Sun 26 Feb 2012
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE ACTRESS (1953).
Posted by Steve under Films: Drama/Romance , Reviews[9] Comments
THE ACTRESS. MGM, 1953. Jean Simmons, Spencer Tracy, Teresa Wright, Anthony Perkins, Mary Wickes, Ian Wolfe. Screenplay by Ruth Gordon, based on her play Years Ago; cinematographer: Harold Rossen. Director: George Cukor. Shown at Cinecon 39, Hollywood CA, Aug-Sept 2003.
I had never seen this movie, based on a play by Gordon, which was in turn based on her own experiences. Jean Simmons was, predictably, a beautiful and luminous incarnation of Ruth Gordon (or of her idealized self; I don’t recall seeing pictures of the young Gordon, but it’s hard to imagine Simmons, who’s still gorgeous, aging into the on-screen persona I am familiar with).
There was only eleven years difference in age between Simmons (b. 1929) and Teresa Wright (b. 1918), but Simmons caught all the fragile turbulence of late adolescence, and Wright had the dramatic weight to carry her role as Ruth Gordon’s mother.
Spencer Tracy was superb as the father whose ambitions for his daughter were so clearly at odds with her ambitions, and Anthony Perkins, in a role as Simmons’ suitor that he seemed to inhabit effortlessly, made his film debut. A distinguished set of performances, with direction and cinematography to match.
Simmons captivated the audience in her interview, displaying an intelligence and beauty that characterized her on-screen persona. One of the memorable Cinecon appearances of recent years.
Editorial Note: As has been pointed out in the comments, Walter’s review was written in 2003, and Jean Simmons, alas, is no longer with us. She died in 2010.
February 27th, 2012 at 7:15 am
Charming review of a uniquely charming little film. And as I recall, Ruth Gordon was something of a beauty in her day….
February 27th, 2012 at 7:22 am
Yeah, Check out TIME magazine, 12/21/42!
February 27th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Here we go. Katharine Cornell, Judith Anderson and Ruth Gordon:
February 27th, 2012 at 9:33 am
I’m a big fan of Jean Simmons and her movies, so how it was I didn’t know about this one until I read Walter’s review, I don’t know.
For anyone else who might be interested, THE ACTRESS is available on DVD from Warner Archives. It’s on my want list there now. (Waiting for the next discount day.)
February 27th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
I note that this review refers to Jean Simmons in the present tense.
Since the header does not identify this as a reprint of an earlier posting, that would seem to mean that Walter Albert (and the other commenters, perhaps) aren’t aware that Jean Simmons passed away in 2010, aged 80.
If I’ve got that wrong (your not knowing about Ms. Simmons’s death, I mean – I double-checked IMDb on that), my apologies.
February 27th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Looks like Walter reviewed this’n in aught-three!
February 27th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
Mike
My apologies for missing that reference Walter made about Jean Simmons in the present tense. He wrote the review in ’03 for his DAPA-Em fanzine, and as you say, she passed away in 2010.
I try to catch outdated statements in old reviews like this, but this one slipped by me. It’s my error, not Walter’s!
February 27th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
No harm.
No foul.
No apology needed.
Jean Simmons was one of the greats.
I don’t want her to be dead either.
February 27th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Thanks, Mike. I still wish I’d caught my error before you did. For anyone else who might come along and wonder about it, I’ve added a short comment to clarify things at the end of the post.
For everyone at Cinecon were able to see her in person in 2003 must have been a special treat. It would have been for me!