Customer Reviews

The Country Girl

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The year 1955 proved a memorable one for Grace Kelly in a number of respects, two of which involved winning an Oscar and meeting a prince who would ask her to marry him and share a kingdom with him. It sounds like the grist for a romance novel, but it all actually happened in the kingdom of Hollywood cinema.

It was the glamorous Grace Kelly that Prince Rainier of Monaco would meet on the French Riviera when she was playing a rich heiress in Alfred Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief". The irony is that in her other film that was released that same year, "The Country Girl", she won a Best Actress Academy Award by playing the only role of her short but illustrious career that was decidedly against type.

Whereas Kelly, the Philadelphia girl who became a glamorous fashion model in New York, played her natural image in every respect in two Hitchcock classics, "Rear Window" and "To Catch a Thief", she was challenged in the film in between by director George Seaton, who adapted the play of hard-boiled Depression playwright Clifford Odets to the screen in "The Country Girl".

Kelly's character is the opposite of what she appears to be in the early stages of the film. She plays the wife of hard luck Broadway actor-singer Bing Crosby, who has never been able to assuage the guilt he felt over not being able to save their son and only child from death in a New York traffic accident.

Crosby takes to alcohol and becomes extremely depressed, using Kelly as a crutch. He implores her to make decisions, including some unpopular ones that make people angry with her, all the while seeking to portray himself as an all-purpose nice guy who is relaxed and at peace with himself.

When Broadway stage director William Holden seeks to case Crosby as his lead in an upcoming production he is fought tenaciously by the show's producer and prevails only after insisting he will walk out if not given an opportunity to at least see how well the veteran performer plays in a Boston run prior to coming to New York. If he does not pan out then Crosby will be replaced.

Holden, who is on the rebound from a tragic divorce, is immediately skeptical of Kelly. He believes her to be the problem behind her husband's lack of confidence and tough times after earlier Broadway successes. As he learns more and more he not only changes his mind about Kelly and apologizes; he falls in love with her.

This is a film about the trials and tribulations of Broadway theatrical people and their determination to rise above all obstacles. The trio of Kelly, Crosby and Holden walk on eggshells concerning the show and added complications resulting from the director's increasing admiration for the star's wife.

Kelly plays her role with great sensitivity. To present her in a more dour light famous costume designer Edith Head was instructed to create an appropriate wardrobe for her to tone down the glamour that made her world famous. Her hairstyles were also reflective of a sober woman unconcerned about glamour. Such a role understandably was a challenge for one of the most glamorous women ever to set foot on a Hollywood sound stage or grace the covers of fashion magazines.

The beautiful Grace Kelly was awarded with the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as the long-suffering, embittered wife Georgie Elgin in The Country Girl, and rightly so. It's a beautifully understated performance and an interesting departure for Kelly, who obviously had the guts to take up such an unglamorous role and make it her own.

But the Country Girl isn't just about Grace Kelly. Bing Crosby and William Holden also turn in absolutely knockout performances and manage to hold their own against the actress in this unashamedly theatrical melodrama.

Based on Clifford Odets' play, The Country Girl is all about lies and deceit, and disappointment and blame; it's the story of a washed up, alcoholic actor, and his wife, who has spent the last ten years of her life caring for him, even though she's gone to seed because of it.

Bing Crosby stars as Frank Elgin. Frank is desperate to get back onto the stage. A natural showman, and a once famous singer, Frank has sunk to an all time low after a terrible accident took the life of his young son. Wracked with guilt and blaming himself for his death, Frank had turned to the bottle, with his control freak wife Georgie (Kelly) left to pick up the pieces.

But Frank is also a liar and a schemer, and tells Bernie Dodd (William Holden), his childhood idol, that it was actually Georgie who took up drinking and tried to commit suicide. This leads Bernie to treat Georgie badly, even though, after all these years, she has been trying to help Frank to stand on his own two feet.

Frank is among the best-crafted passive-aggressive characters ever and his different sets of lies to Georgie and to Frank end up in a nasty confrontation over who has Frank's best interests at heart. Frank sets it up so that he's never the bad guy and always the victim.

Each character brings their own bitterness and guilt to the situation - Frank just can't go on and let go of the pain; Georgie feels trapped in a dependent marriage, increasingly embittered; and Bernie, badly burned by his own failed marriage, sees only animosity in a women like Georgie.

Although some of the onstage dancing and singing routines are a little long and overly dull, the movie certainly makes up for this by giving us a number of rapid fire exchanges between the three lead characters. Viewers have a chance to see how Hollywood stars used to transform and enlarge performances without having to rely on the distractions of much action.

Consequently, the showdown between Bernie and Georgie is spectacular, it's one of the best dramatic scenes ever seen on film, even if it involves little more than angst-ridden dialogue. But The Country Girl is mostly worth watching for the exquisite Grace Kelly who just shines as the character, who refers to herself as a simple "country girl" but who clearly contains far more wisdom, pent-up desires, and street smarts than she's willing to let on. Mike Leonard September 05.

"The Country Girl" is certainly a superior drama, one that has everything necessary to make a classic film: excellent performances, directing, script, etc. The film tells the story of an alcoholic has-been actor (Bing Crosby) who is given a chance to star in a new show by a no-nonsense director (William Holden). The actor's dowdy wife (Grace Kelly) is bitter and hard towards her husband, but has suffered and continues to suffer with his drinking after years of marriage. Soon it appears that the wife is dragging the husband down, and the director must force her to leave... when only she can stand her husband up again.

The film makes for a taut, intense drama, with a superb Oscar-winning screenplay. Crosby was nominated for an Oscar (one which I honestly feel he deserved, for his unsettling, sobering portrayal of the has-been actor). Crosby is brilliant in his role, battling the demons of his past, having a drunken fit of violence, or even lying cunningly- Crosby runs the gamut. Kelly won the Oscar for Best Actress. Well... Kelly does have some genuinely great scenes, and she adds wonderful, subtle nuances to her intense performance, and she can do everything that an actress is supposed to do with such a role (and when she yells at Holden in one scene, it is pretty scary)... but sometimes it just seems like watching Grace Kelly without makeup. Kelly was indeed a very talented actress, and the performance was certainly worthy of a nomination, but that year... I really feel that Judy Garland's performance in "A Star Is Born" is the better performance, for Garland's dramatic abilities and human honesty literally stun and tear the viewer's heart to pieces. I hate to sound so cynical, but in that performance, Kelly deglamorized herself and really acted for the first time. She won the Oscar. Forgive me.

Even so, the film is still a dramatic and sometimes disturbing picture. William Holden's restrained performance adds a nice coda to the film, as do George Seaton's direction. "The Country Girl" is indeed a timeless film, and one that should be watched and enjoyed over many years.

What a treat! Grace Kelly without glamour and Bing Crosby not just a smooth baritone...great story... great performances and a healthy dose of the crooner's mellow tones... recommended highly... can't look away...don't miss it!

"The Country Girl" is one of the finest films in Paramount's illustrious catalogue of library titles; a poignantly tragic love story with a show biz background, it stars Bing Crosby in a decided departure from his usual light-hearted form. Crosby is Frank Elgin, a one time musical comedy legend now barely holding it together between drinks and his guilt-ridden angst over a dark secret. Georgie (Grace Kelly) is Frank's emotionally prostrated wife and the only ray of hope in his life. Bernie Dodd (William Holden, is the parasitic director of a new Broadway play that affords Frank his last chance at the big time. Believing that Georgie is the cause of Frank's loneliness Bernie deliberately keeps her at bay, the net result; a burgeoning and not so unlikely romance brewing between the two.

Though outstanding in the pivotal role of Georgie, Grace Kelly's lacks what Judy Garland gave Esther Bloggett in 1954's A Star is Born or Gloria Swanson's maniacal rampages in Sunset Blvd. - these latter two nominated opposite Kelly for Best Actress at the Oscars. Ultimately Kelly walked off with the little gold bald guy which, in retrospect, was an error in judgment.

Based on the play by immanent playwright, Clifford Odet and with a brilliant underscoring from Harold Arlen and Victor Young, this classic, directed by George Seaton is a profoundly stirring cinematic drama.

Lots to be happy about with the video quality on this disc. Presented in full-screen, much of the film exhibits a sharp B&W image with a nicely balanced gray scale and deep, solid blacks. Contrast levels are bang on and film grain is minimal for a generally smooth image. This discs single failing is in the amount of dust and scratches visible. While some scenes are relatively clean others are riddle in blemishes that generally distract. The audio is Mono but very nicely preserved. There are no extra features on this disc.

An inocuous title for a truly remarkable film. Bing gives us a complete departure from his jocular "Road " films and encapsulates the real meaning of an Oscar performance in his tragic portrayal of a struggling alcoholic actor. Grace is the personification of the long suffering wife, yearning to be free of the emotional tribulations of devistating loss - of love, of spirit, of child. Although Grace Kelly is the only actor to win an Oscar nod in this film, it remains a study for students of the arts in its depths of emotion across the character board. I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys truly well made films.

Grace Kelly walked away with the Oscar in one of the most hotly contested Academy Awards ceremonies of the time. Her scene stealing turn as Georgie Elgin the wife of alcholic performer Frank (Bing Crosby in a marvelous performance). When Frank's career blossoms again, pressure forces many ugly secrets and anger to blossom as well threatening their marriage. With a stunning support performance by William Holden as director Bernie Dodd, "The Country Girl" holds up amazingly well due to the exceptional work of the cast and crew. George Seaton's ("The Counterfeit Traitor") direction and adapation of Clifford Odets' ("None but the Lonely Hearted") play manages to restrain the soap opera elements of the story that might have overwhelmed the dramatic possibilities of the film.

The transfer is exceptionally good but could have been better. While the black and white images have solid blacks and grays, there's a fair amount of analog blemishes in the form of scratches and dirt that occasionally do distract the viewer. Still, even with these minor blemishes the film looks better than it should given the age of the negative. The film is presented in full screen (sorry folks this wasn't shot widescreen like lots of movies at the time. Widescreen didn't really catch on till later in the 50's). The mono sound has been cleaned up a bit although there is some minor issues with hiss. "The Country Girl" still sounds remarkably rich and vibrant for a picture of its time.

Paramount has chosen to release this with no extras which is a pity. This wonderful classic certainly deserved a retrospective documentary on the production of the film (particularly since William Holden and Bing Crosby supposedly had affairs with Kelly during and after the shooting of the movie). Crosby, Kelly and Holden all give rich performances and a brief featurette on their respective careers would have been great. All three actors came from very different places as performers and their contrasting styles meshed amazingly well here.

"The Country Girl" is one of the finest films in Paramount's illustrious catalogue of library titles; a poignantly tragic love story with a show biz background, it stars Bing Crosby in a decided departure from his usual light-hearted form. Crosby is Frank Elgin, a one time musical comedy legend now barely holding it together between drinks and his guilt-ridden angst over a dark secret. Georgie (Grace Kelly) is Frank's emotionally prostrated wife and the only ray of hope in his life. Bernie Dodd (William Holden, is the parasitic director of a new Broadway play that affords Frank his last chance at the big time. Believing that Georgie is the cause of Frank's loneliness Bernie deliberately keeps her at bay, the net result; a burgeoning and not so unlikely romance brewing between the two.

Though outstanding in the pivotal role of Georgie, Grace Kelly's lacks what Judy Garland gave Esther Bloggett in 1954's A Star is Born or Gloria Swanson's maniacal rampages in Sunset Blvd. - these latter two nominated opposite Kelly for Best Actress at the Oscars. Ultimately Kelly walked off with the little gold bald guy which, in retrospect, was an error in judgment.

Based on the play by immanent playwright, Clifford Odet and with a brilliant underscoring from Harold Arlen and Victor Young, this classic, directed by George Seaton is a profoundly stirring cinematic drama.

Lots to be happy about with the video quality on this disc. Presented in full-screen, much of the film exhibits a sharp B&W image with a nicely balanced gray scale and deep, solid blacks. Contrast levels are bang on and film grain is minimal for a generally smooth image. This discs single failing is in the amount of dust and scratches visible. While some scenes are relatively clean others are riddle in blemishes that generally distract. The audio is Mono but very nicely preserved. There are no extra features on this disc.

All the stars shine in this wonderful adaptation of the play with Crosby as a former actor now turning to the bottle, Kelly as his supportive yet frustrated wife, and Holden as a young stage director wanting to make a comeback with Crosby in a new musical. Grace Kelly won a much-deserved Oscar for her pivotal role as an outspoken lady, yet it's Crosby's performance that makes this picture unforgettable. Holden also adds his easy-going charm in a role that, in my opinion, should have won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The score is terrific, as well as the memorable conclusion.

VG

It took a while for me to shine to "The Country Girl". It moves at a deliberate pace and there is a certain staginess to the proceedings. There is a virtue to the pacing for any discriminating viewer. Our assumptions about the characters and their relationships are dropped on their head and our initial reactions are not the correct ones. Some reviewers called the film drab but I would say it has a gritty realism. The three principals here are superb. Bing Crosby gives probably his best performance ever as the dependent alcoholic. Forget the Oscar. Forget the drab clothing and lack of makeup. Grace Kelly here delivers a performance of great complexity as the enabling spouse who has finally gotten to the end of her rope. The glue to the film is William Holden, the theatre director who acts as a surrogate for the audience in trying to sort out Crosby and Kelly's less than ideal relationship. An interesting and provocative film all around.