Mourning Becomes Electra (B or 3/4 stars)
Well, if you've ever wanted to see what a full-blown Opera would look like - except, without the sopranos & baritones singing to the rafters - than you'll get that and MORE in Dudley Nichol's crazed screen adaptation of 'Mourning Becomes Electra'. This long, talky film is based on an ancient Greek tragedy play, but set in 1865 New England. The Mannons - Ezra (Raymond Massey) & Christine (Katina Paxinou), and their grown, devoted children Lavinia (Rosalind Russell) & Orin (Michael Redgrave) - are a wealthy, well respected family living in Civil War-era Massachusetts. Ezra is a General in the Union army & a war hero. Christine is a vain, aging harpy. Lavinia seems destined to marry her childhood friend, Peter (Kirk Douglas), while Orin seems destined to marry Peter's lovely sister, Hazel.
But some people in town realize that the Mannon's dignified public facade masks some damaging hidden issues. Indeed ... the Mannons are quite the dysfunctional family. QUITE. Dysfunctional is an understatement. Lavinia has a 'special' bond/fixation with her father, Ezra, & Orin has a 'special' bond/fixation with his mother, Christine; both relationships border on the romantic, if not exactly incestuous. For Ezra & Christine, that 'romantic' love for their children replaces what is completely missing from their marriage. Ezra loves his wife Christine, but doesn't receive affection back from her -- he does not realize the deep-seated loathing that she holds for him. Everything really starts to fall apart for the family after Ezra & a wounded Orin come home from fighting in the war.
Lavinia, in love with Capt. Adam Brant (Leo Genn), learns that he is actually having an affair with none other than her own mother! Jealousy turns into hatred as Lavinia then learns a dark, long-buried secret about Adam's true parentage. As Adam & Christine plan for a long life together (including a plot to poison/murder unassuming Ezra), Lavinia desperately tries to convince her mama's boy brother of their mother's infidelity and ... the (in)appropriate actions to take. The stage is set for this messed-up brother/sister team to start seeking revenge on various parties. Everyone basically starts losing their minds. And the resulting events lead to a bizarre concoction of further incestuous leanings, blackmail, violence, murder, suicides, and seclusion. Cheery stuff, right? {haha}
Oh, boy. So, 'Mourning Becomes Electra' is one of these awkward, lumbering monsters that I kinda dug despite thinking that the direction is flawed and most of the performers are miscast -- more on the cast later. 'Mourning Becomes Electra' received fairly positive reviews at the time of its release, yet bombed pretty badly at the box office. That's because the production budget was high and because: in the wake of WWII, most audiences weren't chomping at the bit to sit through a depressing, wordy melodrama for 160 minutes. As for my own opinion of the film: I found it to be a wildly theatrical, yet somewhat static experience that felt like I was watching a play. Having said that, it's a thematically rich film with heavy psychological material that I just love – it is meaty stuff that these actors bite into.
And bite into it, they do. Rosalind Russell is a bit of a conundrum in this role, for me. She dominates the screen whenever she's on it. She's in the film for most of the proceedings. It's a very complex role that she has to undertake. Having said that, there are problematic quirks in the Russell performance that we tend to see from her whether she's playing a comedic role or dramatic. She tends to pull her pace in ways that looks humorous, when she's probably meaning to be serious. Furthermore, she (like most of the cast) is too old for her part. She's probably supposed to be playing someone in her mid-20s, not the 39 she actually was (again, ditto that for the whole cast). But Russell is more than effective in most of her big scenes. And I understand why she nearly won the Best Actress Oscar for 1947.
Oscar-nominated Michael Redgrave is excellent as the haunted Orin. He's sympathetic, vulnerable, yet also commanding & scary when the story called for it. Katina Paxinou gives an overblown performance that made me both cringe & sit in awe with equal measure. Overblown or not, she has dark, darting eyes that pierce the screen. Raymond Massey comes off very well in the limited father role. And Kirk Douglas impresses in one of his 1st major films. The biggest fault of the film, for me, is in Dudley Nichol's direction/writing. The play (6 hours long) is really too complex for a film version (already cut to 160 minutes). This means that some scenes lack the necessary breathing room that is called for them. Overall, I give this movie 3 stars or a "B" rating; not a B for absolute quality, but more of a relative B ... relative to other demanding films of the era. Flaws & all, I appreciate this film's complexity, its weighty themes, & even the erratic vigor of the performances.
But some people in town realize that the Mannon's dignified public facade masks some damaging hidden issues. Indeed ... the Mannons are quite the dysfunctional family. QUITE. Dysfunctional is an understatement. Lavinia has a 'special' bond/fixation with her father, Ezra, & Orin has a 'special' bond/fixation with his mother, Christine; both relationships border on the romantic, if not exactly incestuous. For Ezra & Christine, that 'romantic' love for their children replaces what is completely missing from their marriage. Ezra loves his wife Christine, but doesn't receive affection back from her -- he does not realize the deep-seated loathing that she holds for him. Everything really starts to fall apart for the family after Ezra & a wounded Orin come home from fighting in the war.
Lavinia, in love with Capt. Adam Brant (Leo Genn), learns that he is actually having an affair with none other than her own mother! Jealousy turns into hatred as Lavinia then learns a dark, long-buried secret about Adam's true parentage. As Adam & Christine plan for a long life together (including a plot to poison/murder unassuming Ezra), Lavinia desperately tries to convince her mama's boy brother of their mother's infidelity and ... the (in)appropriate actions to take. The stage is set for this messed-up brother/sister team to start seeking revenge on various parties. Everyone basically starts losing their minds. And the resulting events lead to a bizarre concoction of further incestuous leanings, blackmail, violence, murder, suicides, and seclusion. Cheery stuff, right? {haha}
Oh, boy. So, 'Mourning Becomes Electra' is one of these awkward, lumbering monsters that I kinda dug despite thinking that the direction is flawed and most of the performers are miscast -- more on the cast later. 'Mourning Becomes Electra' received fairly positive reviews at the time of its release, yet bombed pretty badly at the box office. That's because the production budget was high and because: in the wake of WWII, most audiences weren't chomping at the bit to sit through a depressing, wordy melodrama for 160 minutes. As for my own opinion of the film: I found it to be a wildly theatrical, yet somewhat static experience that felt like I was watching a play. Having said that, it's a thematically rich film with heavy psychological material that I just love – it is meaty stuff that these actors bite into.
And bite into it, they do. Rosalind Russell is a bit of a conundrum in this role, for me. She dominates the screen whenever she's on it. She's in the film for most of the proceedings. It's a very complex role that she has to undertake. Having said that, there are problematic quirks in the Russell performance that we tend to see from her whether she's playing a comedic role or dramatic. She tends to pull her pace in ways that looks humorous, when she's probably meaning to be serious. Furthermore, she (like most of the cast) is too old for her part. She's probably supposed to be playing someone in her mid-20s, not the 39 she actually was (again, ditto that for the whole cast). But Russell is more than effective in most of her big scenes. And I understand why she nearly won the Best Actress Oscar for 1947.
Oscar-nominated Michael Redgrave is excellent as the haunted Orin. He's sympathetic, vulnerable, yet also commanding & scary when the story called for it. Katina Paxinou gives an overblown performance that made me both cringe & sit in awe with equal measure. Overblown or not, she has dark, darting eyes that pierce the screen. Raymond Massey comes off very well in the limited father role. And Kirk Douglas impresses in one of his 1st major films. The biggest fault of the film, for me, is in Dudley Nichol's direction/writing. The play (6 hours long) is really too complex for a film version (already cut to 160 minutes). This means that some scenes lack the necessary breathing room that is called for them. Overall, I give this movie 3 stars or a "B" rating; not a B for absolute quality, but more of a relative B ... relative to other demanding films of the era. Flaws & all, I appreciate this film's complexity, its weighty themes, & even the erratic vigor of the performances.