The Worst Film Ever

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Auntie MameEccentric family members are usually less so once they've taken their meds.However, no pill could quell the verve of the outlandish aunt in this comedy.Sent to live with his free-spirited Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell) in Manhattan when his father dies, Patrick (Jan Handzlik, Roger Smith) is exposed to her lavish parties and eclectic friends.But the trustee to Patrick's inheritance (Fred Clark) insists he go to boarding school, only visiting on holidays.One Christmas Mame meets a millionaire at Macy's and is whisked off around the world, when she returns she's troubled to find a fully-grown Patrick is engaged to a vapid debutante.The 1958 film adaptation of the book that also inspired the musical Mame, this somewhat seasonal gem forgoes the Broadway ditties in lieu of a life-affirming performance from the voguish Russell. Incidentally, boarding school will turn you gay faster than any flamboyant aunt ever could.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

This story of a boy from the Midwest being raised by his rich and whimsical "Auntie Mame" in New York at times is funny as hell and Rosalind Russell is the ideal person for Mame. It begins when she takes custody of her nephew, Patrick Dennis, in 1928 and continues through Dennis's adulthood and marriage.There's one scene that is emblematic of Russell's perfection. It's the middle of the Great Depression. Everyone is broke, Mame included. Her Picassos have been pawned. Her house boy and maid are working for no salary. And Mame bumps into a terribly wealthy Southerner, Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside. No, nobody knows how that "Burnside" got in the pantheon. This is Forrest Tucker with a Georgia accent. He loves Russell and appears finally to have built up the nerve to ask her. She's seated, waiting nervously for him to get on with it, and he's on his knee, holding her hand in his, stumbling over the words, while she smiles, fiddles, twitches, her frenzied eyes darting back and forth. It's the most hilarious marriage proposal since the stuttering Eddie Bracken proposed to the eagerly receptive and very pregnant Betty Hutton in "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek." It isn't Tucker who's funny. He hits his marks and says his lines, but it's Russell's performance that gives the scene its amazing comedic lift.Most of the movie -- the best parts -- are frantic in a similar way. Something of extreme importance is immanent. Big shot visitors are about to appear, or Mame is late in making her stage entrance, and the preparations must be rushed. The movie is cleaner than the play was. I suppose what was left of the code prevented little Dennis from describing how, in school, he swam among the naked girl students spreading the sperm. The movie just has him swimming among them. The pace slows from time to time and it's here that one of the weaknesses in the script appear.The story gets sentimental. Ugh. The giggling Japanese butler and the earthy Irish maid put their life savings together to buy Mame a cheap bracelet for Christmas. Tears are in everyone's eyes as the musical score turns sappy. Some viewers may have had tears too but because of the slight pain induced by the bathos.Another weakness is that sometimes the frenetic activity is more silly than funny. It's exhausting to see so much rushing about. And Ito the house boy isn't well written. I mean, seeing someone giggle isn't in itself amusing. Another is in the continuity of character. For the entirety of her life, Russell has been an innovator. If a new fad appears, she dives head first into it. In 1928 she and her Bohemian friends are deeply into psychoanalysis and Montessori schools. The decor of her apartment changes with the wind. But when she runs into the family of Dennis's fiancée, she becomes rather too traditional. She's repulsed by her host's daiquiri because it's made with honey, for instance. The earlier Mame would have tossed it off with a wise crack.There's something askew with that whole high-born family that lives in Mountebank, Connecticut. I get the joke. A mountebank is a boastful and shallow pretender. But the Upson family of Mountebank wouldn't have objected to Mame's deliberate planting of "avant garde" mobiles in her living room. They'd be too dumb to know it was avant garde. The Upsons don't act like the stuffy old money they're presumed to represent. They're nouveau riche and retain some of the crudity of their original class. They wouldn't lead lives of such flagrant ostentation if they were established. Willard Waterman wears a loud sports jacket. If his money were a generation or more old, he would be in subdued clothes, not particularly fashionable, but expensive and made to wear like iron.And the "top drawer" girl's school that Joanna Barnes attends would have been far more demanding than is indicated, although I must say I knew a young lady who went to such a school, when it was still called Rosemary Hall, and was taught "creative walking." As the air headed fiancée, Joanna Barnes has the role down pat. It's hard to imagine how her performance could be improved. And Barnes should know. Her New England family lived in the same house since the 17th century and she herself is a Smithie. She knew whereof she parodied.These aren't major flaws. The scenes in themselves still carry laughs but each break in character, each blemish in the capture of social class, while necessary to produce the laughs, is something of a jolt.The film ought to have a devoted gay following. I'd be surprised if it didn't. The heroine is a tough, willful, and extremely feminine babe who defies age and convention and delivers insults like rapier thrusts. ("I'll hold my breath until tomorrow morning," says a rival. "Yes, do that," replies Mame.) She's like Margo Channing on steroids.

"Ten-year old orphan Patrick Dennis has come to live with his nearest relative, and in the high times ahead, he's not going to believe his luck. Nor will you, because Patrick's relation is played by one of Hollywood's greatest dames. Reprising her Broadway triumph, Rosalind Russell won her fourth 'Oscar' nomination and third 'Golden Globe' award as the marvelous madcap who lives life to the hilt. 'Auntie Mame' brings to bubbly life the mayhem Mame and her cronies create while guiding Patrick's fortunes. 'Life is a banquet,' Mame says, 'and most poor suckers are starving to death!' With wit, style and a seasoned cast to dish humor and heart with gusto, 'Auntie Mame' is a full course meal of entertainment magic," according to the DVD sleeve description...It's difficult to believe the play was this long... but, an intermission and the change to see Ms. Russell perform the role live world have more than made up for the duration. Energetically recreating her stage hit, Russell is the best thing about this film. This ended up being her most critically acclaimed role, with the award notices above bolstered by "Film Daily" (where Russell placed second) and the "New York Film Critics" (she was ninth). The former organization's "Supporting Actress" winner Peggy Cass (as Agnes Gooch) enlivens the film's second half considerably. In what may be perhaps her best role, Ms. Cass is hilarious. She lived, with her noisy dog, next to a friend of mine on the east side of Manhattan, and did not like us blasting loud rock music... ******** Auntie Mame (12/27/58) Morton DaCosta ~ Rosalind Russell, Coral Browne, Peggy Cass, Forrest Tucker

Mame Dennis (Rosalind Russell) is a wealthy older woman who has earned her fortune by marrying well-off men, each of whom have met deadly fates. She cares for her nephew, but a problem arises when he sets his sights on marrying a wealthy, very conservative woman. Mame is a bit loose in her morals and does not approve.This film was based on a play, and interestingly enough the creative forces behind the movie decided to keep it very much in that style. The scenery is relatively minimal, with characters walking in and out of a large apartment's main room. Also, after each scene, the lights noticeably dim, giving the character of that scene a few extra seconds in their own light. I liked this approach.The film's lesson is pretty simple: stay true to your roots and be true to yourself. Whether or not the main character learns that... well, you have to watch to find out.