The best thing about my recently-purchased Mill Creek 'Classic Romances' 8-pack (though I previously had two of them from a Mill Creek Rita Hayworth 5-pack--they were cheap so I didn't squawk too much, mind you) is that it offered me three more of Judy Holliday's nine films before her untimely demise at 43 from breast cancer. I previously loved her in 'Adam's Rib', 'Phffft', 'The Solid Gold Cadillac' and of course her Oscar-winning role, amidst very stiff competition, in 'Born Yesterday'), but this was a surprisingly dramatic turn for one of my favourite American actresses ever, particularly noted for her comedic touch. I won't give any spoilers, but when she breaks down after suffering a particular catastrophe, it really got me, and this is a horribly underseen and undervalued work.
I realize director Cukor gets a lot of flak because he was basically considered a 'women's director', and even got released from 'Gone with the Wind' because of arguments with his producer, but he really knew how to get a great scene, particularly when given a fine script--I love films I have seen from Garson Kanin, both with and without his wife Ruth Gordon (best known as the title female in the cult classic 'Harold and Maude')--and this was definitely a fine one.
The film definitely deserves a contemporary reappraisal. It's that good.
Judy Hollday is on good form here as the petitioning wife "Florrie" who is seeking a divorce from husband "Chet" (Aldo Ray). They are amidst the legal wrangling before a judge when the day ends, and she (Madge Kennedy) gets shot of the lawyers and sits the couple down. Is it really all irredeemable? That question starts them reminiscing about how they met, fell in love and of what drove them to their current situation. It's that journey down their memory lane that works well here. No, I don't suppose there's very much jeopardy but there is a distinct chemistry between the two as we watch their lives unfold in an engaging and often quite amusing fashion. George Cukor captures the trials and tribulations of their domesticity well. The innocuous nature of simple family life, the arrival (and domination) of their kids - all things most will recognise as a family unit lives day by day. It's a tragedy that sets the couple on different tram-lines and again that's delivered quite plausibly. We are spared the detail and neither character descends into the sort of set-piece, alcohol driven, temper tantrum behaviour that is so often the refuge for writers and directors when trauma raises it's head. There's quite a touching little scene with Holliday singing a song on a ukulele that rather sums up the sentiment of this film and I quite enjoyed it.
