Cinematography was by Oscar winner Boris Kaufman who shot Vigo's L'Atalante (1934). He helped to introduce neo-realistic style to American films, notably (On the Waterfront (1954), Baby Doll (1956), 12 Angry Men (1957), Splendor in the Grass (1961), and The Pawnbroker (1964)). Music was by Kenyon Hopkins who later provided the soundtrack for Mister Buddwing (1966).
The film stars Marlon Brando as Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier, Joanne Woodward as Carol Cutrere
Anna Magnani as Lady Torrance, Maureen Stapleton as Vee Talbot, Victor Jory as Jabe Torrance.
R. G. Armstrong as Sheriff Jordan Talbot, John Baragrey as David Cutrere, Virgilia Chew as Nurse Porter, Ben Yaffee as "Dog" Hamma, Joe Brown Jr. as "Pee Wee" Binnings, Madame Spivy as Ruby Lightfoot, Sally Gracie as Dolly Hamma, Lucille Benson as Beulah Binnings, and Emory Richardson as Uncle Pleasant, the Conjure Man.
The Tennessee Williams play had two titles. Originally in 1940 called Battle Of Angels, it nose dived on Broadway. Perhaps the, end of The Great Depression/on the brink of WWII audience wasn't quite ready for such a dark film. Then it reappeared in 1957 as Orpheus Descending.
Williams wrote: "On the surface it was and still is the tale of a wild-spirited boy who wanders into a conventional community of the South and creates the commotion of a fox in a chicken coop. But beneath that now familiar surface it is a play about unanswered questions that haunt the hearts of people and the difference between continuing to ask them...and the acceptance of prescribed answers that are not answers at all." (Wikipedia)
The Story
 |
| Marlon Brando as Valentine "Snakeskin" Xavier |
 |
| Maureen Stapleton as Vee Talbot |
 |
| Joanne Woodward as Carol Cutrere |
 |
| Anna Magnani as Lady Torrance |
 |
| Victor Jory as Jabe Torrance |
 |
| R. G. Armstrong as Sheriff Jordan Talbot |
 |
| John Baragrey as David Cutrere |
Williams wrote: "On the surface it was and still is the tale of a wild-spirited boy who wanders into a conventional community of the South and creates the commotion of a fox in a chicken coop. But beneath that now familiar surface it is a play about unanswered questions that haunt the hearts of people and the difference between continuing to ask them...and the acceptance of prescribed answers that are not answers at all." (Wikipedia)
The Story
Snakeskin aka Valentine Xavier is a guitar picking, home fatale, bad boy. He's a chick magnet. It's hinted at that he probably played the various dens of iniquity/whorehouses that flourished unofficially underground in New Orleans once the legal prostitution district of Storyville was closed down in 1917. He's also got apparently "something in his pants "wink-wink." Whether or not it was part of his performance is never mentioned. The film opens with a prequel vignette of Snakeskin being told to get his ass out of town.
Hitching his way out, Snakeskin is dropped off in a downpour and ends up in some drenched Southern shit-hole flyspeck. A high water rack pile of white trash flotsam.
There he meets Vee Talbot the wife of the local law-dog a gentle soul of a woman, who gives him shelter from the storm. She puts him up in a lockup that was just vacated by an escaped prisoner. While they converse you hear in the background the sound of hounds braying in the distance, then the final cornering of their prey and gunshots.
Chick magnet effect working, Vee is immediately attracted. Vee tells him that the general store down the street needs help. It's owned by Jabe and Lady Torrance. Jabe a bitter intolerant man, a kind of sweaty tyrant. He is slowly dying, spending most of his time ruling his eyrie like roost in the apartment above the store.
Lady was the daughter of an Italian immigrant, a mandolin player and a lover of life, who started a rustic wine garden out in the sticks at the edge of town. He makes the mistake of selling wine to black folks which gets his wine garden burned out by the clan and himself roasted alive. Lady is a woman who was deflowered, impregnated, and discarded by the alcoholic, local rich plantation playboy, David Cutrere. Lady in permanent mourning always wears black.
Local daughter, "persona non grata," and sister of David is "round heels" nymphomaniac Carol Cutrere blows into town.
Carol is also an alkie, it runs in the family. She "knows" Snakeskin from his infamous life in New Orleans and it's strongly hinted at that it's in the "biblical" sense. Here again, though the Motion Picture Production Code is beginning it's death spiral in 1960 all the innuendos are still heavily coded.
Watch Carol's very suggestive hands during her conversation with Snakeskin. Carol is instructed to get out of the county.
Carol's Hands
Snakeskin removes his trademark jacket dons a square john blue suit and tie and transforms to Val. Val begins to work at the general store where he still attracts high school girls who come in the the excuse to try on shoes. They like to flirt. Val works his magic on the bitter Lady.
Lady begins to sweeten as her soul is stirred, like sugar in black coffee. She enjoys life again as Val "primes her pump." She and Val of course have a steamy affair, but this being 1960 all their assignations fade to black.
Lady adds a confectionery onto the lot beside the general store. It visually represents a new beginning, all Christmas lights, baubles, wind chimes and tinsel. Its also symbolic of the new life stirring inside her as she is pregnant with Snakeskin's child. Of course Lady's happiness stokes Jabe's sadistic resentment and it all goes Noirsville.
Noirsville
Most of the performances are brilliant or near so. Brando, Magnani, Stapelton, Jory, and Armstrong are spot on. With Jory being the most impressive. Woodward is stuck in what seems to be the Hollywood method acting standard crumbling "Southern Bell" mode, though she is a bonafide one from Georgia, it's a minor flaw. Actually filmed in Milton, NY and the Gold Medal Studios, Bronx, New York City. Screen caps from Criterion screener. 7/10
Hitching his way out, Snakeskin is dropped off in a downpour and ends up in some drenched Southern shit-hole flyspeck. A high water rack pile of white trash flotsam.
There he meets Vee Talbot the wife of the local law-dog a gentle soul of a woman, who gives him shelter from the storm. She puts him up in a lockup that was just vacated by an escaped prisoner. While they converse you hear in the background the sound of hounds braying in the distance, then the final cornering of their prey and gunshots.
Chick magnet effect working, Vee is immediately attracted. Vee tells him that the general store down the street needs help. It's owned by Jabe and Lady Torrance. Jabe a bitter intolerant man, a kind of sweaty tyrant. He is slowly dying, spending most of his time ruling his eyrie like roost in the apartment above the store.
Lady was the daughter of an Italian immigrant, a mandolin player and a lover of life, who started a rustic wine garden out in the sticks at the edge of town. He makes the mistake of selling wine to black folks which gets his wine garden burned out by the clan and himself roasted alive. Lady is a woman who was deflowered, impregnated, and discarded by the alcoholic, local rich plantation playboy, David Cutrere. Lady in permanent mourning always wears black.
Local daughter, "persona non grata," and sister of David is "round heels" nymphomaniac Carol Cutrere blows into town.
Carol is also an alkie, it runs in the family. She "knows" Snakeskin from his infamous life in New Orleans and it's strongly hinted at that it's in the "biblical" sense. Here again, though the Motion Picture Production Code is beginning it's death spiral in 1960 all the innuendos are still heavily coded.
Watch Carol's very suggestive hands during her conversation with Snakeskin. Carol is instructed to get out of the county.
Carol's Hands
Lady begins to sweeten as her soul is stirred, like sugar in black coffee. She enjoys life again as Val "primes her pump." She and Val of course have a steamy affair, but this being 1960 all their assignations fade to black.
 |
| The Confectionery |
Noirsville
Most of the performances are brilliant or near so. Brando, Magnani, Stapelton, Jory, and Armstrong are spot on. With Jory being the most impressive. Woodward is stuck in what seems to be the Hollywood method acting standard crumbling "Southern Bell" mode, though she is a bonafide one from Georgia, it's a minor flaw. Actually filmed in Milton, NY and the Gold Medal Studios, Bronx, New York City. Screen caps from Criterion screener. 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment