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- Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2008 10:25 pm
Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:02 am
Having Netflix available to me, I watched a film I'd never heard of before, As Young as We Are, 1958, directed by Bernard Girard, screenplay by Meyer Dolinsky, starring Robert Harland, Pippa Scott and Majel Barrett. My main interest was to see Majel Barrett BST (before Star Trek) but the revelation was PIppa Scott, who plays a young woman hired to teach English in a small town, and let's just say complications ensue when a James Dean-like young man who defends her against a pair of drunks ends up being her student in class.
For being completely off the radar, it's a good film that could have been great, or to put it another way, much better than its pedigree of being shot on a shoestring budget with a little known cast. I first thought it was an exploitation film, and there is a tinge of that in the story, but watching it unfold I was very impressed with Scott, to the point that I wanted to have coffee with this character after the end of the story and get her side of what happened, which is my litmus test for a performer who really makes me believe what I see is happening.
The first half is the best part of the film, and one can sense the filmmakers didn't have the time, ambition, or budget to figure out what to do with premise after they'd got it set up. It does feel almost like a warm-up for Splendor in the Grass, which took similar themes if not details and did a lot more with their potential.
My thoughts after seeing this film is the the 50s saw a generation of talented actors and actresses' careers run aground when coming up against the failing studio system. Pippa and scores of actors like her would have had fine careers in movies back in the day when they could make 3 to 4 a year, but when Scott was in her prime, TV was already taking over. Today that's not so bad, because generally the better roles are on television as opposed to Hollywood films, but that wasn't so true in the 60s, especially for women. My last thought is about this Netflix package-there seems to be about 10 Paramount films ready to download, and I've never heard of any of them. Is there a cache of Paramount films lurking in the wings, and are there any sleepers in this bunch?
Oh, and Barrett was good in her role, but it's clear to me that although I think she's very attractive, her features are just slightly too severe for a career as a Hollywood movie lead romantic part, probably even in an earlier era. By the end of the 50s there wasn't really a spot for a studio to nurse Scott along, and that would be doubly so for Barrett--still she made a great second banana for Pippa Scott.
For being completely off the radar, it's a good film that could have been great, or to put it another way, much better than its pedigree of being shot on a shoestring budget with a little known cast. I first thought it was an exploitation film, and there is a tinge of that in the story, but watching it unfold I was very impressed with Scott, to the point that I wanted to have coffee with this character after the end of the story and get her side of what happened, which is my litmus test for a performer who really makes me believe what I see is happening.
The first half is the best part of the film, and one can sense the filmmakers didn't have the time, ambition, or budget to figure out what to do with premise after they'd got it set up. It does feel almost like a warm-up for Splendor in the Grass, which took similar themes if not details and did a lot more with their potential.
My thoughts after seeing this film is the the 50s saw a generation of talented actors and actresses' careers run aground when coming up against the failing studio system. Pippa and scores of actors like her would have had fine careers in movies back in the day when they could make 3 to 4 a year, but when Scott was in her prime, TV was already taking over. Today that's not so bad, because generally the better roles are on television as opposed to Hollywood films, but that wasn't so true in the 60s, especially for women. My last thought is about this Netflix package-there seems to be about 10 Paramount films ready to download, and I've never heard of any of them. Is there a cache of Paramount films lurking in the wings, and are there any sleepers in this bunch?
Oh, and Barrett was good in her role, but it's clear to me that although I think she's very attractive, her features are just slightly too severe for a career as a Hollywood movie lead romantic part, probably even in an earlier era. By the end of the 50s there wasn't really a spot for a studio to nurse Scott along, and that would be doubly so for Barrett--still she made a great second banana for Pippa Scott.
"You can't top pigs with pigs."
Walt Disney, responding to someone who asked him why he didn't immediately do a sequel to The Three Little Pigs
Walt Disney, responding to someone who asked him why he didn't immediately do a sequel to The Three Little Pigs
