) and longer Italian versions ...

The above is a thread of mine on the IMDB Classic Film Board, on the Clift season at the BFI in February. Monty has of course always been up there for me, with Dean and Monroe, and certainly more than Brando. The biographies on him are very revealing, not only about that car crash and his later dependancies, and also on that fascinating life cut short too early, at 45 in 1966.  I have now seen LONELYHEARTS and FREUD, so here are initiial comments on these: 

LONELYHEARTS: the book MISS LONELYHEARTS by Nathanael West is still of interest. This morning's newspaper carried this capsule review of it by writer Fay Weldon: "A black comedy but with nothing funny about it, a Depression (and depression) novel that is more apt today than ever, as a young (male) agony aunt takes on board the awfulness of life. Nothing changes. Once read, Miss Lonelyhearts is a book whic deserves to be rescued from its current obscurity". 

The film is more of the same, a downbeat tale, oddly paced, with long scenes of people just talking - Clift with Myrna Loy (who drinks a lot), her cynical husband newspaper editor Shrike (Robert Ryan at his brooding best as in Ophuls' CAUGHT, CLASH BY NIGHT or BILLY BUDD) who sets up would-be journalist Clift as the new Miss Lonelyhearts .... Monty is a tad too old for the part really and often has that dazed look he has in his next, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER. These were his post-car accident years. Maureen Stapleton, in her debut, is powerful as the troubled woman who writes for advice, after seeing Clift with Ryan in a bar - she asks Ryan who Clift is and he tells her, so she knows who she is writing to. Would any advice columnist though set up a meeting with a person who writes for advice? This is a bad move as Stapleton's unhappy marriage to a crippled man leads to her take out her frustrations, including sexual, on the hapless Clift ..... an odd tale makes for an odd film, a Dore Schary production in 1958, directed by one Vincent J Donehue. One can see why it is has been so rarely seen since ... 

Also long unseen is John Huston's 1962 FREUD (it didnt get to London till '63 when I imagine it did not hang around long), which now comes across like a brooding drama where Clift at 42 delivers his last major role, he was suffering with eye catatacts and other problems here and it was a troubled shoot for him. Young Susannah York (before TOM JONES) is very impressive as the main case he works on, Susan Kohner has nothing to do as Mrs Freud, and Rosalie Crutchley is sterling as ever as his mother. It looks terrific in moody monochrome and all that black outfits and sets recall the later THE ELEPHANT MAN. This is another story of medical people and hospitals.  

This pseudo-biographical movie depicts 5 years from 1885 on in the life of the Viennan psychologist Freud (1856-1939). At this time, most of his colleagues refuse to cure hysteric patients, because they believe they're just simulating to gain attention. But Freud learns to use hypnosis to find out the reasons for the psychosis. His main patient is a young woman who refuses to drink water and is plagued by always the same nightmare.

It is of course the usual story of a girl loving her father too much, and the sexual hysteria of the time is nicely evoked, with its brothels and repression. An odd choice for Huston who was having a good run then in 1962 with popular well-regarded films we liked a lot (HEAVEN KNOWS MR ALLISON, THE UNFORGIVEN, THE MISFITS, he went on to THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA among others). Photograhed by Douglas Slocombe, with a soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith. Monty delivers a passionate, involving portrait in an ambitious biopic which Huston (who also narrates) described as an "intellectual suspense story". It seems Jean-Paul Sartre worked uncredited on the screenplay. It is not a standard biopic of Freud but concentrates on his work in examining the effect of the subconscious mind on conscious actions - an idea believed preposterous at the time. The film uses memories and dreams (like Freud's with his mother) to arrive at the truth. The version I have runs to 140 minutes, but the BFI's brochures lists a 2 hour running time, there may be various versions around, I understand a lot of the dream sequences were cut to shorten the rather long running time. A fascinating curio now, and a companion piece to Huston's film on Toulouse-Lautrec and the MOULIN ROUGE of that same era. LONELYHEARTS and FREUD are both very verbose films with the actors having to recite reams of dialogue to each other ... I wonder if FREUD was titled FREUD: THE SECRET PASSION to make it seem more risque?

Exit Smiling

I first saw the 1926 silent EXIT SMILING back in my 20s at the old London National Film Theatre (now BFI Southbank) and was enchanted with Bea Lillie as the hapless heroine, the skivvy of that tatty touring group of theatricals. She played "nothing" in "Much Ado About Nothing".  It is now though available on Warner Archive.com, and is just as amusing as I remember.

A maid who works for a traveling theatrical troupe wants desperately to be an actress, and manages to get some small roles in the company's productions, but is determined to do anything she can to show that she deserves a shot at the big time.

Beatrice Lillie's sparking screen debut! Running away to join the circus was a popular romantic sentiment in the 1920s for those wishing to escape life's drudgery. For wannabe actress Violet it was joining a third rate travelling actors troupe specialising in over-the-top melodramas. Too plain to play the vampy vixen, she was relegated to the menial but necessary tasks to keep the show afloat. She tutors and supports (and of course falls for) the handsome young man (Jack Pickford - Mary's brother) who becomes the male lead. This silent classic is a riveting time capsule into a pre-Depression world that will fascinate, draw tears and ultimately cheers ... 

Well thats the blurb. It is indeed a fascinating look at a vanished world of entertainment, as directed by Sam Taylor. Even silent, Lillie is the perfect clown - the business with the pearls and the boa are blissfully funny, as is her put-upon drudge who of course does not get her man.

I first encountered Lillie, as most did, as the wacky white slaver Mrs Meers "Sad to be all alone in the world" in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE where she effortlessly stole the film from Julie and Mary and Carol - that is a perpetual pleasure. I like too her perfect clowning and diction in ON APPROVAL in 1943 and she and Franklin Pangborn (also funny here in EXIT SMILING) do that hilarious routine about the damask napkins in an otherwise unremarkable Bing Crosby film in 1947, DR RHYTHM. Bea's rare appearances (like in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) are to be cherished, like those of the very individual comediennes Carole Lombard, Kay Kendall or Joan Greenwood.What a fascinating life Lillie (1894-1989) led, with her showbiz pals like Noel Coward in the 20s and 30s when she was indeed "the funniest woman in the world".

Lists, 2

Continuing a recent thread based on IMDB's best of each decade. I did my choices for the 1930s, '40s, '50s and '60s - see Lists label.  Here, we go back to the 1920s and on to the '70s and '80s. Wonder if they will be doing the '90s and the 2000s ... well I can do my own.

1920s

Last year's discovery: THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA  / THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (left) / STEAMBOAT BILL JR  / ORPHANS OF THE STORM / THE WIND  / WAY DOWN EAST  BEN HUR (1925) / METROPOLIS / SUNRISE / FLESH AND THE DEVIL / EXIT SMILING / DIARY OF A LOST GIRL / PHANTOM OF THE OPERA / OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS / OUR MODERN MAIDENS / PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC.

1970s

THE PASSENGER / BARRY LYNDON / L'INNOCENTE / TAXI DRIVER / OBSESSION / CHINATOWN / NETWORK / THE GODFATHER / GODFATHER II  / LUDWIG / DEATH IN VENICE / DON'T LOOK NOW / ALL THAT JAZZ / THE AMERICAN FRIEND / FOX AND HIS FRIENDS / CABARET / DELIVERANCE / KLUTE / THE HONEYMOON KILLERS / M.A.S.H / Z / THE CONFORMIST / SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY / HAROLD & MAUDE / McCABE & MRS MILLER / HISTORY OF ADELE H / LES VALSEUSES / CESAR & ROSALIE / LE CHOSES DE LA VIE / YANKS / NEW YORK NEW YORK / DAYS OF HEAVEN /

INNOCENTS WITH DIRTY HANDS / FELLINI SATYRICON / ZABRISKIE POINT / NASHVILLE / THE GO BETWEEN / AMARCORD / FELLINI ROMA / AUTUMN SONATA / CRIES & WHISPERS / DAY FOR NIGHT / SEVEN BEAUTIES / THE STEPFORD WIVES / THE PARALLAX VIEW / THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR / THE MUSIC LOVERS / BROTHER SUN SISTER MOON / YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN /  / ANNIE HALL / MANHATTAN / INTERIORS /

COMA / THE EUROPEANS / THE CONVERSATION / DOG DAY AFTERNOON / DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS / DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE / PADRE PADRONE / THE NIGHT OF SHOOTING STARS / THE MAGIC FLUTE / DON GIOVANNI / ROYAL FLASH / THREE & FOUR MUSKETEERS / APOCALYPSE NOW.

1980s

THE DEAD / THE ELEPHANT MAN / RAGING BULL / AMERICAN GIGOLO / BODY HEAT / E T / RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK / AMADEUS / FANNY AND ALEXANDER / STARDUST MEMORIES / WINGS OF DESIRE / ORDINDARY PEOPLE / ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA / CINEMA PARADISO / BIG / RADIO DAYS / HANNAH AND HER SISTERS / CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS / MY FAVOURITE YEAR / DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN / ROOM WITH A VIEW / LETTER TO BREZHNEV / MAURICE / LAW OF DESIRE / DONA HERLINDA AND HER SON / WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN / QUERELLE / PRIVATES ON PARADE / PRICK UP YOUR EARS / DANGEROUS LIAISONS / THE SHINING / HOPE AND GLORY / LONGTIME COMPANION / PARTING GLANCES / DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES / CHOOSE ME / THE HUNGER / COME BACK TO THE 5 & DIME JIMMY DEAN JIMMY DEAN / QUARTET / THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE.

Another Cabaret reunion ....

In 1999 the U.S. "Entertainment Weekly" magazine did a special issue (one to keep) on "The 100 Greatest Moments in Movies (1950-2000)" and among the treats included several reunions, including this one (left) on CABARET, with Michael York, Liza and Joel Gray, in September 1999..  

Now there is another CABARET reunion, in 2013, below, which has been getting some attention, to mark the movie's 40th anniversary and Blu-Ray release. The trio were re-united together with co-star Marisa Berenson both for a tv interview and a stage appearance. Good to see them together again - but again Michael York, now 70, seems to be unwell or recovering from some illness, brave of him to be appearing in public, one trusts he is well. He was fine when I met him about 6 years ago, as per a previous report (York label). CABARET though should be a success all over again .... CABARET now that I think of it was the first movie I bought on dvd.

Another reunion by the magazine, which I also featured before, was on TOUCH OF EVIL, that 1958 Orson Welles noir, with Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, here also reunited in 1999. Both have since died but its nice seeing them together again here ....

'50s classics? Bus Stop or The Vikings ...

Afternoon tv had the little-seen now BUS STOP followed by THE VIKINGS - two '50s classics - one is practically unwatchable now, the other is a tv staple here and remains a film I can immerse myself in anytime and like watching it now as it certainly ticks all the boxes I require from a costume movie/epic: great cast, story, direction, music ....  (I still have that BUS STOP magazine, left, and some stills from the film).

THE VIKINGS has it in spades. It has been a favourite ever since I saw Tony and Janet doing their love scene, a photo of which was in a childhood film annual I had to have. Toss in Kirk and Borgnine doing what they do best and a great supporting cast: Alexander Knox as Father Godwin, James Donald, Maxine Audley as the queen who is Eric's mother, Eileen Way as Kitalla the witch (below) who saves Eric/Tony from the crabs and the rockpool ..... that last seige of the castle is stirring stuff too, and we like seeing Frank Thring again as Ayella get his comeuppance as he too falls into the wolfpit ...
the Norwegian locations are terrific as lensed by ace Jack Cardiff, compelmented by Mario Niscembene's stirring score and Orson Welles' narration at the start on the scourge of the Vikings. That final battle between the viking brothers Curtis and Douglas on the castle ramparts with the sea crashing below them remains brilliant stuff too, as Janet's Welsh princess Morgana tells Einar (Douglas) that Eric is his brother .... and Ragnar jumping into the wolfpit with his sword in his hand. Richard Fleishcher orchestrates it all perfectly.

Then at the end Eric and Morgana are reunited as Eric says "prepare a funeral for a viking" as the boat sets sail and is set on fire ..... also amusing is English comedy actress "silly moo" Dandy Nichols as Bridget, Morgana's handmaiden. Janet though seems to be wearing one of those pointy '50s bras under her Welsh outfits. I love that moment too when Tony rips her bodice showing that shapely back, so she can row the boat as they escape ..... ok, its a movie I love. It remains a gold-plated Hollywood classic of the '50s.

Much more problematic is Joshua Logan's BUS STOP.  Back in that pre-video age BUS STOP was a golden grail for Monroe obsessives (I was one too then) as it simply was not available or being screened anywhere for a long time. Finally it came out on video ..... even now I could not watch it except on fast-forward. It is just painfully dated and I cannot stand the obnoxious dim cowboy, perfectly played by Don Murray, nor the cloying folkiness of Arthur O'Connell's character, Virgil, his mentor.

This of course is pure William Inge but (like that schoolteacher played by Rosalind Russell in the film of Inge's PICNIC, also heavy-handedly helmed by Joshua Logan) it just jars and annoys now. 

The novelty with BUS STOP was Marilyn "acting" here as Cherie after her stint in New York and at the Actors' Studio. The sequence where she badly sings "That old black magic" while changing her spotlight to red as Murray whoops in delight is still an iconic Monroe moment, but a lot of it is painful to endure now. Eileen Heckart and Betty Field and Hope Lange are fine in their roles, but the play itself is the problem, which is probably why it is seldom revived now. The only other production I have seen is the one Lee Remick and Keir Dullea did in London in 1976 - 37 years ago! - above (Remick label). 

More Inge: I now have THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS to re-see and review before too long, and Joanne Woodward in THE STRIPPER, that 1963 film of his play "A Loss of Roses", it was also known as "Woman of Summer" for a while, Joanne Woodward is hardly the type to play a stripper (right) and Richard Beymer is no Warren Beatty (who originated the part on stage), but we will see .... I quite liked Inge's script though for BUS RILEY IS BACK IN TOWN in 1965, a compendium of Inge cliches (Ann- Margret label).