WATCH NOW
Film is as much as an expressive art as it is a form of popular entertainment. Every now and again, a film succeeds in both categories, and Auntie Mame is perhaps the ultimate example of a form and function combination of a film that is rich complex, and humorous all at the same time.
Auntie Mame is based on the novel by Edward Everett Tanner III, who used the pen name Patrick Dennis and follows the colorful life of Mame Dennis (Portrayed by Rosalind Russell), a wealthy socialite living in New York City who serendipitously adopted her orphan nephew Roger Smith (who plays the older nephew and Jan Handzlik, the younger). Mame’s goal is to help her nephew come to terms with the importance of living life to the fullest. However, her approach is fettered by the uptight banker (Fred Clark) who manages the young boy’s inheritance. The two are in constant conflict when banker Babcock eventually emerges victorious, and Patrick is sent to a boarding school while Mame embarks on a world tour with her new husband Beauregard Burnside (Forrest Tucker).
Russell is a sparkling, energetic presence who graces the screen with her talent, charm, and sense of humor. Russell created the role for Broadway in the initial-stage adaptation and when it was adapted for the screen, her performance once again received accolades. Yuki Shimoda also reprised some of his stage performance in a minor film role, along with Handzlik as the young Patrick, and Peggy Cass as Agnes Gooch, the secretary who was overly self-conscious. Russell and Cass were also nominated for Tonys and Oscars. Cass received the Tony but neither won the Oscar, although Russell did deserve it.
Also nominated for Best Picture, Auntie Mame is a colorful adaptation that is angry for the misrepresentation of life all around the globe, and therefore, strives to tell the entire story. It opposes anti-Semitism with fierce conviction, but the lessons offered could easily be transformed into acceptance regarding race, gender, or sexual orientation. This Film version is, unlike the stage musical version, able to reduce the importance of Mame’s husband in the story. Looking back at films made over fifty years ago, it can be quite hard to sift out the problematic views that accompany such films and sepia-toned lenses. Auntie Mame was able to avoid many thorny issues, even at a time when concealed and blatant racism was an unfortunate aspect of cinematic identity. Although it is essential to analyze films in the context of the eras in which they were made, Mame did a wonderful job at minimizing those issues.
As the movie develops, its characters and the events they participate in are accompanied by the Oscar Art Direction nomination which awarded a collection of remarkably fascinating from the 1950s interior designs. Unfortunately, Orry-Kelly wasn’t able to obtain a nomination for Costume Design considering the thematically complex beauty he dressed Russell’s frame into. Along with art directors, Malcolm Bert, and George James Hopkins, the film’s cinematographer, Harry Stradling, and film editor, William Ziegler, also received nominations for the Academy Awards. Even though most of the losses were to the beautiful Gigi, it remains a fault in Oscar history that the film did not gain any of the nominations.
Russel is remarkable and Auntie Mame is an exquisitely engaging film. It is the type of film that deserves a bigger following, yet its fame has reduced, perhaps due to the more successful and mainstream audiences’ desire for the Mame musical adaptation. Unlike the Lucy Ball starring abominable film adaptation of the stage musical, Auntie Mame as a film adaptation of the book and play is around in a much more celebrated form.
To watch more movies like Auntie Mame (1958) visit 123Movies.
Also Watch for more movies like:
