12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
JOAN CRAWFORD AS A MIRACLE WORKER..., December 10, 2001
This review is from: Story of Esther Costello [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Esther Costello (Heather Sears) is a young girl playing with her friends in rural post World War II Ireland. She and her friends enter an abandoned home and in the basement discover a cache of live grenades. Not knowing the danger, they begin fighting over them and pull the pin out of one of the grenades. As Esther hears her mother above calling for her, the grenade goes off, setting off an explosion that kills her mother. Esther undergoes severe psychological trauma that renders her blind, deaf, and mute. She ends up living with an uncaring, slovenly grandmother in her impoverished rural hovel, dirty, uneducated, and uncared for.
Enter Margaret Landi, a wealthy American, who is touring Ireland in search of her Irish roots, when she comes upon a teenage Esther. Estranged from her scoundrel of a husband, Carlo (Rossano Brazzi), and childless, Maargaret is moved by the entreaties of the local parish priest to help Esther. Though at first resistant, she is finally moved by Esther herself into taking her with her. She now becomes to Esther, what Annie Sullivan was to Helen Keller, and under Margaret's care and ministrations Esther responds and thrives. A light bulb goes on in Esther's formerly dark and lonely world.
Esther's story and plight ultimately captures the heart of those who hear it, and a charitable foundation is established. This foundation becomes recognized world wide and is big business, making Margaret and Esther the functional equivalents of televangelists, such is the fervor that they create wherever they go. Moreover, the money comes pouring in. This causes Margaret's estranged husband, Carlo, to come back into Margaret's life and not for the better. Carlo is nothing more than a handsome, smooth talking hustler.
Carlo brings a business partner with him and finagles Margaret into letting them handle the business. Margaret, who is clearly overworked, turns over the reins of the foundation to him. Her husband and his partner end up swindling the foundation. By the time Margaret realizes what is going on, the damage is done. Carlo has also put the moves on the now nubile and lovely Esther and ends up sexually assaulting her. When Margaret discovers what Carlo did to Esther, it puts her over the top, and she takes matters into her own hand. With her world tumbling down around her, Margaret meets Carlo and ensures that neither she nor Esther will ever be hurt by Carlo again. In the interim, Esther discovers that every cloud does, indeed, have a silver lining.
This is a terrific film, which garnered a British Film Academy Award for Joan Crawford as Best Actress for 1957. Her portrayal of Margaret Landi is compelling and moving. Newcomer Heather Sears gives a wonderful performance as Esther Costello, a difficult role. She is able to silently convey to the viewer what she is feeling. Rossano Brazzi, as the dog of a husband, is on the money, and the entire supporting cast give strong performances, making this a film to see. Fans of Joan Crawford will enjoy this film, as will anyone who likes a well made, well acted, though somewhat schmaltzy, drama.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Esther-Fest, April 17, 2008
This review is from: Story of Esther Costello [VHS] (VHS Tape)
"The Story of Esther Costello" has to be one of my very favorite movies with Joan. I know I say that all the time but this time I really mean it. At the very least, it has to be one of Joan's very best movies from the fifties. My three favorite movies from this era, of Joan's six-decade career include:
Harriet Craig,
Johnny Guitar and this. And they are all so different! If you've seen them all you will know what I mean and you'll know why Joan was such a diverse and talented actress who never delivered anything less than complete and utter perfection!
Here are the basic stats on this movie:
The Story of Esther Costello (November 6, 1957) (Studio: Columbia)
Distributor: Sony Pictures
Runtime Listing: 102 mins.
Screen format: pan and scan
Color/BW: Black and White
(Joan played: Margaret Landi)
Brief Synopsis:
A well-off lady works to educate a deaf and blind girl purely out of the goodness of her heart.
Joan's brief comments on this film: This was my last really top picture...
And these are Joan's costars:
Rossano Brazzi played Carlo Landi
Heather Sears played the title-role, Esther
Lee Patterson played Harry Grant
I really like it when Joan plays a nice person. I don't know why. Because she appears much more believable and there always seems to be a level of continuity in her films like this. In this film, Joan plays the staring role, Margaret Landi who is a very sweet lady. She's a very hard-worker who will stop at nothing to accomplish her goal. And in some scenes it was reminiscent of Joan's defining film
Mildred Pierce .
Anyway, "The Story of Esther Costello" is that proverbial Helen Keller story. ...Compassionate and passionate lady takes on the care of a deaf, blind and mute young girl. However, it is very different in one important regard, this movie is glamorous and very entertaining! After all, can you imagine a movie with Joan that was without glamour?
Once Margaret starts caring for Esther she sees swift and almost immediate changes. Heather Sears was especially talented during these scenes because she truly portrayed a person that was otherwise void of any form of sentient communication! Pretty soon, Margaret's estranged hubby comes back into her life once he hears of all the publicity (and money) that Margaret has raised for her newly-formed Esther Costello organization.
Carlo is as smooth as a silk sheet from Fortunoff and as tricky as a Rubik's Cube. Once he enters the picture the movie almost takes on a
Queen Bee feel. Although, keep in mind Margaret is always kind and never ruthless. And, the movie actually ended in the same fashion as "Queen Bee!"
Joan was always very proud of this movie and only had kind words to say about it. She always regarded "The Story of Esther Costello" as one of her career highs and as one of her last great pictures. When asked to share her thoughts about this motion picture Joan stated: This was my last really top picture, and frankly if I deserved an Oscar for "Mildred Pierce" I deserved two for "Esther Costello." It was one hell of a demanding role, and David Miller directed it superbly, but I played it in my own pitch, the way I thought it should be played, and I was right.
Joan actually found a longtime friend in Heather Sears. Joan was very proud of her young protege and helped her any way she could. Heather Sears even showed her support to Joan in a BBC retrospective/interview that was conducted several years after "The Story of Esther Costello."
Fun Facts:
* This movie was made after Joan left Warners when she was free to work for any studio.
* After "The Story of Esther Costello," Joan didn't appear again in another picture for nearly two years because she was so busy on Pepsi business!
* After MGM & Warners, Columbia is the studio that Joan made the most films for (a total of six.)
* The tag for this movie was: Esther Costello...will live in your memory long after you have seen her!
* This film is based on a book written by Nicholas Monsarrat.
* Like many of Joan's films, this was not without controversy; Helen Keller's associates threatened to sue for libel.
* Desperate for some attention, in 2004 the Material Girl caused a worldwide sensation, yet again, when she announced that her "Hebrew name" is Ester!
Regrettably, this movie is not on DVD, yet. I don't know why because it's such a fascinating movie. As you can see someone is offering it on Amazon for nearly thirty eight dollars! Highway robbery. If Joan were alive to see such greed in her name she would call these sellers vultures and thieves for daring to bleed her beloved fans like this! If you are seeking this movie, don't worry though, because it does come on TCM from time to time. Also, you can likely find a much less expensive copy on half dot com or its sister-site, e bay.
I am confident that Sony will issue a Joan Crawford boxed set in the future, though. Wouldn't that be great! Besides this movie, here's what I would love to see on it: "Harriet Craig," "Queen Bee,"
Autumn Leaves and
Strait-Jacket. There is a huge demand and audience that would gladly buy Sony's Joan Crawford Classic Columbia Boxed Set!
You know, with movies like this, some have said that Joan was the original proponent of women's lib. I don't think Joan was trying to make a statement, other than a woman can find her own way in an otherwise man's world. And dare I say that when Joan reached for the moon she became a star!
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