Word: film
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Dates: during 1950-1950
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...year. The manager of the Astor Theater is happy: not only is his theater well-filled even on afternoons, but his floor is so well-washed with tears that it must need only a dry mop at the end of the day. And, of course, the audience this film has found is happy: they must be telling their friends that "My Foolish Heart" is like a beautiful soap-opera come true...
This unabashedly tearful and trite film is the work of several talented people. It is based on a New Yorker short story entitled "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut." ("Poor, little Uncle Wiggily," says Miss Hayward, speaking of herself, "always trying to be helpful and always getting hurt.") The director is Mark Robson who directed "Champion" and "Home of the Brave." Miss Hayward, as well as Robert Keith, who plays her weary-wise father, are quite satisfactory in their roles. I doubt that Miss Hayward is deserving of an "Oscar" for this film, but as unwed mothers and alcoholies have won over...
...Douglas gives plenty of vitality to the central role, but he is called on to repeat a good deal of what he did in Champion; one scene, in which he bangs a trumpet to pieces and breaks into sobs, is almost a remake of the climax of his earlier film. Having discovered what Actor Douglas does best, Hollywood apparently is determined to work him to death...
...very successful film versions of operas which have been sent over here recently from Italy--"Before Him All Rome Trembled" (La Tosea) and "The Lost One" (La Traviata)--have made some concessions to the customs of moviegoers. Each had talented and handsome actors, opera-type histrionics were minimized, the scenery was clean and smoothly pressed, and--most of all--the plot was made as plausible as a reasonable person should expect. In short, the producers were making a movie, not filming an opera...
Though "Rigoletto" is irritating for its failure to make use of the latitude the cinema offers, it is nevertheless a film no opera-lover should miss. Both vocally and dramatically, it is doubtful if a better "Rigoletto" could be arranged. Tito Gobbi, in the title role, is likely to make a lasting impression on the spectator. In both his sound and his fury, he is a thrill to hear and see. All of the other parts are well done; notably Anna Maria Canali as Maddalena and Marcella Govini as Gilda. I feared for a while that Miss Govini...