50s suburban executive melodrama - based on a best seller, lots of men in suits being dissatisfied with their life, housewives being dissatisfied with their lives. I actually enjoyed this a bit - it touches on some important themes, it captures a time and a place (or at least what I imagine that to be).
It's not Terribly Important like it thinks it is but it's handled with sensitivity. Nunnally Johnson, who wrote and direct, does a decent job. He's helped by Gregory Peck who is ideally cast as the war veteran who is struggling financially - I mean he does have three kids and a live in house keeper, and the wife doesn't work.
Jennifer Jones' wive is impatient for money but she's not a bitch -she's encouraging of Peck's career, gives good advice, and is very loyal at the end when it turns out he's got a kid in Italy.
The film ducks scenes you'd think would be obligatory - no reunion between Peck and Marisa Pavan, no confrontation between Jones and Pavan, no meeting the kid. There's a subplot about Peck almost losing the house he inherited and then not (a "choked on a peanut" story... they're in danger! no they're not! and they didn't do anything to get out of it) Frederick March has a slutty daughter but she just goes off and continues to be a bit trashy.
Some decent acting. Lee J Cobb has a tendency to wear silly make up in his films and he does here but is quite good - so is Frederick March. Peck and Jones are good - so is Pavan.
I laughed how a big plot of the film is Peck writing a speech - should he tell boss Marsh what he wants to hear, or go his own way. Screenwriter Johnson obviously related to this!
But the film can't be dismissed. Some stuff is powerful - March realising how empty his life is, Peck having to kill in the war and accidentally killing his friend - and the themes are relevant: the importance of not being addicted to work, and getting kids to not watch a lot of TV, and working through marriage. Johnson was very good on marriage. It's better than many other 20th Century Fox films made in this area.
No comments:
Post a Comment