In 'Tea and Sympathy' John Kerr and Deborah Kerr (no relation) reprise their roles from the hit Robert Anderson Broadway play of the same name. John plays an effeminate young man at a Massachusetts prep school, his classmates have taken to calling him "sister boy", Deborah is the 'house mother' to whom he has grown unusually close. In an effort to prove his masculinity John trys to sleep with a local lose woman, he fails to seal the deal, so Deborah sleeps with him.
It seems clear that John is supposed to be gay, but this was rendered ambiguous on the stage and further diluted for the screen, adding a framing device to assure us that 10 years later John is happily married, also that Deborah has been suitably punished for her infidelity; interestingly Deborah implies that husband Leif Erkison is a closeted homosexual.
Elia Kazan who directed the 'Tea' on the stage, refused to do the film version because he knew the studio wouldn't let it reach the screen intact. So, Vincent Minnelli takes over and does a fine job, the film is sturdy enough with standout central performances from the two leads. Feature plays things extremely safe by modern standards, feels kind of silly at times, Tennessee Willaims this is not, but for a period studio production it's kind of bold. I wasn't expecting that much from this, but the Kerr's won me over. ***
No comments:
Post a Comment