Customer Reviews

Come Back, Little Sheba

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shirley Booth's Lola Delaney is (possibly rivalled only by Charles Laughton's Quasimodo) the most pathetic character ever put on film. It is palpably hurtful to bear with her the many humiliations she undergoes during the course of the film. Caught in a sort of stand off relationship with her husband, she is lonely and emotionally wasting away, while seeming to deny this fact to herself. And when she cuts loose and tries to have a little fun, dancing or enjoying radio music meant to transport you out of your daily grind, she is merely the subject of laughter and rolling eyes. Her teary ruminations on the titular lost dog are, as I read it, symbolic of a larger aching need to find someone or something with which to exchange affection. I just saw Come Back again for the first time in 30 years, and I think it is as strong now as it must have been in 1952. The cinematography by the great James Wong Howe starts out bright and ordinary, felling like a 50s sitcom, but as layers of the dark heart of the drama are peeled away, the look becomes noirish and menacing --we know something is going to snap. You won't forget it.

Even in a time when films were less gimmicky than today, Come Back is really an anti-gimmick movie. It is just a glimpse into the life of a couple simmering under the surface with regret, old hurt and selfdoubt.

This is a powerful drama. Lancaster plays a sort of Jeckyll and Hyde character named "Doc": calm and refined when sober, angry and dangerous when drunk. The scene in which, drunk, he attacks his wife, Lola, is harrowing. I've seen few scenes to beat it in terms of intensity and believability. Doc buries his disappointments in drink and harbors a deep suspicion of women's sexuality. Indeed, he is obsessed with female purity; thus the fact that Lola was pregnant before their marriage weighs heavily on him, and Doc, like Lola's father, never forgives her for this sexual "mistake." Booth, as Lola, is heartbreakingly poignant. The dominant symbol in the film, Lola's lost dog, Sheba, represents Lola's lost self: her youth and her dreams. Because she has no where to go when Doc becomes "sick" again, she is forced to resign herself to being a housewife who whitewashes her problems just like she gives her wooden ice box a fresh coat of paint.

"You're all I have," Lola says to Doc at the end of the film. "You're all I ever had." Booth's genius in that scene is most evident. I once read that Inge, the author of the play on which this film is based, was an alcoholic himself and believed that each woman should always stand by her man. But one look at Booth's performance makes it clear that Booth didn't think so. Booth's Lola is desolate at the end of this film. Her mother and father won't take her in and her neighbor's only advice is "keep busy." This, Lola will do, as she must, as she has no choice, but at a high cost.

The first time I saw this film I was 12 or 13 years old. I'm 50 now. I just watched it again tonight. I cried.

Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster are bound together by a mutual tragedy in a sad, childless marriage made worse by Lancaster's alcoholism. When they rent a room to a sexy college student (Terry Moore), everything begins to really unravel. Based on the William Inge play (which also starred Booth and won her a Tony), the film is downbeat but hypnotic thanks to the stars. Booth also won Best Actress for the film with her heartbreaking performance as the dowdy housewife struggling to cope with her husband's problems. The film depicts a somber intervention by AA for Lancaster's character and Booth calling for Sheba (their pet dog that was Booth's child substitute that has run away) as well as some other harrowing scenes that mark this film as serious drama. Booth later became part of TV history in the 60's as "Hazel" but it's her few ventures in films like this that need to be remembered too. She was no beauty but an exceptionally gifted actress who could tear your heart out with performances like the one in "Come Back Little Sheba". Lancaster is excellent as the husband who tries to love his unkempt wife but can't face the real issues. So glad to see this searing drama coming to DVD and will be happy to add it to my library.

Shirley Booth is memorable in the role of dowdy wife to alcoholic husband Burt Lancaster (equally as good). The film is an adaptation of the William Inge play and it stands as one of the best transfers from stage to screen. Contrary to other reviewers' opinions, Terry Moore and Richard Jaeckel are great in their supporting roles.

For those of us old and fortunate enough to remember Booth from her 60's role as TV's "Hazel," this film shows that the actress was much better than the role of domestic of which she is famous. It also shows the range of her skills.

If I was an actor, this is a performance I would study. Shirley Booth is brillant. It is a unbelievably moving performance, sympathetic, depressing, heart-breaking, incredible! I have watched this film numerous times and I am moved each time. This is probably one of the best performances ever captured on film and, perhaps, one of the most over looked. All I can say is, watch it, watch it, watch it!

I grew up with Shirley Booth as the sweet but annoying Hazel (who would have this busybody as their maid? And who in 2008 can afford a maid?) I saw this movie on an television station late night movie. Her performance as the needy, loving, but pitiful woman tore me up & down. I remembering sobbing at the sadness of their lives. Burt Lancaster is also compelling as the younger, drunken Doc. In fact, I thought his youth, relative to hers, was an intentional part of the plot. The "older" woman seducing this studly young med student, who did the "right thing." It may seem old fashioned now - I laughed out loud at the woman who wrote she should get a life. To wit I would say, read a book about life before the Women's Movement in the 1970's. Not the movie who's myopic here. Don't know if you would want to buy the film unless you've already seen it and know what a tour de force Shirley Booth's performanc is. But if you have seen it, and love well written, well acted drama about imperfect people in an imperfect world, this film is for you. PS - I am going to see S. Epatha Merkerson attempt this role on Broadway. Love S. Epatha but she's got some big shoes to fill!

I saw Come Back Little Sheba years ago on American Movie Classics (when it was on a par with Turner Classic Movies). What a delight to find it available on DVD! Shirley Booth embodies the role of Lola Delaney, frumpy house wife to alocholic husband Doc Delaney (expertly portrayed by Burt Lacaster). I don't know that I agree with the characterization that their marriage was "loveless". I think they loved each other, but each were mired in their own pits of despair and resignation over what could have been but ultimately was not meant to be. Taking in a young boarder serves as a catlyst for each to face the reality of what their lives have become. They must ultimately come to terms with their regret and despair if they are to survive emotionally.

Based on a William Inge play, the wondrous "Sheba" soars on the strength of character actress Booth's wrenching portrayal of the lonely, used-up Lola, a role for which she deservedly won Best Actress over established stars Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Susan Hayward. Lancaster is clearly too young for the part of Doc, but bless him, he still brings it off in the end, with his drunk scenes particularly frightening. Overall though, watch this for Booth- she will literally break your heart.

This is what Doc and Lola each need massive hits of, but are unable to give effectively to each other. There is no doubt they love each other deeply, but each yearns for the kind of love the other can't give them. Shirley Booth got her best actress Oscar for this role and my favorite scene is when she is reclined on the sofa jiving to "Fifteen Minutes of Taboo," on the radio. Lola loves music, rhythm and dancing. Let us not downplay Burt's acting however. He is dead-on as the quiet, refined, gentleman that turns into a raving maniac when on a bender. When Doc and Lola are patching up the shambles of his latest episode, there seems to be an epithany for Lola when she realizes her little dog Sheba is never coming back. It seems that she may be able to let go of the past into which she escapes daily from her real life. As a recovering alcoholic myself (See my review of Lost Weekend)I appreciate the parts of the movie that deal with AA and the spirit of recovery. We hope that Doc and Lola can go forward and have a meaningful relationship, after being forced to their knees in self-examination by the presence of a young female border who is in and out in a flash. This is such a great movie.

Shirley Booth gives the kind of performance that one rarely sees in a lifetime. Burt Lancaster holds his own in a powerful performance. After seeing this movie, you understand why no one has had the nerve to attempt a remake. Why bother!