From the Terrace (1960) User Reviews

My Newman Fandom Started Here

[tracee · 8/10 · 6 March 2004]

Paul Newman has many more famous roles...but for some reason, this is one of my all time favorite movies of his. It comes on the Love Stories, AMC, or TCM cable channels every here and now...or you could just buy it like I did.

He's nice, determined, well-meaning Alfred Eaton, who starts off with lofty, wealthy ideas about what is important in life...the right woman, the right career, the right friends...and showing them all how important he can be when he has them. Ultimately, he learns that what is important is only what feels right to him alone.

I love his story of personal discovery as much as his love affair story with Natalie. Alfred and Natalie have this beautiful scene where they are saying goodbye, they're barely touching, but it's the most painfully romantic thing to see.

Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward have some excellent scenes in this movie also with real good comeback dialogue. He's the hardworking, decent man and she's the desperate-to-impress and just plain desperate society wife. She self-righteously and hurtfully accuses him of adultery with a girl with no guts when she's been sleeping with her ex-fiancee all along. She actually calls her lover and arranges a tryst while her husband is in the room!!!! She has guts!!!! Unbeknownst to her, Alfred has exhaustingly if unaffectedly (if you can look unaffected and disgusted at the same time, that is) done his best to makes her invisible in the room, but she probably just becomes invisible without any real effort on his part to make her so by that point. Their voices just have the most impactful tones...especially when they get to play off of each other. I can play their final scene over and over again where she says she won't give him a divorce and he says,"Any further communication between you and me will be through legal channels." He has the most genuine smile on that handsome face in that moment than through the entire movie!!!!!

This movie is actually pretty long, but not a moment is wasted. It all comes together in the end when Alfred finally chooses what he actually wants instead of what he's supposed to want.

Maybe it's because it's so subtle and not at all like a "movie" that it seems to be largely overlooked by everyone except me and 20 other people. Paul Newman is one fine, naturally classy actor, I say.

Interesting mid-century drama.

[merrywood · 8/10 · 24 November 2003]

This engaging 1960 Hollywood production anticipated a coming decade of changing values in America. Its script teeters a bit, emphasizing a bit more the strain of the love conflict rather than the story's real essence. This is an easy mark for critics standing by with sharp knives who may then view it as superficial. However, its real drama depicts the changing generations of an America where at one time successes was measured only by the bank account and social prominence and not by integrity, the ramifications of truth in character.

Here, we see the contrasting generations in conflict. The Old Guard embraced expediency and placed the home and its values second to business success. Once in a while, a young man came along with enough awareness to see the lie in this doctrine. FROM THE TERRACE is in its pure essence the story about such a young man. This was done with a bit more success a few years before in THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT but this drama is certainly worthwhile seeing. It is well cast and played with production values that at the time were the best that Hollywood could offer. This includes an outstanding music score by Elmer Bernstein.

A smart, heavy-going family melodrama,...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 26 June 2005]

Although based on a John O'Hara novel, "From the Terrace" is another 'Young Philadelphians': a smart, heavy-going family melodrama, set from the late forties to the late fifties, with Newman as an angry young opportunist from Philadelphia…

Again the moral (which undoubted1y attracted him) is that the drive for wealth and power corrupts innocence and love… Here there's more of a motivation, the old reliable one: his father hates him... He tells his cold, nasty father (Leon Ames), "All I ever wanted was to be friends with you," then defiantly rejects the family's fairly substantial steel mill… He wants more—to make $5 million by age forty, to be better than his old man…

On his way up the cynical path to Wall Street, he ignores his marriage, driving his once-sweet wife (Woodward) to bitchery and into the bed of an old flame… He works intensively to become a high financier, but suddenly realizes how empty his life is; unlike Tony Lawrence ("The Young Philadelphians"), he drops out completely, leaving his failed marriage and flourishing career to marry a wholesome small-town woman…

Newman battles valiantly with incredible soap opera contrivances, crises and inflated dialog, but he loses… He's worst in his scenes with the decent young woman (Ina Balin), because the relationship is improbable, their talk about love is slow, and he's not convincing as the shy, gentle lover… We've seen him earlier as sexually confident and aggressive, and besides, Newman is not very good at expressing tenderness…

He's excellent at the beginning, indicating bitterness toward his father with contemptuous facial expressions, although here, as elsewhere, his tendency to show tension or self-absorption by blinking and looking away during conversations is overdone…

But with Woodward, he and the film really come to life… During their first meetings, as he comes on strong and she resists, the antagonism, flavored with overtones of desperate sexuality, reminds us of "The Long, Hot Summer." Then, in their marriage, the roles are reversed: he becomes immersed in business, and she becomes sexually frustrated, creating a highly-charged tension between them…

There's a beautifully acted scene near the end when, like Maggie the Cat, she pathetically flaunts her sexuality at him and he merely sits there with a world-weary look… Ironically, Woodward make the wife so vital and pathetic that it's hard to accept her as a bitch, and the ending makes little sense...

A lush budget guilty pleasure

[mcbee-1 · 17 December 2001]

Paul Newman is doing his angry young man thing here, and Joanne Woodward is wonderful as she goes from rebellious rich brat to shrewish, slutty harridan. It's beautifully filmed with lots of sumptuous sets and it's obvious that a good part of the budget went to costumes. If you like movies with boozy, unhappy rich people who do little more than snipe at each other, you've got to see "From the Terrace."

The 54 Year Old Myrna Loy

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 11 July 2021]

Her bone structure and diction still flawless, Myrna Loy remains as handsome as most of the other females in permanent waves that populate this plush John O'Hara saga. But she's learned the hard way what a quarter of a century's drinking can do even to a woman as classy as her, and that being a nymphomaniac isn't really as much fun as she made it look in 'Love Me Tonight'.

She's extremely moving in her scenes with a dashing young Paul Newman that comprise much of the first half-hour of this very long film. But sadly the movie (SPOILER COMING:) shifts it's attention to him at her expense, and once again the sublime Myrna is wasted.

decent adult period novel type screen play

[khartoum-39722 · 7/10 · 31 March 2017]

Screenplay based on a novel by John O'Hara in 1958. One of a dozen films Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward did as husband and wife. They stayed married until Newman died in 2008. The film cost $3 million and grossed $5 million. So it was major deal in those days but was not a runaway success. There was quite a lot of adult content for the time which was surprising. It was certainly apt for the time but all the concern about divorce makes it a period piece but an accurate period piece. I find all the filming on sets restrictive as I am spoiled by modern location and outdoor shooting. Although it is certainly not a great work. Will give it a solid 7. RECOMMEND

Preserving Appearances and living up to contracts

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 23 January 2012]

As both From The Terrace and The Young Philadelphians have their original settings in the City of Brotherly Love and they both star Paul Newman and they have similar plot situations, it's easy to confuse them. I often do and have to correct myself.

From The Terrace derives from one John O'Hara's less critically received work and for that I fail to see why. The film and I'm sure the novel has some interesting things to say about American values and success. Breaking it down for the film version it's almost as if two books were written with the vaguest connection in plot. The first part is young Newman coming home after World War II service and finding things worse between his unhappily married parents. They've fallen out of love, mother Myrna Loy drinks like a fish and sleeps around, and Leon Ames has never gotten over the death in childhood of Newman's brother and became mean and embittered. That's a scene he leaves first to go into business with navy buddy George Grizzard and then after a fortuitous event I won't mention becoming a wolf of Wall Street with very family values oriented financier Felix Aylmer.

Along the way the parental issues drop away and Newman marries spoiled rich girl Joanne Woodward. He doesn't tend to the marriage and it becomes as loveless as his parent's. She starts spending time with old flame psychiatrist Patrick O'Neal and he eventually finds some true love in Ina Balin.

It must have been an interesting acting challenge for the Newmans to play a loveless couple, in many respects their greatest acting job for this Hollywood couple of long standing. Joanne really ratchets it up playing the rich princess who wants it all and damn the hypocrisy.

Felix Aylmer has an interesting role, one that thank God we see fewer and fewer of. An employer who finds divorce the worst thing in the world, he sees it as a business contract two people enter into. Just live up to it, no matter how unhappy both partners might feel. Newman's rival in the firm is Howard Caine who is in the firm because he is Aylmer's son-in-law. Caine is a real bottom feeder and not above a little stealing on his own just as long as respectable appearances are preserved.

Leon Ames who is usually a nice man really does an against type part here playing the bitter industrial tycoon. And Myrna Loy usually the perfect wife, well imagine if William Powell's drinking in the Thin Man had led to all kinds of physical and mental abuse and Nora Charles started drinking and catting around, you've got what Loy does with the role of Newman's mother.

From The Terrace is a bit old fashioned, but quite a commentary on its times and the cast does well by O'Hara's work.

Some excellent performances and a pretty inconsistent plot

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 5 November 2006]

The star of this film is the acting. In particular, Myrna Loy did a great job as a lonely alcoholic and Paul Newman and the rest also were in excellent form. For the performances alone, this is a film worth seeing. And in general, it's a very interesting story but there are some inconsistencies that make this film good but definitely not great. One problem is that Newman in the first 40 minutes of the film is so different from the character he later becomes--so much so that it looks like the writers changed their mind about the script but didn't bother re-doing the first portion. While having Newman essentially re-create his mother and father's relationship is brilliant, the steps getting to it just weren't hashed out well--it was like a fairy or witch cast a spell on him since the change just came out of nowhere. Also, late in the film after Newman single-handedly destroyed his marriage and alienated his loving wife from him, the movie then takes a rather sanctimonious course. Newman is now behaving like a crusader for right and basically blames his originally long-suffering wife for half of their marital woes! This wasn't what had happened in the film--it was almost all Newman and ending it that way just didn't make sense. And implying that Newman suddenly and miraculously changed just seemed unreal--after all, he'd just spent years being a distant workaholic and now he was giving it all up?! If the movie had shown him either NEVER change or vow to change but make his second marriage mirror the first, then this would have been a much more realistic and satisfying film. As it is, it's decent but not an essential film by any stretch.

enthralling vintage piece

[umb50 · 10/10 · 4 June 2007]

This is a wonderful movie. Gorgeous Newman, bitchy Woodward, sad Loy, great performances all around, with fabulous sets and costumes. Plus a wonderful story about the marriage of two of the beautiful people, with lots of sex and scandal and romance and fun bitchiness throughout. They had to tone down the sex in the book of course, for a 1960 movie, but if you read between the lines you will be amazed how sexy this movie really is. If you like movies about the rich and how they once lived, even if it's all fantasy, you will like this. Oh yes it's all kind of silly looking at it today, but they don't make movies like this anymore. Watch it for the sheer fun of it. But don't take it seriously. Just let yourself lay back and wallow.

An Interesting Generational Drama

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 16 March 2016]

An ambitious young executive (Paul Newman) chooses a loveless marriage and an unfulfilling personal life in exchange for a successful Wall Street career.

What a strange yet apt story of generational rejection, and sons becoming their fathers. We have Paul Newman's character striking out on his own against the wishes of his father, and then he slowly begins to make the same choices -- good or bad -- that his parents did.

What is the message? Is there a message? Maybe this just says something about the importance of love rather than a life filled strictly with business. I am not sure.

Book poorly translated to film

[jhuffman-5 · 3/10 · 31 January 2006]

John O'Hara;s writings, and there are many, seldom got translated to film well. Ten North Frederick and A Rage to Live are other efforts that are not worthy of the novels. O'Hara had better luck on the stage with plays like Pal Joey but his great novels just were just too big and detailed to make the move. He had a hand in the screenplay for this movie so he does share some of the blame. His great success as a writer flows from his great knowledge of the U.S. and its sexual mores in from say 1900 to 1920. This is a time when people apparently did not have sex but O'Hara makes it plain they did and made an effort to do so. Recommend his writings but the films failed and that is just so tragic. A critic once wrote that O'Hara's novels are like huge ancient ruins that when stumbled upon, the discover can not determine why they were built. That remark was written about 20 years after his death just about the time that all artists fall out of favor before their merits are rediscovered and the value of their work is confirmed.

A forgotten and underrated film !!!

[Atdheu90 · 8/10 · 3 November 2011]

This movie should get more attention now, and it should have gotten more attention when it was released, because it's a good one. I liked the script, even though it's a little bit melancholic at times, it still works. Paul Newman's performance was on a level, a classy one (there's no other way you can play this kind of character, because it wasn't a kind of troublemaker or a bad boy character, which is what got attention at the time this movie was released), Joanne Woodward was good too.

The Story is treated fairly, it doesn't get boring at any specific point, and the ending is a dramatic one.

The problem is that it is hard to find it, most of the people that have seen it, have done so from the cable.

And for those who have enjoyed this one i would strongly recommend Paul Newman's "The Young Philadelphians" (1959), - absolutely ignore the ratings and give it a shot.

Big screen melodrama common for its day

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 27 November 2017]

"From the Terrace" is an example of a type of the melodrama that Hollywood turned out from the late 1950s to early 1970s. Films such as this and "Peyton Place" of 1957, "Home from the Hill" of 1960, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" of 1961, and others came close to being soap operas. They had the good and the bad, often in the same person or people. The stories were different and usually interesting enough to hold an audience's attention. But the plots were definitely more melodramatic than good drama or story telling. Romance was usually a part of all of them, and most often they were about struggles in marriage, infidelity, family breakups, etc. The usual stuff of soapers, under various genres.

This one is a lavish production by 20th Century Fox, based on a novel by John O'Hara. It hits on another theme that was common in the Mid- 20th century – after WW II and Korea. A man, striving to get ahead, becomes a workaholic and in the course neglects his wife. Not all wives are unfaithful to hubby, as is Joan Woodward's Mary St. John. And, not all men wind up unfaithful to their wives as does Paul Newman's David Eaton.

Having seen this film when it came out in 1960, as I recall, I might have seen Newman as the poor hero and good guy whose wife dumps on him. But, it's amazing how time and a little maturity yields some wisdom. Because the blame for the breakup of the marriage here is definitely Newman's Eaton. He knew the woman he married, and his ambition and drive led him to forget her. It doesn't excuse her carousing and infidelity, but it shows what led to that.

This film probably is viewed as very slow by 21st century audiences. It has some glamorous sets. The cast is very good, especially Joanne Woodward. She was one of the most talented actresses of the 20th century. Paul Newman was a fine leading man in a variety of genres, and a good entertainer. But his acting wasn't anything exceptional. The young Ina Balin won a Golden Globe as the most promising newcomer in 1960. She was in some good movies after this, but her star never quite reached to the heavens. She died at age 52 of a heart problem.

Others of the supporting cast are very good. Leon Ames has a fine role as Samuel Eaton and Myrna Loy has a small part as his wife, Martha Eaton. Elizabeth Allen is the flamboyant, brassy rich broad, Sage Rimmington. She plays the part well, and it's the only way to describe her. Patrick O'Neal is Mary St. John's lover on the side. Felix Aymer is very good as David Eaton's boss and the head of the blue blood, Wall Street, and wealthy MacHardie's, James Duncan MacHardie.

In an exchange with Eaton, MacHardie articulates a wise philosophy that had guided civilization for centuries. James MacHardie, "There are no grounds for divorce. And if you need my personal theology, infidelity is the lesser sin. I will do anything in my power to prevent a divorce." David Alfred Eaton, "Including condoning infidelity?" MacHardie, "I consider your word 'condoning' disrespectful. I condone none of it. The problem of infidelity is between husband and wife and God. The problem of divorce concerns the whole of civilization. What is marriage? An exchange of vows, a contract. It is my duty to myself and to any man who is working for me to demand that he honor all of his contracts. When you came here, you found out that we always honor our word, even if it means taking a loss."

Many of these films, of course, are about well-to-do if not outright filthy rich people. In this film, David and Mary live a high life style. One might wonder where they got the money in their early stage. But, they live and socialize in high society, and among the young rich – two different groups. I don't know how that may resonate with audiences in the 21st century, when most people seem to live as much for fun and entertainment as for family or other things. But back then, the folks who lived the high life were quite distant from the vast majority of people, and they often were the envy of the common man.

chaos of romance

[lee_eisenberg · 5/10 · 7 September 2012]

First of all, until I'd seen "From the Terrace" I'd never heard of John O'Hara, let alone read any of his novels. So, as a totally unbiased observer, I was unsure what to think of the movie by the end. The first 20-30 minutes made it seem as though the movie was about rich people being nasty to each other. Once the main story became apparent, it still seemed as though there was no truly redeeming character anywhere in the movie. I could understand that the marriage was a loveless one and so of course the characters were going to do what they did, but it still seemed hard to justify any of it.

If the movie was intended as an indictment of the unbridled pursuit of wealth and prestige, then in my opinion it succeeded in that regard. Otherwise, the movie seemed off-putting. Not a bad movie by any stretch, but I would've liked to see a redeeming character. Still, I did like what he did in the board meeting at the end. I sure would've done the same.

Not Your Y2K Fare

[Casey-35 · 9 October 2000]

Reading the comments on this movie tells me a lot about our culture at the dawn of the 21st century. Yes, by today's standards this movie seems to move slow and a is little dull. It was made before pornography passing for entertainment was permitted. It contains lots of subtlety and innuendo. It was considered racy when it was made.

One of my favorite scenes is when Mrs. Eaton is talking to her husband on the phone about her lover. You never see the lover in the scene, but at the end, you realize he's been in the bed all along. Another favorite scene is when Mrs. Eaton meets her husband's lover for the first time. It is in the car afterward that she asks what this woman call's Mr. Eaton.

The only disappointment is the superficial way the film treats marriage. No children are involved in this marriage and it only deals with how the husband and wife consider their lives. It tries to make a case for divorce and treats the subject far too lightly.

entertaining trash

[hbs · 7/10 · 26 May 2000]

It's not nearly as much fun as "The Long, Hot Summer", but how could it be when it's loosely based on an O'Hara novel (which means that it has to be turgid, self-important trash). But it's still fun. In some ways it's even more enjoyable to see how they've butchered O'Hara's novel, since they leave out more than half of it and cast Newman as a sort of hero (damaged by personal tragedy), instead of having him be a contemptible loser (as he was in the book). There are a lot of these late 50's to early 60's movies that were based on "organization men" stories from the 50's ("Cash McCall", "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit", and "From the Terrace" being those that pop to mind), and every one of the movies mangled the books. Interestingly, I think that the one that was closest to the book, TMitGF, was by far the worst movie. It's odd on reflection how similar these books are, and how randomly different the movies are. I don't know if all of the writers suffered from existential nausea or if it was just that this sort of thing sold books, but I never saw it get to the screen.

From the Terrace leaves out the real view

[wpmasters · 6/10 · 25 May 2009]

The filmed version of John O'Hara's From The Terrace leaves out the real view of the novel: how a man's monomania for commercial success destroys his ethics and finally, leaves him a rich, but unhappy man. The film covers only first part of the novel. Joanne Woodward's performance (thank God for all the O'Hara dialog left in the script), totally unbalances the film, but emerges as the most interesting part of the film: a woman's frank discussion of her need for sexual fulfillment. Woodward is so good as the adulterous wife, that the viewer should root for her instead of the Newman character whose own affair is condoned because the woman he sleeps with is the nice girl type. It's bitterly ironic that this film was released the same year as Billy Wilder's The Apartment which dealt a little more honestly with business success bought with sexual favors.

The film qualifies as 2nd rate Douoglas Sirk melodrama, but looks really great in cinemascope and technicolor and has received a great transfer to DVD.

If you can accept the premise...

[MarieGabrielle · 7/10 · 22 March 2008]

that a man is promoted by saving wealth financiers (MacHardie's) grandson from drowning in a Delaware pond, then the film is watchable. Almost.

Joanne Woodward is too shrill, and I guess given this edge to demonstrate her ability to act the villain, a cheating wife married to all American Paul Newman, a man on his way up the corporate ladder. The actor who portrays Creighton Duffy is noteworthy, a corporate weasel if ever there was one.

The part Myrna Loy has is a thankless one, Newman returned from the war ready to make his mark on the world. The clichés abound, as the story evolves into workaholic, failed enterprise, meddling in-laws and faithless wife. Woodward's costumes are noteworthy, and there are a few cameos (George Grizzard and Barbara Eden) worth noting.

Overall worth watching as a curiosity of the times. 7/10.

Decent, yet unimaginative, early 1960s drama.

[jdanzola · 6/10 · 13 May 2020]

"From The Terrace" is a nice, though long and cliched drama. Like many dramatic films of the late 50s and early 60s, it thrived on issues related to class, family duty, sexual frustration, honesty (most importantly, towards oneself), and wealth and ambition as the literal poison/obstacle to attain true love.

In many ways, while watching this, I found myself comparing it in my mind to other more successful, and perhaps better achieved films of its time like Robson's own "Peyton Place" (1957), Douglas Sirk's "Imitation of Life" (1959) and "All That Heaven Allows" (1955), and one of my personal favourites, the British masterpiece, "Room at the Top" (1959). Firstly, it seemed to me that the film was trying to replicate the aesthetics (in looks, scenery, colour, glamour, and even, music) of other melodramas, particularly Sirk's. Not to diminish Robson as a director at all, but there was something rather uninventive and shallow in his stylistic choices. Even Joanne Woodward (who I hugely admire), as Mary St. John, seemed a bit off in her looks to me - sort of like a bad imitation of Lana Turner. Ultimately, the film failed in its ability to fully grasp me, emotionally speaking.

Secondly, the film felt a bit too long; I even wondered at some point if it had needed some extra editing before its release. However, perhaps the screenplay in itself wasn't too exciting and rich to begin with. This realisation is what led me to compare it to "Room at the Top", as both films dealt with similar themes around young men trying to make something of themselves, and wealth and ambition getting in their way of love and happiness. "Terrace" however, falls quite short of depth and viability that "Top" had, particularly for a 144-min long film.

Don't get me wrong, though. There are very rewarding things in this film. I particularly enjoyed the work of Paul Newman, Ina Balin, and (oh what a joy!) Myrna Loy (even if her appearances in the film are rather brief). There are also a lot of "soapy"/over the top scenes as well, which are not only amusing, but also display the great skill of the cast at immersing themselves in their characters and completely pulling it off. Notably, I highlight Woodward's aptitude for portraying the sexually repressed and slutty nature of Ms. St. John, and I found myself oddly fascinated and attracted to Paul Newman's convincing role as an angry/fearless/hard-working young man (of course, very well-known territory for him).

Do give "From the Terrace" a chance if you like dramatic films from this era, but as I have made it clear above, I don't think it will seduce/move you as much as other similar films of the time. It has an amazing cast, it is well performed, decently executed, but the emotional power that it aims to convey, simply isn't there. Blame it on the lengthy novel that this is based on, the director's stylistic choices, or the film's overall banality, but never on the amazing talented cast.

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward - Such Beautiful People.

[oliverpenn · 8/10 · 8 January 2005]

As a youngster, I saw Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in person, a few years after they finished this picture, in New York. They were appearing on Broadway in a comedy called "Baby Want A Kiss," and I was passing by Sardi's on 44th Street, I believe. First to come out was drop dead gorgeous Joanne, still wearing her FROM THE TERRACE hairstyle (shoulder-length pageboy flip) & dark movie star sunglasses, accompanied by two men in suits. She ignored the crowd who screamed, "Joanne, over here!" "Hi, Joanne!" Next, Paul Newman came out (two suited men on either side) as he held a cocktail glass in his hand. Obviously on his fourth or fifth drink, he looked like Alfred Eaton in TERRACE. But, unlike Joanne, he smiled and flashed the bluest eyes I've ever seen! He even toasted the screaming crowd. Women AND men were fainting unashamedly.

Personally, I loved FROM THE TERRACE. I was just fascinated by all the glamour, wealth, sex, adultery and sheer drama (especially between Leon Ames (Paul's father) and Newman.

Joanne as Mary St. John was a stone nympho, similar to Susanne Pleshette's over-sexed character in another John O'Hara book-to-film, A RAGE TO LIVE.

It was just a joy to see Woodward wear all those fabulous clothes and look spectacular in those hairdos and 60's makeup (it was all in the eyes!) After getting propositioned on the dance floor, Mary rebuked the man who knew "all about her..." donned a tremendously long white satin coat and "floated" like a regal queen to the limo (hair in a French Roll and a tiara!) Gorgeous.

Yes, she was an adulteress, but what was a "hungry" girl like her to do when her husband didn't want to touch her?

great acting by Woodward, Newman, and Ina Balin

[daviddaphnered · 6/10 · 4 September 2016]

In this story from 20th Century Fox about a young man returning from his tour of duty after WWII and then working to climb to the top of the ladder with a top New York business firm, Paul Newman, his wife Joanne Woodward, and Ina Balin seem to perform great acting feats. In a sentence, the story is about, again, an ex-soldier, David Alfred Eaton, trying to make it to the top in the business world, but is mistreated by his boisterous, arrogant father Samuel Eaton (and Leon Ames does a good acting job here in that role) and has a rocky marriage with his sometimes hostile wife, (played by his real-life wife Joanne Woodward,)and then finds warm love in the young lady Natalie Benzinger, played by Balin. The time setting is from 1946 to the early '50's, and NYC has that look in the movie. Myrna Loy does a good acting job as Martha Eaton, David's drunk mother. In the story, while David Eaton is, again, at odds with his wife, and simultaneously does find warmth and love in another woman, you're lead to believe that while infidelity is not to be defended, neither is hostility in marriage. It does end on a warm note, and the cast lends much to it being a great dramatic feat.

Endless soap opera

[rowmorg · 5/10 · 2 December 2014]

Joanne Woodward steals this lengthy movie. Cast as an unthinking bourgeoise daughter with no ambition other than comfortable marriage, she lands the handsome Alfred Eaton instead of her current love, a psychiatric doctor. But she's soon back in bed with him after being ignored for several years by the success-obsessed Eaton.

Woodward is pretty and witty in this role, and beautifully dressed. Sadly, she is cast as the "bad guy" because she goes to bed with her ex-lover, although she tries all the time to get Eaton into bed with her. Finally, she tries a reconciliation, secretly knowing that Eaton is to be named a partner at his bank in her presence next day. But Eaton throws a testy scene, walks out and drives off to join his young love in Mountain City, somewhere in Nevada, and make a completely different life. Poor Joanne is left shouting "Alfred" after his taxi, a pathetic role for this actress who injected the only sense of fun and adventure into this ponderous yard. No way did I reject her: I felt sorry for her!

A special movie!

[theydrivebynight · 8/10 · 28 February 2021]

Beautiful photography. Breathtaking scenes. A wonderful follow up to the Young Philadelphia. Ina Balin is a perfect casting opposite P.N. Bask in the wonderful acting of mrs. Woodward and her gorgeous 1960 wardrobe. Do not listen to the critics who do not see. A real treat.

Despite your best efforts you often become your parents

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 7 February 2010]

I didn't see what others apparently saw in this film. I did not see the moral of the film so much concerning the price of success as it being that despite your best efforts, you are often doomed to become your parents.

At the beginning of the film, Alfred (Paul Newman) returns home after the second World War to renounce his father because he has, in Alfred's opinion, ignored his mother while strictly attending to business to the point where his mother has become an adulterous lush. Ten or fifteen years later, Alfred has ignored his own wife Mary (played by Joanne Woodward) while climbing the corporate ladder until his own lonely wife has become an adulterous lush. The only crime of his father's he does not commit is to produce offspring that can be dragged into the mess his life has become. One person with a more warped moral code than either Alfred or Mary seems to be Alfred's boss. While eating lunch he casually informs Alfred of Mary's affair with an old flame. When Alfred reacts by saying that he intends to divorce Mary, his boss warns him against such an action. To Alfred's boss, Mary's behavior isn't a moral failing or a cry for attention - it is an unforgivable breach of etiquette, and this is the same way he feels about divorce.

Overall, the main characters in this film lack redeeming characteristics to the point where the movie almost becomes a film noir soap opera. There are still solid performances by both Newman and Woodward, and it is still worth seeing 50 years after it was made. After all, the idle rich and the mistakes they keep making over and over have not changed that much after half a century.

One big yawn

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 25 February 2006]

In the mid-'50s, John O'Hara's novels were made into big movies in Hollywood, with mostly mediocre results: "Butterfield 8," "The Best Things in Life are Free," "Ten North Frederick," "View from the Terrace," and in the '60s, "A Rage to Live." His books were perfect for Hollywood: Plenty of sex, infidelity, and money. The film versions very often were vehicles for newer stars such as Suzy Parker and Suzanne Pleshette. In the case of "From the Terrace," the script benefited from having Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in the leads. Unfortunately, it didn't help.

One problem with "From the Terrace" is an uncertainty on the part of the viewer as to what the story is about. It starts off with a young man returning from the service to find his mother a hopeless alcoholic (what amounted to a bit part by Myrna Loy) who has a boyfriend on the side, and a father who loved his dead son more. Oh, it's the story of a dysfunctional family, a sort of '50s "Ordinary People." A family drama of a man fighting for his father's love and his mother's salvation. Then they disappear. He meets a socialite not in his class. She's engaged to someone else. Ah, the story of a man and woman fighting her parents and class as she marries beneath her. Then the father approves the marriage. Our hero goes into the airplane business. Ah, a story of a man making good through entrepreneurship in post-war America and becoming a success despite his father's low opinion of him. Then he leaves that partnership.

And so it goes until we get to the point - he's married to the wrong woman, he spends to much time building his career after he saves the boss' grandson from an icy death, his wife cheats on him, and he meets the woman he should have married.

It's all too long, too disjointed, and too boring. Watch until you see adorable Barbara Eden throw herself at Newman at a party (it's near the beginning), and then turn it off.