Dorothy Malone had been around for ages before nabbing an Oscar for a showy support role in Written on the Wind. This must have seemed life a sure-fire follow up, a biopic about a famous yet tragic female star…a reliable formula in the 50s (Interrupted Melody, Jeanne Eagles, I’ll Cry Tomorrow).
She gives a fine performance though she’s overshadowed by Errol Flynn in a role that was always going to steal the notices – John Barrymore, the real life Flynn’s old boozing partner. Flynn never had Barrymore’s reputation for a great actor but he’s perfectly cast – full of charisma, charm and sadness, with a beautiful speaking voice and fondness for the bottle.
Everything Flynn does is memorable – John Barrymore asking Diana to tell all about her life and him getting bored straight away, Flynn performing ‘once more into the breach’ soliloquy to a neighbouring yacht while a bit pissed and getting increasingly roused (he’s not magical but he does not disgrace himself) – then abandoning his daughter, showing his daughter around a near-empty mansion, going on a massive drunk leading to his minder having to tackle him, a scene where he makes eyes at a young starlet… played by Beverley Aadland, his fear at getting the lead in The Man Who Came to Dinner (one of the few films to use its actual name), a drunken phone call to his ex wife, his final plea for Diana to stay. One hour in he disappears.
It’s only after his death that Diana hits the bottle (out of guilt) – and starts rooting around too, seducing Effram Zimbalist Jnr. He married her but when he goes off to make a film, she starts becoming a real party girl, dancing at parties in her swimsuit, hooking up with tennis pro Ray Danton. He dumps her when mum cuts her off and she hooks up with a nice other actor who is revealed to be an alcoholic and they hit the booze together.
There are other good scenes too – Diana getting big applause on her first appearance on stage (and her mother saying – all too accurately – that she’s a second rate actor and is only getting applause for her name), sexy Malone dancing in her swimsuit at her party, Ray Danton abusing Diana while smacking a tennis ball off a wall near her head (and eventually smacking her in the face with that ball – great scene), Diana doing a nightclub act while trashed (she starts off doing impersonations and ends up stripping).
I’ve always remembered the ending where Diana is inspired to meet up with a publisher by an old boyfriend who turns out to be bald. She may be a drunk but she’s not bald! As a baldy I admit on one hand to be a little bit offended – but it’s also a warm, human, true and different end. “Once all I had was money. I’ve got something else now – I’m a real nice guy” – that’s a nice thing for baldy to say.
Malone isn’t quite convincing as the young Diana but once she grows up and gets to flash that lovely hair she improves. She’s particularly effective once she starts rooting – the Malone specialty.
One gripe – there’s too much music in the background during all the scenes. And there’s a strain of misogyny through it – Diana’s early boyfriend complains that because she’s rich he can’t surprise her with things and Zimbalist refuses to be a kept man, whereas Danton doesn’t.
It’s been a while since I read Diana Barrymore’s book but from memory they changed an awful lot. One memorable scene from the book which didn’t make it – John taking his daughter out while at school with one of her friends, and ending up making out with that friend – that’s enough to make you wish they’d make another version of this story. Also she was married to Bramwell Fletcher, a fellow alcoholic best remembered now for appearing in The Mummy, and had a fling with Victor Mature, was under contract to Walter Wagner.
Maybe this doesn’t deserve four stars – but I really liked it and loved certain scenes. Fun is muted with the knowledge that Barrymore killed herself soon after the book came out.
(Check out this fascinating interview between Mike Wallace and Barrymore shortly after the book came out. She says she can’t give up drinking just yet. Come on, Diana…)
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