Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me): My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdNBBjrMt3_Lp3vI0eDkypL81YjWVzLdaTsfNZlNE9MzP-oWa7kzKTrdLzQnx4NSeweCAc9aYnS0iOwxosqk_0-rXHb30zoMeNYgAFGWMIlo-rVevrM9UIGKz57ZiK2sg_DPRdSK56X4/s1600/My_Mortal_Enemy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZdNBBjrMt3_Lp3vI0eDkypL81YjWVzLdaTsfNZlNE9MzP-oWa7kzKTrdLzQnx4NSeweCAc9aYnS0iOwxosqk_0-rXHb30zoMeNYgAFGWMIlo-rVevrM9UIGKz57ZiK2sg_DPRdSK56X4/s1600/My_Mortal_Enemy2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Davis</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>The Metzinger Sisters of </i>Silver Scenes<i> are hosting a classic film event</i></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>,</i>The Great Imaginary Film Blogathon -<i> and this is my entry. <a href="http://silverscenesblog.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-great-imaginary-film-blogathon-is.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</span></a> for links to participating blogs.</i></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">~</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPV17ua1bHxxq9zonSrUeY70qgOMzeSKztegLP1yNUenpQAHwD_Ns0uB1E3QlfLfuyXgUtUPGsUqWwygN6fZkElD8mgEMxfMzlQ7Zv6bGExDQwROo_LMlpGsqDaCut7nY3nkSxMqamgs/s1600/Lost_Lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPV17ua1bHxxq9zonSrUeY70qgOMzeSKztegLP1yNUenpQAHwD_Ns0uB1E3QlfLfuyXgUtUPGsUqWwygN6fZkElD8mgEMxfMzlQ7Zv6bGExDQwROo_LMlpGsqDaCut7nY3nkSxMqamgs/s320/Lost_Lady.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1926, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather published her eighth novel, a novella, really, titled <i>My Mortal Enemy</i>. Among the writer's many poetic works of prose fiction, the book earned a reputation for both its lean structure and dramatic plot. When I read it for the first time, I couldn't help but imagine what a powerful film <i>My Mortal Enemy</i> might be. Yet I also knew that, because of Cather's profound unhappiness with the film version of <i>A Lost Lady </i>(1934, starring Barbara Stanwyck), she hadn't allowed her other works to be adapted in her lifetime and that at the time of her death in 1947, the terms of her will dictated a ban on future film adaptations. Mostly because I saw in <i>My Mortal Enemy</i>'s central character, Myra Driscoll Henshawe, a role that would provide a golden opportunity for the right actress to deliver a blistering tour de force performance, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I despaired that it would never be dramatized.</span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The tale unfolds from the point of view of its narrator, a young Midwestern woman named Nellie, who grew up enchanted by the local legend of a great romance that had taken place not too many years before she was born. Myra Driscoll had been the pampered only heir of her great-uncle, the wealthiest man in town. Though well-educated and handsome, Oswald Henshawe was of more humble origins, and the love that developed between the two was unacceptable to Myra's guardian. Myra threw away the certain inheritance of most of her great-uncle's enormous fortune when she defied him and eloped with Oswald. For young Nellie, Myra and Oswald's "runaway marriage" was "the most interesting, indeed the only interesting" story among those told on "holidays or at family dinners." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Myra had been taken in by her great-uncle when she was orphaned in childhood. He took her traveling with him to Europe, had her portrait painted by an esteemed painter, lavished her with clothing and jewelry as well as a riding horse and "a Steinway piano." She was spirited and witty and pretty and her guardian took pride in her. Though she enjoyed a close, affectionate relationship with her uncle, she was also proud and willful. When he solemnly promised he would "cut her off without a penny" if she married Oswald, she didn't react immediately. Some months later, though, Myra went out on a sleigh-ride with friends and never returned. She and Oswald met at a pre-arranged time and place, were married with his parents and her friends on hand and departed in the wee hours on an express train.</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0u9EvBAxCDd7-Y4N6zgYdn4TH95zqDpQ70ArMU11J_WrttISqnSR0jq76A6I_31neoIBUv8W2LkH1z0MtBTtpBG16gEfsr90VFj9UBgebrVFoA76g0Rg4sIRgsTjkEq80gyMkSubv0U/s1600/train+interior+lovers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV0u9EvBAxCDd7-Y4N6zgYdn4TH95zqDpQ70ArMU11J_WrttISqnSR0jq76A6I_31neoIBUv8W2LkH1z0MtBTtpBG16gEfsr90VFj9UBgebrVFoA76g0Rg4sIRgsTjkEq80gyMkSubv0U/s320/train+interior+lovers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Drawing by Edward Hopper</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_868207947"></span><span id="goog_868207948"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Myra we glimpse through Nellie's reminiscences of the stories she's been told all her life is  passionate, impulsive, determined and full of self-confidence. The Myra we encounter when Nellie meets her in person is much older and very worldly. Myra and Oswald return to the small town 25 years after their elopement and Nellie, now 15, is finally introduced to the couple she has idealized as storybook lovers. She meets Myra first and is both bewitched and intimidated by the still-handsome but heavier-than-expected middle-aged woman. Myra's "charming, fluent voice, her clear light enunciation" bewilders Nellie, who also notes that her "sarcasm was so quick, so fine at the point - it was like being touched by a metal so cold that one doesn't know whether one is burned or chilled." Oswald is less imposing though also charismatic, and Nellie is captivated by his "dark and soft" eyes, shaped "exactly like half-moons." She observes "something about him that suggested personal bravery, magnanimity, and a fine, generous way of doing things." Nellie was more comfortable with Oswald than Myra, "because he did not frighten one so much." By the time the Henshawes leave days later, it has been decided that Nellie and her aunt will spend the Christmas holidays in New York and stay at a hotel near Oswald and Myra's apartment on Madison Square.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0KUck9-Q3OTP0bDpCSzFpplxdQNoRTNOi-b-ZC880CU6Wy-ccTWpD94T78kz0CGmcA7yRYn2PjEHbbe3vMNFN0oWLhToKjhv4EB3V0fpYnv5r59ZTV47HZ4cfRhtz20dalgxu-rqxR4Y/s1600/Madison_Square_1900_Paul_Cornoyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0KUck9-Q3OTP0bDpCSzFpplxdQNoRTNOi-b-ZC880CU6Wy-ccTWpD94T78kz0CGmcA7yRYn2PjEHbbe3vMNFN0oWLhToKjhv4EB3V0fpYnv5r59ZTV47HZ4cfRhtz20dalgxu-rqxR4Y/s400/Madison_Square_1900_Paul_Cornoyer.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Madison Square painted by Paul Cornoyer, circa 1900</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Once in New York, Nellie falls instantly in love with the couple's apartment in a brownstone on the north side of the Square. She enthusiastically takes in every detail - including long velvet curtains "lined with that rich cream-colour that lies under the blue skin of ripe figs." She is dazzled at the celebrity-studded New Years' Eve party the Henshawe's host, and enthralled when an opera star sings an aria from Bellini's <i>Norma</i> to piano accompaniment. But she also observes first-hand a darker side to the Henshawe marriage.  After spending a pleasant day with Myra in Central Park, Nellie notices in her friend what seems an "insane ambition" when the woman offhandedly reveals her deep disappointment that her lifestyle isn't at all grand enough to suit her. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then, finally, Nellie walks in on the pair in the midst of a ferocious argument. Myra has found a key on Oswald's key-ring that he cannot or will not explain to her satisfaction. Already, Nellie is aware that a young woman of Oswald's acquaintance has given him a gift of topaz cufflinks and that, to avoid Myra's jealous wrath, he had asked her aunt to pretend they were a Christmas present from her. As Nellie and her aunt leave New York, Myra makes sure to tell them that she knows the cufflinks were not a gift from the aunt, "I was sure to find out, I always do," she says. Nellie will not see the Henshawes for another ten years and when she does encounter them again, it comes as a complete surprise.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At 25, Nellie ventures, without much conviction, to a West Coast city (reminiscent of Los Angeles then) to teach. She takes rooms in an apartment-hotel and once there finds that the Henshawes are living in the same building. Their circumstances are much reduced and Myra, now a wheelchair-bound invalid, is dying. Oswald, who holds a low-paying job with the city while carefully tending to his wife's needs, looks far older than his years. Myra appears to Nellie "strong and broken, generous and tyrannical, a witty and rather wicked old woman." Those traits the younger woman had admired and disliked have become ever more distilled.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As death approaches, Myra grows more demanding and difficult, as does her dark resentment of Oswald. She is openly suspicious of him and seems to blame him for her every discomfort and complaint. On one particularly bad night she laments that she must "die like this, alone with my mortal enemy..." Nellie, chilled as she listens to these bitter words, reflects that "...violent natures like hers sometimes turn against themselves..." </span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipi5ASM9BCnde5dSDlMT7HVN_VnbLZpQR1o6WQ13IPB5efbZOwBlN1O7cmcMo1VM0yN1gWySiqR7ZcA2zs78ss94Kr27y7kEMH9B3eLSb2e-3lq9r6aQXgMTwvU94WkZ_SxpJ_ol_QepM/s1600/myras_end.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipi5ASM9BCnde5dSDlMT7HVN_VnbLZpQR1o6WQ13IPB5efbZOwBlN1O7cmcMo1VM0yN1gWySiqR7ZcA2zs78ss94Kr27y7kEMH9B3eLSb2e-3lq9r6aQXgMTwvU94WkZ_SxpJ_ol_QepM/s400/myras_end.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~ </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I’ve envisioned many actresses in the role of Myra Henshawe.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A rich, multifaceted character like Myra would have tantalized Miss Bette Davis during her heyday. With William Wyler in the director’s chair, Davis had turned in three outstanding performances – in <i>Jezebel </i>(1938), <i>The Letter </i>(1940) and <i>The Little Foxes </i>(1941), all of them earning Best Actress Oscar nominations for her, and <i>Jezebel </i>bringing the gold statuette. And all three characters possessed traits in common with Myra – spoiled, impetuous Julie, manipulative Leslie Crosbie and fierce Regina Giddens. So, with Wyler directing Davis and an evocative score by Max Steiner, <i>My Mortal Enemy </i>could easily have been another stellar Warner Bros. release during Hollywood’s Golden Age. While Warners might’ve been inclined to put George Brent or Herbert Marshall in the role of Oswald, the studio’s best bet would’ve been Paul Henreid. It seems to me, though, that another actor, someone like Lew Ayres, would've been a better fit.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I’ve also imagined <i>My Mortal Enemy </i>as a Technicolor production from the 1950s starring Deborah Kerr and Gregory Peck. Kerr’s lofty poise and ability to convey tumultuous emotions (<i>Black Narcissus</i>,<i> From Here to Eternity, The Innocents</i>)<i> </i>would've made for an interesting take on Myra, who was as haughty as she was passionate. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Gregory Peck would have had no trouble portraying gentle, magnetically attractive Oswald. </span></span>A good pick to direct might’ve been John Huston, who so often and successfully adapted literary gems (<i>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre</i>, <i>Moby Dick</i>). Huston also devised the vivid color concept of <i>Moulin Rouge </i>(1952) and directed both Kerr and Peck in popular films of the 1950s.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In the late 1960s, <i>My Mortal Enemy </i>could’ve provided a high profile vehicle as well as a solid follow-up to <i>Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? </i>for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The characters were within their range, but Liz & Dick's  tabloid notoriety and worldwide superstardom at the time might well have overpowered the actual characters and story. Perhaps with Mike Nichols, who directed <i>Virginia Woolf</i>, at the helm, <i>My Mortal Enemy </i>could’ve been one of those memorable transitional films that bridged the shift from the studio era to the age of “easy riders and raging bulls.”</span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjoI5tOmjuLxAUJbT-Vqh45ahpcIH7w2A5nqZHHKupp1JnQHxeOSJ1SoTdcQADqbsUay-pZVQ2sEyFCaKO3G10oyUrCTuJNv2qRwuQAEjjj4yQkOdRraF1-0W752Tl2XG7evpDbfPkIw/s1600/streep_irons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjoI5tOmjuLxAUJbT-Vqh45ahpcIH7w2A5nqZHHKupp1JnQHxeOSJ1SoTdcQADqbsUay-pZVQ2sEyFCaKO3G10oyUrCTuJNv2qRwuQAEjjj4yQkOdRraF1-0W752Tl2XG7evpDbfPkIw/s320/streep_irons.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, <i>The French Lieutenant's Woman</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Meryl Streep was well established by the 1980s, and a complex and meaty role like Myra would’ve seemed tailor-made for her remarkable talents. Teaming her with Jeremy Irons, her co-star in <i>The French Lieutenant’s Woman</i> (1981), would’ve worked well. On the other hand, there’s the superb but relatively underrated Judy Davis, who emerged with <i>My Brilliant Career</i> (1979) and <i>A Passage to India </i>(1984), earning a Best Actress Oscar nomination for the latter. Davis possesses, along with an ability to express the deep anguish of a divided soul, the vivacity and sharp humor integral to Myra’s personality. I would pair Davis with William Hurt and put them under the direction of Martin Scorsese, who later rendered a moving and meticulous adaptation of Edith Wharton’s <i>The Age of Innocence</i> (1993).</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By the early 1990s, adaptations of Willa Cather’s fiction for television had begun to surface. Perhaps the ban on “film” adaptations did not, technically, apply to broadcast media. A PBS production of <i>O Pioneers!, </i>starring Mary McDonnell, appeared in 1991 and a Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of the same novel appeared in 1992, starring Jessica Lange. In 1995, the USA Network aired a TV-movie version of <i>My Ántonia</i>, the second novel in Cather’s Prairie Trilogy (after <i>Pioneers</i>), starring Jason Robards and Eva Marie Saint. Finally, in 2001, the third book in the trilogy, <i>The Song of the Lark</i>, was adapted for PBS, starring Maximilian Schell and Alison Elliot.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Following the death of the last living executor of Willa Cather’s estate, Charles Cather, in 2011, The Cather Trust dropped the prohibition contained in her will against the publication of her letters and the adaptation of her fiction to film. In April of this year Knopf published <i>The Selected Letters of Willa Cather</i>. A dramatization of <i>My Mortal Enemy</i>, it seems, could actually come to pass. Cate Blanchett, now in her early 40s, is still young as well as old enough for the plum role of Myra. But the possibilities are endless - and fascinating. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgQng9CQLw-VTloraPDo25n9SLDzgk53S_oSvXEktgy-ZK4QSfQkNHZPlITGmeSPRW3EkNKKbrgfihd2svuLsjvRGmddVjPjyWfmWyUaHy72uJFzQC0mNK2RUI0ChDwFa7cnKcu-4oyw/s1600/Blanchett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJgQng9CQLw-VTloraPDo25n9SLDzgk53S_oSvXEktgy-ZK4QSfQkNHZPlITGmeSPRW3EkNKKbrgfihd2svuLsjvRGmddVjPjyWfmWyUaHy72uJFzQC0mNK2RUI0ChDwFa7cnKcu-4oyw/s320/Blanchett.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cate Blanchett by David Downton</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Bette Davis Cate Blanchette Deborah Kerr Elizabeth Taylor Judy Davis Julie Christie Meryl Streep My Mortal Enemy Silver Scene The Great Imaginary Film Blogathon The Lady Eve (author) Will Cather Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me): My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather

Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Davis The Metzinger Sisters of Silver Scenes are hosting a classic film event , The Great Imaginary Fil...

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Over the Rain-Forest and the Still Water Beach

<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotos-g1015495-Mismaloya_Banderas_Bay_South_Shore_Pacific_Coast.html"><img alt="Mismaloya Photos" src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/c3/b6/ee/night-of-the-iguana-set.jpg" /></a><br /><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Abandoned movie set, Mismaloya, Mexico: photo courtesy of TripAdvisor </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The programmers at Turner Classic Movies may not have planned the schedule with me in mind, but they’ve lined up a fine mix of films for me on my birthday this year.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PrzT6K3OHqc6ANHLd_12wZce2Jp6jbsK-oBdNkgCQqlpJ17fXIZkE8GO5g0IMDGDG_bJ2T2K64Ag-UjauXTpo3caFV37-iTRPg9JyxtZit-teuGK5i8TWKRVJqfVjL5XHHVRuEP1oO9K/s1600/Wings+of+Desire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PrzT6K3OHqc6ANHLd_12wZce2Jp6jbsK-oBdNkgCQqlpJ17fXIZkE8GO5g0IMDGDG_bJ2T2K64Ag-UjauXTpo3caFV37-iTRPg9JyxtZit-teuGK5i8TWKRVJqfVjL5XHHVRuEP1oO9K/s320/Wings+of+Desire.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bruno Ganz in <i>Wings of Desire</i></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">I share my day with Sir Laurence Olivier (born May 22, 1907), and TCM has programmed some films of his that I haven’t seen, including <i><a href="http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/112933/Term-of-Trial/overview" style="color: blue;">Term of Trial</a> </i>(1962) co-starring the great French actress, Simone Signoret. Later on in the day my beloved San Francisco provides the setting for the 1955 sci-fi classic, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048215/" style="color: blue;"><i>It Came from Beneath the Sea</i></a>, in which the city is attacked by a radiation-enlarged octopus. In the evening, this month's TCM guest programmer, Deborah Winger, is set to appear. Among her choices is one film I haven’t seen but have had on my to-watch list for a long time: <a href="http://www.doubletakemagazine.org/int/html/wenders/" style="color: blue;">Wim Wenders</a>' 1987 classic, <i>Wings of Desire</i> brought its director the Best Director prize at Cannes in 1987 and won or was nominated for a raft of other awards.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Winger has also chosen to spotlight John Huston’s masterful production of Tennessee Williams' <i>The Night of the Iguana</i> (1964), one of the great film adaptations of Williams' work. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tennessee Williams had vacationed in Mexico during 1940, and his experiences at the Hotel Costa Verde outside Acapulco later formed the basis for his 1948 short story entitled <i>The Night of the Iguana</i>. Over time, the story evolved into a stage play that debuted on Broadway in 1961 starring Bette Davis in the role of Maxine Faulk, Margaret Leighton as Hannah Jelks and Patrick O’Neal as The Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon. It is Tennessee Williams' final masterpiece.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3si3bvA14jIBYQLeGpild1IM2QV-QSxOOBvWtEX7hmIGZvJ9JDeIwkC5H-mVp3-kJbgB3X214ktC-1vLHG90Wn__wTMC10ZrggZzAni1lK0GvCR7J8SHVtB8qhhIT4EnIABixVwEkTPU/s1600/leighton+williams+oneal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3si3bvA14jIBYQLeGpild1IM2QV-QSxOOBvWtEX7hmIGZvJ9JDeIwkC5H-mVp3-kJbgB3X214ktC-1vLHG90Wn__wTMC10ZrggZzAni1lK0GvCR7J8SHVtB8qhhIT4EnIABixVwEkTPU/s320/leighton+williams+oneal.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Margaret Leighton, Tennessee Williams and Patrick O'Neal</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Reverend Shannon is an alcoholic Episcopal priest locked out of his church for stirring up scandal and reduced to working as a guide on a bus tour south of the border. A new scandal involving a nubile young woman in his group of mostly biddies has consumed him. As the play begins, Shannon brings his party to the broken down hotel of his friend Maxine and her late husband Fred on the Mexican seacoast. Also staying at the hotel are Hannah Jelks, an itinerant artist, and her elderly grandfather, a 'practicing' poet.  As Shannon wrestles with his demons he forms a bond with Hannah who is also in spiritual crisis.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The stage production was rocky from the beginning, but it was also acclaimed and successful, running for 316 performances. <i>The Night of the Iguana</i> received Tony nominations for Best Play, Best Producer and Best Actress - for which Margaret Leighton won the award - and was also chosen the best new play of the year by the New York Drama Critics' Circle. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnmLTWc0EjIM4H0paoQk4oeop8x8ULA2zWRotFKzTAE5-BDgncq51Oda1WIg-IWbdOWlI_uG922G65uiN3L2oX45NQYdYBitex_iZbLnemRqhnPvol2ts9VFsMlRCE8g5tVQffpiKcjvAv/s1600/Bette+as+Maxine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnmLTWc0EjIM4H0paoQk4oeop8x8ULA2zWRotFKzTAE5-BDgncq51Oda1WIg-IWbdOWlI_uG922G65uiN3L2oX45NQYdYBitex_iZbLnemRqhnPvol2ts9VFsMlRCE8g5tVQffpiKcjvAv/s320/Bette+as+Maxine.JPG" width="248" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bette Davis as Maxine Faulk on Broadway</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Legendary writer/director/producer Joshua Logan’s reaction to Bette Davis’ performance was enthusiastic: “She was svelte, handsome, voluptuous, wicked, wise, raffish, slightly vulgar – in fact, she was ideal for the part and gave the play added dimension.” But Davis was deeply unhappy in the production and began regularly missing performances. She left the show in April 1962 and Shelley Winters, who replaced her, quickly understood why Davis and her understudy, Madeleine Sherwood, had both been miserable in the part. It seems co-stars Patrick O’Neal and Margaret Leighton routinely undermined the actresses who played Maxine by using the age-old stage trick of moving slightly for a few seconds to divert the attention of the audience whenever they set up her lines. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIu2XHOjvpDtVyAtIKK0uWEHNafB82AFqrWd9g1thjsl8Ofjkl5QUawUd-EnzpDhflVVwevQcscE7ex0DGXWsc9_4cJOy7r49Wzz362rQPRPgIFX69SDq7yf9SfzfZTjcEVa61apSVcdEm/s1600/burton+and+gardner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIu2XHOjvpDtVyAtIKK0uWEHNafB82AFqrWd9g1thjsl8Ofjkl5QUawUd-EnzpDhflVVwevQcscE7ex0DGXWsc9_4cJOy7r49Wzz362rQPRPgIFX69SDq7yf9SfzfZTjcEVa61apSVcdEm/s320/burton+and+gardner.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Burton and Ava Gardner</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The journey of <i>The Night of the Iguana </i>from stage to screen began with a call from producer Ray Stark to writer/director John Huston during the play's Broadway run. Huston, no stranger to adapting great works (<i>The Maltese Falcon</i>, <i>The Treasure of the Sierra Madre</i>, <i>Moby Dick</i>, etc.), was interested and the two quickly began working out the details of their collaboration. They agreed on casting: Richard Burton as Shannon, Deborah Kerr as Hannah and Ava Gardner as Maxine. Burton and Kerr signed on immediately but Miss Gardner required some courting. Both Stark and Huston flew to Madrid, where Gardner was then living, and spent days wining and dining her until she agreed to take the part. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Huston and Stark disagreed on one major point, Stark wanted to film in color but Huston preferred black and white for fear that the vibrant colors to be found everywhere on location in Mismaloya, Mexico (azure skies and seas, multi-hued flora and fauna) would distract from the story. Years later, in his memoir, Huston wrote, “Looking back now, I think I was probably wrong.” He was. Color could only have underscored the power of Williams' evocative meditation on the tangle of spiritual and physical yearnings that drive human life.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span id="goog_1507063323"></span><span id="goog_1507063324"></span><span id="goog_1507063326"></span><span id="goog_1507063327"></span><span id="goog_1507063328"></span><span id="goog_1507063329"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ6l1wcotC-RFnac8HK5SjH6eF7OWilYOJCDfaxtVS9ZpJem-J45Meob9kUm5ESmAS9el7k8TUUhusCdrOxDOUxWsNmWgNlLrFdJ3AXGemIGtiONa8gAUZ6KtqIiF5_lL5UR9NLvrd8uV/s1600/huston+and+burton.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJ6l1wcotC-RFnac8HK5SjH6eF7OWilYOJCDfaxtVS9ZpJem-J45Meob9kUm5ESmAS9el7k8TUUhusCdrOxDOUxWsNmWgNlLrFdJ3AXGemIGtiONa8gAUZ6KtqIiF5_lL5UR9NLvrd8uV/s400/huston+and+burton.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Huston and Richard Burton</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">At the time location work began on <i>The Night of the Iguana</i>, Richard Burton had not yet sacrificed his talent for fame and riches. One of the great, classically trained actors to emerge from Britain in the post-war era, Burton’s finest performances were defined by depth and soul and enriched by his majestic voice, piercing blue-green eyes and potent physical presence. As Deborah Kerr observed in a diary she kept during the shoot, Burton was at his peak as an actor at this point and she agreed with Ava Gardner that </span><span style="font-size: small;">"he makes everyone else act well, he is so good himself."</span><span style="font-size: small;"> Burton’s agonized rendering of the Reverend Shannon's dark night of the soul seems, at times, a glimpse into his own conflicted nature. Though he was not Oscar-nominated for this role (it was for his performance in <i>Becket </i>that earned his Best Actor nod in 1964), Burton would be nominated a total of seven times for an Academy Award, winning none, though he was otherwise acknowledged with BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony awards. When the filming of <i>The Night of the Iguana</i> got under way in October 1963, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor were living together but not yet married; their life of paparazzi-infested, glittering excess had just begun. Even so, Huston later wrote, "There were more reporters on the site than iguanas..."</span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Q3sjrUOon4TAIHVNuWz8ohm6KrlYQFU22B2pE8_sBwuBl4AYlQS9XoUwRgJwmWMibOYuiqtMPkWtpYk48rdJ06nAEI2qH2R3TU58CAol7lcAypOTXxO4LkxXc68Sc3Qq_hbX6pdJ2eGu/s1600/huston+on+set.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Q3sjrUOon4TAIHVNuWz8ohm6KrlYQFU22B2pE8_sBwuBl4AYlQS9XoUwRgJwmWMibOYuiqtMPkWtpYk48rdJ06nAEI2qH2R3TU58CAol7lcAypOTXxO4LkxXc68Sc3Qq_hbX6pdJ2eGu/s400/huston+on+set.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Huston</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkA3-EcuYb5up0GL5fxefQfxeKwO2K-3gvvdCWYP0LnBK0-df8XGWwM4R708IMnyYI9Yudqqg2dEFKWNzpgPD0g3zL5MakZIzkMkIlBjUpYuIC2XpogRwuvYv6MuRCpiaeg4kU7FwIH6U/s1600/Ava+Gardner+gorgeous+youth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkA3-EcuYb5up0GL5fxefQfxeKwO2K-3gvvdCWYP0LnBK0-df8XGWwM4R708IMnyYI9Yudqqg2dEFKWNzpgPD0g3zL5MakZIzkMkIlBjUpYuIC2XpogRwuvYv6MuRCpiaeg4kU7FwIH6U/s200/Ava+Gardner+gorgeous+youth.jpg" width="184" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very young Ava Gardner</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Ava Gardner’s Maxine Faulk was a departure from the character as written by Williams and portrayed on the stage. Warmer and softer, Ava’s Maxine personified the “openness and freedom of the sea” Williams had envisioned, but lacked the man-eating qualities of the original. Huston, who felt Williams’ Maxine became far too devouring by the play's end, was responsible for these changes. Ava <span id="goog_1232263459"></span><span id="goog_1232263460"></span>Gardner later recalled that Tennessee was never entirely happy about Huston’s tinkering with the character but she also noted, “…anyone seeing the film knows that John’s choice was the only one that fit.” And Gardner committed herself fully to her role. In an earthy, raucous performance, she allowed herself to appear casual to the point of dishevelment. Clad in a loose serape and toreador pants through much of the film, she had lines penciled in under her eyes and her hair tied back into a loose ponytail to de-emphasize her glorious good looks. During filming, Kerr recorded a comment of Huston's that for Ava it may have been a real disadvantage to be so beautiful, "...it has made her appear publicly as someone she is not, and in her work has made her appear the kind of actress she is not." </span><span style="font-size: small;">For this performance Ava Gardner received the best reviews of her film career. Reflecting in her memoirs she wrote, “I have only one rule in acting – trust the director and give him heart and soul. And the director I trusted most of all was John Huston. Working with him gave me the only real joy I’ve ever had in movies.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1FAl4nQmnkZnc3CVIV2V2CaJr8pY1CBOkJn-ULhVU6uJVp21KWBch4yYyZmVqZeu9LE1OhlOdWgdM8qYteb_0xF0Wg0ab5qbfQBGEeY4k6_BB9T9qpJxm-kXEtWE72PHlS6z7JCRwmYLn/s1600/ava+and+deborah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1FAl4nQmnkZnc3CVIV2V2CaJr8pY1CBOkJn-ULhVU6uJVp21KWBch4yYyZmVqZeu9LE1OhlOdWgdM8qYteb_0xF0Wg0ab5qbfQBGEeY4k6_BB9T9qpJxm-kXEtWE72PHlS6z7JCRwmYLn/s400/ava+and+deborah.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span id="goog_1232263433"></span><span id="goog_1232263434"></span>Hannah Jelks is an intriguing entry in Deborah Kerr's filmography. Kerr portrayed sensitive ladies of delicacy and reserve to perfection, but Hannah was slightly different, a "Thin-Standing-up-Female-Buddha," in Tennessee Williams' words. Down-on-her-luck, adrift in Mexico and living by her wits and intuition, the spinster has only her remaining dignity, the care of her 97-year-old grandfather and her paintbox to keep her going.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">As the international press descended on the set, Kerr admitted that she was beginning to "feel more and more like Hannah in this movie." Reporters insisted on quizzing her for 'dirt' on Burton, Taylor and others, and, in her diary, she quoted Hannah's sentiments, "Nothing human disgusts me unless it is unkind or violent." Kerr added, "I do loathe and detest unkindness and violence and gossip and troublemaking and envy and malice."</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On the day filming of <i>The Night of the Iguana</i> ended in late 1963, Deborah Kerr put down her thoughts in her journal, "It's funny how you get so close to a bunch of people on a movie. It is constant making and breaking of emotional relationships - some of the people you work with and get to know so closely, you may never see again." An interesting reflection, coming on the heels, as it did, of completing a film about the redemptive power of human connection.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">It was on an evening in 1940 while in Mexico, that Tennessee Williams watched the sun set on a tree of golden lemons. He would later write a poem about it that provided inspiration for the story that became a play and then a film.  The poem was revised slightly and incorporated into <i>The Night of the Iguana</i>.  Here, Cyril <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Delevanti, who portrayed Nonno in the film, recites the verse popularly known as <span style="color: blue;">"</span><a href="http://youtu.be/8eW6v7zoUNk" style="color: blue;">Nonno's Poem</a><span style="color: blue;">"</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> (click title to view). </span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKApfhg3kQ98LKYcU8zOJiNGeHVRjT3eFquEGNCdrj21NYVvaaOmdtlH7IysTagp4X-pYauw8lfrCYQluJGQdxdV_p_AizNls7vRL-I_4O36GVxDkern2wPoKkWdW9h6eSWlcbDAJpKQ0/s1600/hannah+and+nonno+arrive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKApfhg3kQ98LKYcU8zOJiNGeHVRjT3eFquEGNCdrj21NYVvaaOmdtlH7IysTagp4X-pYauw8lfrCYQluJGQdxdV_p_AizNls7vRL-I_4O36GVxDkern2wPoKkWdW9h6eSWlcbDAJpKQ0/s400/hannah+and+nonno+arrive.jpg" width="322" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyril Delevanti and Deborah Kerr</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">John Huston spent many, many years of his life in Mexico, and was living not far from Mismaloya, in Las Caletas, while working on his autobiography in the late 1970s. Sixteen years had passed since the making of <i>The Night of the Iguana</i> and the location site was now deserted. All that remained were the ruins of the buildings constructed for his film. Huston wrote, "No one - other than an old man who passes there on an occasional trip between Las Caletas and Vallarta - seems to give a damn what happens to the place. He would like to see it torn down and given back to the iguanas. The old man is me of course."</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyarEYIRxOur8BW2E-nPTbAxPkyNQT1uiWq-DIvsnbVc3BHCKJ5rv5X3-bXfnxFv0Winr-_YWp9NtgO45zrUJ31wvtKqIJMVRa7eiYuh_XREEGYLZyK48uWlzHPN5LSXBHJTL833zNb_Q/s1600/huston+living+in+Mexico+1979.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoyarEYIRxOur8BW2E-nPTbAxPkyNQT1uiWq-DIvsnbVc3BHCKJ5rv5X3-bXfnxFv0Winr-_YWp9NtgO45zrUJ31wvtKqIJMVRa7eiYuh_XREEGYLZyK48uWlzHPN5LSXBHJTL833zNb_Q/s400/huston+living+in+Mexico+1979.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Huston in Las Caletas, 1979</td></tr></tbody></table><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">...I was at the</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> Hotel Costa Verde <span style="color: #f1c232;"><span style="color: #38761d;">over the rain-forest and the still-water beach</span> </span>which were the off-stage background for </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Night of the Iguana</span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">.</span></i><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~ Tennessee Williams, </span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Memoirs </span></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><u>Sources</u></b>:</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>An Open Book </i>by John Huston, McMillan (1980)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Ava: My Story</i> by Ava Gardner, Bantam (1990)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis</i> by Ed Sikov, Henry Holt (2007)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Deborah Kerr Personal Collection</i>: <a href="http://www.deborahkerr.es/" style="color: #cc0000;">http://www.deborahkerr.es</a></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>

Ava Gardner Cyril Delevanti Deborah Kerr John Huston Laurence Olivier Ray Stark Richard Burton TCM Tennessee Williams The Lady Eve (author) The Night of the Iguana Wim Wenders Wings of Desire Over the Rain-Forest and the Still Water Beach

Abandoned movie set, Mismaloya, Mexico: photo courtesy of TripAdvisor The programmers at Turner Classic Movies may not have planned the sche...

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Nuanced Terror: Jack Clayton's The Innocents

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicH-e8mFI_SW9POdM0_GT7X6mWo6WqaqbL4BpSwtZRhPTiJ2WiG_tWkjzgAqt1mr_eXT16CAT2joJ5xgtkNsqEUMhMa6zDPivQ8NRdvvXXY0azay_5MiLsM-9VWc1vSOey6-Bo05thaPXe/s1600/innocents+2+b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicH-e8mFI_SW9POdM0_GT7X6mWo6WqaqbL4BpSwtZRhPTiJ2WiG_tWkjzgAqt1mr_eXT16CAT2joJ5xgtkNsqEUMhMa6zDPivQ8NRdvvXXY0azay_5MiLsM-9VWc1vSOey6-Bo05thaPXe/s1600/innocents+2+b.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Light and shadow flicker across the screen. Sobs are heard as a pair of praying hands, clasping and unclasping, appear. The sobbing continues.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A woman’s suffering face appears above the tortured hands. Birds twitter…her distraught voice whispers…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">All I want to do is save the children not destroy them. More than anything I love children. More than anything they need affection, love, someone who will belong to them and to whom they will belong.</span></i><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">And then, as a man’s voice asks, “Do you have an imagination?,” the screen suddenly focuses on a well-appointed office, an elegant gentleman and the woman whose face we have already seen…who now sits in a chair and speaks animatedly with this man as he continues to ask questions and explain the situation he offers. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvU7f_2Yyk4vviHoRnzhqUyeJd2MVgPxn4Sh6gTtwN9W7An7lbbx_leT3BXlfzGqRdh4S43Az0LU7FxbMsZiRuqpY6QNX2qJifvwoR1HcMxTlycLV_hT6_ppID1Dew0yvK4sUrhT5dxNw/s1600/innocents+clayton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvU7f_2Yyk4vviHoRnzhqUyeJd2MVgPxn4Sh6gTtwN9W7An7lbbx_leT3BXlfzGqRdh4S43Az0LU7FxbMsZiRuqpY6QNX2qJifvwoR1HcMxTlycLV_hT6_ppID1Dew0yvK4sUrhT5dxNw/s1600/innocents+clayton.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Director Jack Clayton</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">These first moments of Jack Clayton’s masterful 1961 film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Innocents</i>, set the stage for a chilling and absorbing tale of bewitchment. Deborah Kerr stars as Miss Giddens, an anxious, fragile-seeming young woman who begins her first assignment as a governess for two orphaned children on a remote estate. Michael Redgrave briefly portrays the gentleman, Miss Giddens’ employer, whose questions and revelations prime and subtly spook her before she sets foot in the stately home where events will unfold.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The story intensifies when Miss Giddens arrives at Bly, a magnificent manor that far exceeds her expectations in its grandeur and beauty. She is “very excited, indeed” to be there and her two “angelic” and precocious charges easily charm her. An earthy housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins), serves to ground the excitable governess whose journey proceeds from enchantment to confusion, to torment and disintegration.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">American novelist Henry James wrote <u>The Turn of the Screw</u>, the basis for this film, in 1898 while living in England in a large rambling mansion. James has recorded that the story was suggested to him by an anecdote he heard from the Archbishop of Canterbury. This scrap of a tale concerned young children haunted by the malevolent ghosts of a pair of servants who tried, again and again, to lure them to their deaths.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzcB0zbEi-q79brohDO5nlIrXslCo08XgZNntlEbdag-S_019xhst6Mb2gPWjHCbNbk0x_noXWX3Te7wfhLEe0rZ67R5Ep5gWDFbtsIsfKRy0qdNXe_FjRlytbXVQzFFRuKz5PVGyW2pb/s1600/innocents+james.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzcB0zbEi-q79brohDO5nlIrXslCo08XgZNntlEbdag-S_019xhst6Mb2gPWjHCbNbk0x_noXWX3Te7wfhLEe0rZ67R5Ep5gWDFbtsIsfKRy0qdNXe_FjRlytbXVQzFFRuKz5PVGyW2pb/s320/innocents+james.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Novelist Henry James</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">The James novella depicts a young governess on her first assignment, the care of two children living in a grand mansion on a sprawling estate. The plot deepens when the young woman, daughter of a vicar, begins to suspect the presence of the evil spirits of two deceased servants.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">It was several years after James’ book was published before critics began to wrangle in earnest over the interpretation of the story. By the 1920s several had proposed that <u>The Turn of the Screw</u> was less a ghost story and more the tale of inexperienced and high-strung governess who succumbed to hallucinations and madness. A 1934 essay by prominent critic Edmund Wilson dramatically advanced this view.  Henry James himself was equivocal about his intentions, and statements he made on the subject have been cited to support both <i>apparitionist</i> and <i>non-apparitionist</i> views. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Fascination with <u>The Turn of the Screw</u> failed to wane over the years and it has been adapted from the page to other mediums including opera, the stage and TV as well as film. In February 1950, Peter Cookson’s production of William Archibald’s stage adaption of the James novella debuted on Broadway as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Innocents</i>; Oscar-winner Beatrice Straight (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Network</i>) starred as the governess.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Eleven years later the play was adapted to film by British director, Jack Clayton (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Room at the Top</i>). Though William Archibald was involved, it was Truman Capote who was </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">primarily responsible for the polished screenplay. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Capote endeavored to maintain the story’s ambiguity as he felt Henry James had originally conceived it by artfully dodging the central question: Are the ghosts real or are they the fantasies of a governess gone mad? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglBZH7FCz9oM7ojgn1FtMMtr0gAHA3aaNH6kfICmL_hWMDA4cMBuZWUK1G2ELcHWrLIEh8rHcTd335bHOIIZ4ZUWlVP-PdRz5WT5WJRSANT7-yuvoiYAbaJrUi3yqduO6RWEL_pvN0rcGI/s1600/innocents+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglBZH7FCz9oM7ojgn1FtMMtr0gAHA3aaNH6kfICmL_hWMDA4cMBuZWUK1G2ELcHWrLIEh8rHcTd335bHOIIZ4ZUWlVP-PdRz5WT5WJRSANT7-yuvoiYAbaJrUi3yqduO6RWEL_pvN0rcGI/s400/innocents+1.jpg" width="293" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Taking the modern view, it’s not difficult to interpret <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Innocents</i> as an intricately staged reflection on an unstable woman’s descent into madness: the film closely follows the increasingly erratic behavior and visible deterioration of the omnipresent governess; no one but the governess actually “sees” the ghosts she claims are present; by the film’s end, even the sensible and supportive housekeeper is at odds with the hysterical young woman…and there are many visual clues that the governess may be projecting her own imaginings onto her surroundings. It is no stretch these days to believe that a deranged governess would be capable of terrifying a frightened child to death.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">But, viewed from another perspective, the tale can also be read as the story of an inexperienced but well-meaning young woman confronted with the supernatural in the form of malicious spirits. Her fervid determination to save the children from possession could explain her unorthodox behavior. And that is what most people believed when <u>The Turn of the Screw</u> was first published. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Enigmatic and haunting, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Innocents</i> leaves the audience to its own conclusions. A luminous turn by Deborah Kerr (in her own favorite film performance), Freddie Francis’ atmospheric cinematography, the script of Archibald and Capote and Georges Auric’s original music all mesh under Jack Clayton’s sure hand to create the acknowledged masterpiece among the many adaptations of <u>The Turn of the Screw</u>. </span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FVEu8wV1QIA" width="560"></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><br /><span style="color: #990000; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Waitin' on a Sunny Day</b> is hosting a <b>Deborah Kerr Blogathon</b> in celebration of the 90th anniversary of the actress's birth...<a href="http://sophie-waitinonasunnyday.blogspot.com/2011/09/darling-deborah-blogathon-posts.html"><b>Click here</b></a> for more on participating blogs.</span><br /><br /><div style="color: black;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Innocents </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">airs today (1:45pm Eastern/10:45am Pacific) on <b>Turner Classic Movies</b> as part of its morning/afternoon spotlight on the films of Deborah Kerr. Here's the full schedule (all times Eastern/Pacific):</span></div><div style="color: black;"><br /></div><div style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">6:00am/3:00am <i>Count Your Blessings</i> (1959), co-starring Rossano Brazzi</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">8:00am/5:00am <i>If Winter Comes </i>(1947), co-starring Walter Pidgeon</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">10:00am/7:00am <i>Black Narcissus</i> (1947), a masterwork from Powell & Pressburger</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">11:45am/8:45am <i>The End of the Affair </i>(1955), co-starring Van Johnson</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1:45pm/10:45am <i>The Innocents </i>(1961), reviewed here...with Michael Redgrave</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3:30pm/12:30pm <i>The Journey </i>(1959), co-starring Yul Brynner</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5:45pm/2:45pm <i>The Sundowners</i> (1960), co-starring Robert Mitchum </span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div>

Deborah Kerr Freddie Francis Georges Auric Henry James Jack Clayton Meg Jenkins Michael Redgrave The Innocents The Lady Eve (author) The Turn of the Screw Nuanced Terror: Jack Clayton's The Innocents

Light and shadow flicker across the screen. Sobs are heard as a pair of praying hands, clasping and unclasping, appear. The sobbing continue...

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