Customer Reviews

Bramble Bush [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I saw this movie only once when it was first released, I think around 1959 or '60. I remember the film as if I had seen it yesterday. It introduced me to an exceptionally talented English actor named Richard Burton and I became an ever after devoted fan. If he appeared in a movie that was enough for me. BRAMBLE BUSH is based on a book that takes place in a small town in New England. Actually, the film is just a very good soap opera with great performances by its actors. Barbara Rush, as Burton's love interest, also became one of my favorite actresses. The plot revolves around Burton's dying best friend, played by supporting actor, Tom Drake, who tries to arrange for his wife's (Rush) happiness after his death. His solution involves the development of a relationship that will lead to a future marriage between best friend and wife. Many complications ensue, including a sub-plot with characters played by Angie Dickinson and Jack Carson. Both do commendable work with their parts. (This was also the first movie where I had seen Dickinson in a performance.) It's a tear-jerking love story with fine acting by good actors. Richard Burton captures the part of the stunned doctor/friend with his usual intensity. He and Rush must respond to Drake's unusual plan, even though they are both shocked when the suggestion is made. Definitely a woman's movie, but my husband enjoyed it, too. Not great, and certainly not Burton's best, but definitely worth watching. It's very interesting to see Burton at the beginning of his Hollywood career.

Given that this movie was made in the late 1950's, I was surprised at the subject matter of human euthanasia. The subjects of adultery and promiscuity were also thrown into the mix. Nonetheless, the movie came across as soap opera. Burton's acting improved in later years.

The absolutely dreadful telling of a mercy killing, which amounted to an ode to Peyton Place even down to cinematography sweeping over a New England fishing village. The set was so typically back-lot Warner Brothers that it was about as believable of small-town life as The Andy Griffith Show.

The storyline made no sense whatsoever. Why would a financially well-off person stricken with Hodgkins Lymphoma lie in what amounts to nothing more than an infirmary, when the best hospital and doctors can be found a short drive away in Boston. Naturally the hospital corridors are empty of any patients or doctors, aside from the principal players, as are the town streets. One wonders if Warner Brothers couldn't afford enough extras even to fill out the pews of the town church. Richard Burton never dons a hospital coat let alone scrubs despite the fact that he is playing the doctor.

Business at the town jail and courtroom are equally preposterous, as the prisoner, again Burton, wanders in and out of an open cell. Also since when does an American judge refer to the defendant as the "prisoner". Obviously no one writing this script consulted with anyone in the legal profession.

Once again, could Warner Brothers not afford wardrobe. Burton wears the same suit & tie thoughout the picture and Poor Angie Dickinson is either in a nurses uniform or scantily clad. Barbara Rush fairs better with a lovely wardrobe straight from Bergdorf Goodman. But would a woman spending countless hours at the bedside of her dying husband, dress like she was off to a luncheon at the Plaza Hotel? Not even a hair out of place or a worry-line on her lovely face. Aah the unreality of Hollywood in the 1950's.