Truly Dreadful Film

So much average

Nice effects though.

Captivating movie !

You can look for discover crumbs of biographies. or for critic Kim Stanley choice for the lead role , too mature for the young Emily Ann. or the full story , with too many ways and too high desire to convince the public. it is a touching and suffocated film. for the energic support of thesis about Hollywood star, insecure young woman looking for succes but preserving the pain of the beginnings in more complex and profound forms, pieces from Julien Sorel traits more than from Marilyn Monroe, few cliches who are not very inspired used. and not more. Kim Stanley does her the best annd, maybe, except the bitter flavor of film, that is the lead virtue of this movie about a victim of her deepest vulnerability.

Perhaps it was because I saw the movie on television rather than on DVD and it was interrupted by too many commercials, but it seemed to be a cheap shot at Marilyn Monroe rather than a sympathetic portrait of a person who grew up empty but was envied by all. Kim Stanley failed to capture Marilyn's charm, and she appeared haggard throughout the film - a far cry from the devastating beauty that was Monroe. Her athlete husband (obviously modeled after Joe DiMaggio) was depicted as vapid, not too bright and very needy as well. The character's incredible need to be loved was revealed poignantly in one scene with her aged mother, who had come to stay with her after she experienced a nervous breakdown, but otherwise Stanley's character seemed shallow and not very likable. All in all, a really superficial and fairly petty portrayal of Ms. Monroe.

We have come, over the years, to venerate the famous, no matter how good the work they turn out. Paddy Chayevsky wrote some great works, MARTY, of course, for one. THE GODDESS is not one of the them. In order to make a "well made play", Chayevsky leaves out a great deal of much needed character development. Things happen quickly; too quickly in fact, to either have a semblance of truth or make us feel anything for any of the characters. Instead of agonizing over the rise and fall of THE GODDESS, we spend the whole time trying to piece things together to see if the main character IS based on Marilyn Monroe after all. Look...instead of a baseball player, she marries a boxer! "Is that supposed to be Joe Mankiewicz talking about her in that scene? Is that Daryll Zanuck inviting her back to his home? Is the film she's talking about supposed to be GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES? ALL ABOUT EVE? What should be a heart wrenching drama, turns out to be instead, a far from subtle, far too short and badly over written Hollywood guessing game.The wonderful Virgil Thompson did the musical score, but here it is totally out of sync with the rest of the film. His jaunty melodies put us in mind of the WPA films he did with Pare Lorentz instead of the background to a human drama. (To see how good a score can be in illustrating the images on the screen, go to Leonard Bernstein's amazing work for ON THE WATERFRONT.) But the acting IS good. Thank goodness we see what a fine actress Kim Stanley was. Some of her moments, especially the quiet ones, are breathtaking. Sometimes, alas, she is allowed to go over the top. At her best in this film she gives one of the screen's greatest performances; at her worst, and there are moments, she is a caricature of every Tennessee William's female character with a little Eunice from MAMA'S FAMILY thrown in for good measure. Happily, the good moments far out number the bad, and one should see THE GODDESS to see why Stanley is so justly venerated. (Lloyd Bridges and Elizabeth Wilson are also good.) THE GODDESS should have been a masterpiece. Instead what we get is nothing more than a fairly good film. No matter how good its pedigree, THE GODDESS turns out to be no more than a mixed blessing.

Paddy Chayefsky's monologue-heavy lambasting of the Sex Symbol mythology, with Kim Stanley as a troubled young woman from Maryland who comes to Los Angeles in the 1940s to work as an actress and becomes a star. Queasy, peculiar melodrama seems to blame show-business for the girl's plight, but we can clearly see from the beginning she's an extremely insecure person, able to attract people but not capable of keeping them. Stanley does everything she can with this role, but she looks much more mature than the men she's paired up with, and Chayefsky does her a disservice by having everyone talk about what a talent she is but never letting us see for ourselves. It's a busy, chatty movie that tries on different themes and then drops them (just as it does most of the male characters). Patty Duke (pre-"The Miracle Worker") has a nice bit near the beginning (playing Stanley as a grade-schooler), the black-and-white cinematography is quite good and there are flashes of interest throughout. ** from ****