Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301978699
Format: Color
ISBN: 6301978692
Label: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Running Time: 120
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Theatrical Release Date: 1962-03-21

Sweet Bird of Youth has the Tennessee Williams penchant for provocation and Southern depravity--although at this point, the bloom is somewhat off the hothouse flower. Paul Newman is a cad who dreams of glory; he's returned to his hometown towing a dissolute, over-the-hill Hollywood star (Geraldine Page re-creates her Broadway role), certain she'll be his meal ticket. He's ruined the only girl he really loved (day-dreamy Shirley Knight), who just happens to be the daughter of the town's boss (Ed Begley, in an Oscar^®-winning role). The play's more shocking elements have been euphemized, in the custom of the era's Williams movie adaptations. Director Richard Brooks handles it with intensity, and Rip Torn (who was married to Page) has some wicked moments, but the movie is bound to its theatrical roots and its inability to mention racism, syphilis, or castration. And that's Tennessee Williams without the hot sauce. --Robert Horton

Customer Rating:
Summary: The Fickle Bird Of Youth
Comment: The first couple of paragraphs here have been used as introduction to other plays written by Tennessee Williams and reviewed in this space. This review applies to both the stage play and the film versions with differences noted as part of the review

Perhaps, as is the case with this reviewer, if you have come to the works of the excellent American playwright Tennessee Williams through adaptations of his plays to commercially distributed film you too will have missed some of the more controversial and intriguing aspects of his plays that had placed him at that time along with Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller as America's finest serious playwrights. Although some of the films have their own charms I want to address the written plays in this entry first (along with, when appropriate, commentary about Williams' extensive and detailed directing instructions).

That said, there are certain limitations for a political commentator like this reviewer on the works of Williams. Although his plays, at least his best and most well-known ones, take place in the steamy South or its environs, there is virtually no acknowledgement of the race question that dominated Southern life during the period of the plays; and, for that matter was beginning to dominate national life. Thus, although it is possible to pay homage to his work on its artistic merits, I am very, very tentative about giving fulsome praise to that work on its political merits. With that proviso Williams nevertheless has created a very modern stage on which to address social questions at the personal level, like homosexuality, incest and the dysfunctional family that only began to get addressed widely well after his ground-breaking work hit the stage.

"Sweet Bird Of Youth" is a case in point. Not for the first time, a seemingly 1950's style All- American boy Chance who has left his hometown, his home town girl and his roots behind to drift in that endless spiral toward fame- Hollywood and the movies, naturally- comes back to claim what is his by right. On this little hometown reunion Chance is in the service of one aging and fretful actress who has her own issues with that elusive `bird of youth'. On return to town it appears that Chance has stirred up a hornet's nest with the local political establishment in the person of one red-neck preacher turned politician in order to better do "god's work", old Tom Findley. The object of this dispute is one Heavenly Findley, old Ton's daughter and Chance's left behind paramour who is now the subject of some scandal (due to the amorphously stated need for female-related medical treatment due to Chance's irresponsibility). Along the way we get to see how political power is distributed in a small Southern town as well as the inevitable tempting of the fates by Chance in order to win the `brass ring' before it is too late (apparently somewhere over thirty, by my reckoning). At play's end though, where he is between a rock and a hard place, Chance may not get the chance to be Chance at thirty. Oh, that fickle bird of youth. Still, Chance, go for it.

In the movie version the recently departed excellent actor Paul Newman, a classic example of a 1950's All-American boy type (among his other acting talents), as the movie star `wannabe' and Geraldine Page as the aging actress recreated their stage performances although with a greater screen presence for Ms. Page. Moreover, Chance's strivings to reconnect with Heavenly are more central to the plot. More importantly, the endings differ in that, despite some mauling by Tom Findley's boys Chance takes my advice from the play version and runs, with Heavenly, just as far and as fast as his now aging legs can carry him.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: TENNESSEE WROTE THIS WITH TALLULAH BANKHEAD IN MIND...
Comment: THIS MOVIE, DISAPPOINTED TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, BECAUSE OF THE CHANGES MADE BY THE CENSORS. THE FILM DOES CONVEY THE ACTUAL PERSONALITY OF THIS POSSIBLY GREATEST OF ALL AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTS. A REAL INSIGHT INTO THE INNER PSYCHE OF MR. WILLIAMS, OFTEN REFERRED TO AS A "POET OF THE EMOTIONS".

THE CHARACTER OF ALEXANDRA DE LAGO MIRRORED THE PERSONALITY OF MR. WILLIAMS, IN THAT HE HAD EXPERIENCED A BRILLIANT CAREER, AND WAS GETTING OLDER, AND SUFFERING MORE HEALTH PROBLEMS. THE CHANCE WAYNE CHARACTER PLAYED BY PAUL NEWMAN, ILLUSTRATES THE TYPE OF MAN MR. WILLIAMS WAS MOST EMOTIONALLY ATTRACTED TO IN LIFE. GERALDINE PAGE GIVES AN INTERESTING PERFORMANCE, BUT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A MUCH BETTER FILM, IF INDEED TALLULAH BANKHEAD COUD HAVE PLAYED THIS PART, ESPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR HER BY MR. WILLIAMS, AND ONE HE WANTED HER TO PLAY.

TALLULAH BANKHEAD TURNED THE PART DOWN BECAUSE SHE FELT IT WAS THE STORY OF ANOTHER DEGRADED SOUTHERN WOMAN. ED BEGLEY STEALS THE SHOW IN THIS FILM, AND DESERVEDLY WON AN OSCAR FOR HIS PERFORMANCE.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Good Tennessee Williams Film Adaptation
Comment: Tennessee Williams' plays often adapt well to the cinema; "Sweet Bird of Youth" is no exception. Starring Geraldine Page as Alexandra Del Lago and Paul Newman as Chance Wayne in the role they created on Broadway, the film is chock full of what we expect from Mr. Williams: fragile beautiful women, handsome flawed men and a story fraught with more Southern gothicism than a lesser writer could have handled. Alexandra is a fading actress in the company of Wayne, her gigolo/driver, as they return to the Southern town that Wayne has left where his old girlfriend Heavenly's-- do you believe that name?-- father is the mayor. Even though the censors sacked the veneral disease and castration in the original Williams play and added a Hollywood happy ending, there are still enough kinks remaining to go around.

While all the actors give decent performances-- Ed Begley won a supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal as the mayor-- Geraldine Page is simply magnificent as the over-the-hill substance abusing actress. Newman plays well the role he has done over and over, the handsome brooding stud who cannot keep his shirt on.

If we ever doubted that the sweet bird of youth flies away quickly, we need look no further than the interviews with some of the actors included with the DVD. Shirley Knight who plays the peaches-and-cream beauty Heavenly had aged so much that I didn't recognize her at first.

Williams' cast of characters are as memorable and American as Willie Loman and the characters in "Our Town." We will still be watching his works years from now as they have long been American classics.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: You haven't seen anything yet...
Comment: What performances, what a cast, what a movie! And what a play!

A truly sadistic interwoven story about "owners" and "owned" people, with a pinch of good old prejudice and bigotry in all the right places.

This is a long awaited DVD with as said, powerful performances throughout. The image is crisp, colors are vivid and the sound couldn't be more polished than this.

This is no action movie, but the story flows so smoothly that it will grip you nevertheless.

Highly recommended for all those who love a good transliteration of a master play into an explosive movie.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: What a treat!
Comment: Watching the young and electrifying Paul Newman and the mesmerizing Geraldine Page in this adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play is a real treat. It's a pity they had to change the ending of the original play (among other things) to be "safer" for Hollywood standards in the 60's. Still it's a great story and we keep wanting more and more and more of Newman and Page together.
The short documentary on the film is also nice, with Shirley Knight, Rip Torn and Madeleine Sherwood sharing memories from the film set.
The widescreen transfer is fine even if the image is not as clear as it should be.

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