Daryl Zanuck was attracted to this via its ability to use CinemaScope and the talents of Clifton Webb, who plays one of the several millionaires on the Titanic. The writers (Charles Brackett and his old Billy Wilder era collaborators Richard Breen and Walter Reisch) have given him a decent plot - he's trying to retrieve wife Barbara Stanwyck.
There's a role for other Zanuck favourites, like Robert Wagner as a young college boy (who's allowed to be heroic but still survive by cutting a rope and falling in the water), and Thelma Ritter as Molly Brown.
It's fun to see a scene where Wagner is trying to get information out of Stanwyck about the latter's daughter Audrey Dalton knowing that in real life Wagner and Stanwyck were getting it on. (She does seem very lively in the scene, as does he - it's a shame they didn't work together more). Later on she reveals to Webb she slept with some young guy on the beach, who impregnated her... this could've been a Wagner type!
Wagner is quite sweet - he sings a number and does a jig. Audrey Dalton is good as the stuck up daughter of Webb and Stanwyck. The subplot about Richard Basehart's drunken priest is a little dull. Thelma Ritter is fun as Molly Brown. Brian Ahern offers some star power as Captain Smith, ditto Edmund Purdom as Lightoller.
The last half hour is terrific with some wonderful moments like Webb's son, rejected by Webb previously, giving up his seat to go and die with his father.
I think this was a solid success rather than a big hit - because of its cost, I wonder if Fox made a profit on it - but it's one of the finest movies Webb made at Fox, not to mention Brackett.
No comments:
Post a Comment