Movie review - "The Wayward Bus" (1957) **

Odd what was commercial cinema in the 1950s. This had CinemaScope but black and white, was based on a John Steinbeck novel, directed by someone called Victor Vicas, produced by Charles Brackett, using 20th Century Fox contract players like Jayne Mansfield, Joan Collins and Dan Dailey and newcomers like Dolores Michaels and Rick Jason.

The main plots: Rick Jason is married to boozy Joan Collins but they keep fighting, Dolores Michaels is a bit of a man trap and travels with her parents, 

I think they were hoping for another Bus Stop but it didn't turn out that way. Everything feels a bit off. The acting is inconsistent. I never bought Dailey and Mansfield... he's too cocky or something when it feels as though the role needs to be played by some old, bald loser grasping at happiness. They have no chemistry, the relationship feels rushed. Maybe if Mansfield's part was played by someone older, with more mileage - Lana Turner type.

Rick Jason feels too television and Anglo for a part that seems to require an Anthony Quinn. Collins tries and isn't bad but this needed to be a real boozer.

It just sort of clunks. They may as well made it trashier. Best scene is when Michaels (who's good) tries to seduce Jason in the barn. I think she succeeds though it's not sure.

Dumb endings - Mansfield unconvincingly goes off with Dailey, Collins unconvincingly reunites with Jason, Michaels unconvincingly proposes to her boyfriend.

Mansfield's part isn't that big.