Two Women (1960)

 A strong willed woman (Sophia Loren) and her delicate daughter flee Rome during World War II to escape the constant bombing. They face difficulties.

There is a much talked about incident, leading many to believe it’s the inciting incident around which the story revolves. In reality, it occurs in the third act and is just one of many trials the two women endure. Many readers know what I am referring to but for spoiler reasons I will comment no more about it.

Twenty-five year old Sophia was deemed too young to play Cesira, feisty mother of a twelve year old, but she pulled it off, earning her a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar. Eleonora Brown played young Rosetta. It’s easy to assume she was much older than her character, but she was twelve during filming. Jean-Paul Belmondo looked familiar and I was surprised to learn that he was the lead in Breathless, released earlier that year. Very different roles.

The story is really about the Italian people and what they faced during the war, caught between a cruel fascist government and allied bombs. Life is chaotic, desperate, and bleak. Not an aspect of the war we are used to seeing here. But an important story. Somewhat hard to watch in parts, but an excellent piece of storytelling. AMRU 4.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)

Or, “A Woman Scorned, 1950’s edition”

Harry Archer likes to hang around bars with floozies (Yvette Vickers) and this causes his wife Nancy to fly off in a rage. You see, despite his lecherous ways, she still loves him. Problem is, he doesn’t and because she's loaded, he can’t divorce her or he won’t get a cent. A solution presents itself when she returns hysterical with talk about seeing a thirty foot man in a “satellite”. Sanitarium-bound she is. Problem is, there actually IS a thirty foot man in a “satellite”. At some point she grows very tall, maybe fifty feet, who’s to say.

Side note: this was during the Sputnik hysteria, which the media described as a satellite. Not knowing what that meant, the screenwriter assumed it referred to all spherical spacecraft. Sci-Fi as a second language. Additionally, while the height of the man in the “satellite” is mentioned, poor Nancy’s is not. When standing next to a building, thirty appears to be a better estimate.  I don’t know this but I think the film was titled after it was in the can. I suppose Attack of the 30 Foot Woman wasn’t quite as dramatic.

But talk about following through with your promises. There is a woman, of some unnatural yet undetermined height, who (spoiler alert) does attack. Valley of the Zombies, this is not. Most of the film is personal drama. Harry and Floozie plot ways to prove poor Nancy crazy and such, and the actors (with the exception of the comic-relief deputy) take the material very seriously. This raises the level of the product somewhat and makes it a much more enjoyable watch. But make no mistake. This is not a good film.

Not having the money to do adequate special effects is one thing. Not having the money to hire someone who knows how to do special effects at all is quite another. The “satellite” and giants are translucent, proportions of both are wildly wrong, and Nancy’s oversized hand just may be the single worst prop in film history. Also, when Nancy goes large, she looks completely different. This is the film’s legacy.

Not that I think the filmmakers gave any thought to message, I do wonder what the ending meant. Nancy, now a giant, blond, and wearing a bikini she picked up somewhere, saunters into town looking for Harry. (Ok, that's another problem. Vengeful giants don't 'saunter'!) One hot take I heard painted her as the villain, but I don’t buy this. Harry was never depicted as sympathetic and his fate was retribution for his sins. My question is, however, is Nancy looking for Harry for revenge or because she wants him back? A case can be made for either conclusion. Surprisingly deep for a straight to drive-in flick.

In the end, Attack of the 50 foot Woman is amusing, well paced, interesting, and appropriately brief. I have no intention on exploring all of the many goofs this film presents. Look to YouTube for that. I say give it a watch. It's fun. AMRU 3.5.

Grey Gardens (1975)

Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter (also Edith Bouvier Beale) were the socialite aunt and cousin of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Still living in Grey Gardens, their dilapidated East Hampton mansion, they talk about their life, past and present.

Not a pretty picture. Big Edie is obese and bedridden, with trash and filth strewn about. She emotionally manipulates her daughter to keep her around. Little Edie isn’t all there. At 56 she thinks of herself as a child. She wears pinned bathrobes and imagines it the latest fashion, talks about someday getting married, and puts on song and dance numbers. It’s hard to watch.

So we have two codependent people, talking over each other, living in squalor, remembering life of high society while flies and raccoons slowly take over the house. They are not well. It's hard not to feel sorry for them but at the same token, they had everything and became a product of their choices. Raccoons have gotten into the attic and Little Edie goes up there and dumps an entire loaf of white bread and a whole box of cat food right on the floor. These are not wise decisions.

Little Edie attended the film’s premiere (wearing her dress backwards) and was reportedly quite proud of it. But I wonder how it was received by their society kin. Certainly they knew the situation. I have not found an interview that discusses that.

Grey Gardens is not easy to watch. There is no real narrative here. Just, “look at these people”. There is a cringe factor at work, but it feels nothing but authentic. And that authenticity makes all the cringier. Still, this is what happens to some people, be they from rich and fancy families or not. I saw a sizable piece of it a few years ago and knew I wanted to cover it, but I had a hard time convincing myself to actually watch it. It is a landmark of documentary filmmaking and truly remarkable, but I know I will never be watching it again. AMRU 3.

The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)

 A young woman (Betty Hutton) wants to give departing servicemen a proper send-off, but her old fashioned dad (William Demarest) won’t have it. So, she uses the town dork (Eddie Bracken) as an alibi to get out of the house. She ditches him and doesn’t return until morning with no memory, and apparently married. And worse. She needs to further manipulate her dork friend to fix things.

A fan of Preston Sturges, I’ve long wanted to see this film and was happy when TCM finally ran it. When I started watching, I realized that I had seen at least part of it. By the time it was over, I realized that I had seen all of it. Recently. Now, this has happened before, but only to films I wasn’t particularly interested in and proved to be forgettable. This is a film that was on my radar for a long time and I truly enjoyed. I have no explanation. Does anyone else smell toast?

Norvel and Trudy, the two main characters, are charmingly ditzy. Betty was a rising star at the time and Eddie was an established comic actor, and they had good chemistry together. Unusual for comedies, there are long tracking shots of the two and the performances were spot on. Betty would go on to star in the second-worst best picture winner ever. William Demarest played the William Demarest character.

While the antics and performances are quite enjoyable, it’s a rather depressing story when you think about it. I can’t explain lest I spoil, so I will leave it there. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek is a charming, well written, funny film with some excellent performances. It was a huge success and I'm quite shocked it got past the censors. AMRU 4.