Angry, hissing, ferocious matches make up the majority of the cinematic adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning-play with Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor and Burl Ives all turning out some high-powered, over-the-top performances.
Directed by Richard Brooks (who will also go on to the inferior adaptation of Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth) and adapted by himself and James Poe, the film is slightly hampered by the usual Williams’ adaptation whitewashing but the story, dialogue and acting rise above this minor gaffe to make this a minor camp classic.
The story follows the exploits of a wealthy Southern house run by the obnoxious, bellowing Harvey “Big Daddy” Pollitt (Burl Ives). Big Daddy has two sons Brick (Paul Newman) and Gooper (Jack Carson) who return to the estate after Big Daddy gets diagnosed with an inoperable tumor. Gooper, the eldest, is the responsible one with a family full of kids and a respectable job as a lawyer. Brick is the favored son (due to his indifference no doubt) who had success early in life with sports but who now wallows through his days as an alcoholic, spurning the advances of his beautiful wife Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor). Maggie is completely in love with her husband and showers him with affection and love but something is missing….he seems sexually ambivalent.
Since Big Daddy’s death is inevitable, the Gooper’s try their best to charm their way into the will yet Brick remains sullen and despondent. That Brick and Maggie have been married for three years and have produced no children seems to raise a few eyebrows, mostly at Maggie, yet Brick goes so far as to sleep on the couch to avoid intimacy. Why does Brick avoid her pleas? He seems to be under the impression that she’s harboring secrets or maybe he does it out of spite due to his family’s constant badgering. It could also be due to the possible guilt he feels about his best friend Skipper’s suicide several years before in which he might be taking it out on everybody else.
This film is full of mendacity and liars. Every character has something to hide, someone to hate or despise and none of them seem to be able to stand each other. A Southern gothic family separated by patriarchal dominance and hypocrisy. They may not sound like much fun, but the cast wrings every bit of Southern sweat they can out of the material. Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor were both moving up to the big leagues with these roles and Elizabeth Taylor, especially wanting to prove herself at age 26, proceeded with the film even after her husband Michael Todd died in a plane crash shortly after filming began. Like Vivien Leigh using her real-life divorce from Laurence Olivier to inspire her in “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone,” Elizabeth Taylor may have also culled from her real-life tragedy to add a desperation and sadness to the role that may not have been there otherwise. It was a pretty big turning point in her career as she went from more childish roles like “National Velvet” on to do “Butterfield 8,” “Cleopatra” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and other adult fare.
Paul Newman, who only had a handful of starring roles up to this point, also impressed with a character defined by ambiguity. Of course, his interpretation of alcoholism and being drunk is somewhat dated and calls attention to itself in today’s more savvy times. It’s a menial drawback to an otherwise outstanding performance. Burl Ives, known mostly as a chubby, genial singer at the time plays against type here as the commanding presence of Big Daddy. Several scenes between Brick and Big Daddy are quite notable as acting showcases and it’s to Burl Ives credit that Big Daddy does not come as completely inaffable.
Tennessee Williams’ was said to despise the film and requested to have his name taken off it due to the heavy subtext removed from the play. The play hinted much more strongly that Brick’s relationship with Scooter was much more than just a friendship which goes a long way in justifying Brick’s sullen behavior. I doubt audiences in 1958 were ready for a gay Paul Newman, but the characters do make much more sense when put in this context. Make no mistake, though, this is still very much a Williams’ film, with most of his acidic, one-of-a-kind dialogue making it to the film intact.
The films is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. Special Features include a feature-length commentary by Tennessee Williams’ biographer Donald Spoto (strange that WB picks Williams’ most despised adaptation to include a bio track on…). Donald Spoto was surprisingly engaging throughout, avoiding the monotonic delivery that biographers and historians mostly use. He provides us with enough anecdotes, background information and trivia to certainly rate a listen. A ten-minute featurette “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: Playing Cat and Mouse” comes across mostly as promotional fluff but there’s a few tidbits here to enjoy. A theatrical trailer finishes off the special features.
Probably the most melodramatic and campy of all of Tennessee Williams work (and that’s saying something), this film could easily be considered as just plain silly by more cynical viewers. And while some of the more dramatic parts of the film could come off as glib, the performers more than make up for it with a verbal and visual mastery of their art and a writer at the top of his game.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Deluxe Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information. The DVD is also available as part of the Tennessee Williams Film Collection which is now available at Amazon .
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