Doreen Lang designated ‘the Hysterical Mother in the diner’ on IMDb. From Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) A cautionary tale based on friend Daphne Du Maurier’s book about nature gone wild. With the screenplay penned by Evan Hunter.
Watch the hysterical woman in the diner accuse Tippi Hedren’s character Melanie Daniels of practically being the Whore of Babylon, having brought upon this flying wrath from the sky, as all the winged mayhem began the moment she stepped onto the dock of the pristine and pious sleeping fishing village of Bodega Bay.
Hysterically Yours-MonsterGirl
“I know it’s a hideous story but it’s a true story of our time and the world we live in”- Catherine Holly
Suddenly, Last Summer was a one-act play by Tennessee Williams. It opened off-Broadway on January 7, 1958. It was part of a double bill with another one-act play of Williams’ called Something Unspoken. Suddenly, Last Summer is considered one of Williams’ starkest and most poetic works, and I tend to agree.
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (All About Eve, 1950, A Letter to Three Wives, 1949), based on Tennessee Williams’ play, with additional work on the screenplay by Gore Vidal.
While writing this post, I discovered the same story surfacing about the working atmosphere on the set of the film, concerning the tensions between film stars Katharine Hepburn as well as Liz Taylor toward Mankiewicz’s abominable treatment of actor Monty Clift who had been struggling on the set with alcohol and drug use due to a car accident that disfigured his face. The actors had grown increasingly disgusted with the director’s blatant homophobic abuse of Clift.
Clift was not openly gay during his lifetime, as Hollywood’s climate in the 1940s and 1950s made it nearly impossible for stars to be publicly out without risking their careers. While Clift was an intensely private person and maintained close friendships (notably with Elizabeth Taylor), his same-sex relationships and sexuality were well known within certain Hollywood circles and among some friends and family. After his death, it became public knowledge—supported by statements from those close to him and thorough biographical research—that Clift was gay or bisexual. He took great care to keep this aspect of his identity private during his career, although he was less guarded about it in trusted company.
Apparently, this tension culminated in a moment of rebellion by Ms. Hepburn, who waited til the final scene was shot, and then proceeded to spit in Mankiewicz’s face. I have to say that while Hepburn is not on my list of actors that I idolize, nor whose film career I follow closely, I commend her intrepid defense, and would have expected more of a face slap with a long white linen glove. The revelation saddens me, though it doesn’t surprise me, if it is accurate, that Mankiewicz was a homophobe. I just finished watching his film, Letter to Three Wives, 1949, with 3 of my best-loved actresses, Ann Southern, Jeanne Crain, and Linda Darnell. Not to mention his contribution to All About Eve 1950. It’s often hard to separate the person from the work, and while I will always admire his work as a director, it does taint the waters to think that Mankiewicz could be a Neanderthal in his thinking.
Producer Sam Spiegel submitted Gore Vidal’s screenplay to the MPAA’s review board before production began, the board having expressed objections to the story’s subject matter. Spiegel wanted to let Joseph Mankiewicz shoot the film as it was intended. Although the board first refused to approve the film, they gave the go-ahead after a few minor changes were made. Thus, the word homosexual never materialized at any time in the film.
The movie supposedly differs from the stage version, using added scenes, and characters. Also adding a few subplots. Due to the strict Hollywood Production Codes that were enforced, they had to cut out any explicit references to homosexuality.
Elizabeth Taylor conjures the psychically injured Catherine Holly with a volatile poignancy, Katharine Hepburn icy and filled with misconstructions about the relationship with her son Sebastian, emerges from her gilded elevator like a throne, as Mrs.Violet Venable. Both stars were up for Academy Awards for Best Actress in A Leading Role that year, but both lost to Simone Signoret for her role in Room at The Top (1959).
-MonsterGirl
Olive Deering (Caged 1950, Shock Treatment 1964) plays Thelma Tompkins a kind hearted waitress who toils in a hotel restaurant. She’s attentive and thoughtful doting on old Mrs.Sara Mannerheim (Celia Lovsky) who eats in the restaurant every evening.
Mrs. Mannerheim tells Olive that she is her only friend and has decided to leave her in her will, also bestowing on Thelma a brooch. But like all dark fairy tales, as the months creep forward, Mrs. Mannerheim becomes increasingly demanding,and Thelma becomes unhinged. You see…
Thelma’s musician boyfriend Arthur gets the idea to precipitate the old woman’s demise, instead of waiting for death to take her by inches, so, Thelma poisons old lady Mannerheim’s tea. Unfortunately for Thelma, the old woman has a constitution of stone and it doesn’t work.
Driven by an obsession to keep her boyfriend happy, and sick and tired of care taking, Thelma cracks and let’s loose her fury on the old lady.
Have some tea-MonsterGirl
Directer Henry Hathaway’s (The Dark Corner 1946) taut film noir, about a desperately unhappy man who threatens to commit suicide by standing on the ledge of a high-rise building for 14 hours.
With an all star cast- Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Barbara Bel Geddes, Debra Paget, Agnes Moorehead, Jeffrey Hunter, Howard Da Silva, Grace Kelly, Martin Gabel and Jeff Corey.
Don’t jump off now…MonsterGirl, helping you down off the ledge
Pay back is a psychotic escapee from the local asylum when Joan Collin’s whacks her husband with a fire iron to get his large life insurance policy. In the 1st segment called And All Through The House
Just one of the five stories told by the crypt keeper Ralph Richardson, to the five guests who learn of the ways in which they have met their deaths. Based on E.C. Comics, it’s Classic horror at it’s very best!!!!!
And remember…Don’t open the window, door or chimney flue to anyone in a red flannel suit and phoney white beard unless it’s your jolly uncle Stanislaw-MonsterGirl
Produced by Jack L Warner and Mark Hellinger and directed by Edward A.Blatt, with a screenplay by Daniel Fuchs and based on Sutton Vanes play “Outward Bound” this story is a journey with an extraordinary ensemble cast, featuring John Garfield, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Eleanor. Parker, Edmund Gwenn, George Tobias, George Coulouris, Faye Emerson, and Isobel Elsom.
With an beautifully evocative score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Kings Row 1942,The Sea Wolf 1941)
The film begins with an air raid during WWII, in which several people are unable to seek shelter. As the film transcends it’s earthly boundaries, it emerges as a mystical and melancholy tale of lost souls thrown together on a mysterious ship, trying to grasp the meanings of their lives, as they reflect and react to each other.
Aboard this strange ship which acts as a traveling Pergatory the players must wait and see if their final destination will either be heaven or hell, as their paths become clear to them, and they awaken to their final destinies.
Here in this world, saying be happy-MonsterGirl
