Okay, Okay. It doesn't take a lot of acting for Richard Burton to play a nearly defrocked minister with a drinking problem who drops out of life to be a tour guide in Mexico. Even so, his brooding and troubled portrayal of the lead character was art in its best possible form. No one else could have inhabited that character and wrap up the viewer to the point that Burton did. His Reverend Shannon was highly flawed but we felt great compassion for him just the same.
The show stealer had to be Grayson Hall with this film being my only experience with her work. Her fiery hostility toward our flawed leading man brought religious hypocrisy to a new level. Tennessee Williams, speaking through Ms. Hall, leveled a serious indictment on the proper social ladies of any southern church group. Many things in life are not what they seem to be, and this character went the distance in accomplishing that goal. For a short time at the beginning, I thought she was Joan Crawford.
Ava Garder was sexy, yet sympathetic, and entirely believable here. Her slinking around the set in those tops that were a little off the shoulder and cavorting with the eye-candy Hispanic boys seemed to come natural for her. Again, this was another example of good casting.
While Deborah Kerr did an excellent job with her phony goody two shoes character, I did not buy her story from her first appearance on screen, but then again, that was the goal for that character.
The film was in black and white but has very nice, clear cinematography and does not lose anything with the lack of color. Its ending is a little different that what you would expect from Tennessee Williams. His usual themes of southern religious hypocrisy and homosexual undercurrents are alive and well in this complex work. WORTH A LONG HARD LOOK.
The show stealer had to be Grayson Hall with this film being my only experience with her work. Her fiery hostility toward our flawed leading man brought religious hypocrisy to a new level. Tennessee Williams, speaking through Ms. Hall, leveled a serious indictment on the proper social ladies of any southern church group. Many things in life are not what they seem to be, and this character went the distance in accomplishing that goal. For a short time at the beginning, I thought she was Joan Crawford.
Ava Garder was sexy, yet sympathetic, and entirely believable here. Her slinking around the set in those tops that were a little off the shoulder and cavorting with the eye-candy Hispanic boys seemed to come natural for her. Again, this was another example of good casting.
While Deborah Kerr did an excellent job with her phony goody two shoes character, I did not buy her story from her first appearance on screen, but then again, that was the goal for that character.
The film was in black and white but has very nice, clear cinematography and does not lose anything with the lack of color. Its ending is a little different that what you would expect from Tennessee Williams. His usual themes of southern religious hypocrisy and homosexual undercurrents are alive and well in this complex work. WORTH A LONG HARD LOOK.