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Period of Adjustment
Some terrific performances from a young cast at the beginning of their careers help to make a talky but entertaining comedy from 1962 called Period of Adjustment worth your time.
George Haverstick (Jim Hutton) and his new bride Lil' Bit (Jane Fonda) climb into a hearse and arrive on the doorstep of George's old war buddy Ralph Bates (Anthony Franciosa) on Christmas Eve, shortly after Ralph's wife, Dorothea (Lois Nettleton) has walked out on him.
This comedy is actually the film version of a play by Tennessee Williams that premiered on Broadway in 1960. Williams is not a playwright known for producing a lot of laughs in his work but Isobel Lennart's screenplay does attempt to open up the play and make it play more like a movie, though it never really escapes its stage origins.
The subject matter also seems to be a bit for foreign territory for Williams...this view of two different marriages in two very different places often plays like a TV sitcom with typical male vs female views on the institution of marriage but about halfway through the proceedings, those lengthy and allegedly deep monologues that Williams was so famous for creep their way into the story and you do see Williams' style come through, which really doesn't work for what is supposed to be a comedy.
What makes this film work is some really first rate performances by a quartet of stars who weren't really stars yet. Jane Fonda is a bit on the shrill side, brings another entertaining sex kitten part to the screen and Jim Hutton is absolutely charming as George, the war vet with the shakes that defy medical explanation but brought him and Lil Bit together. Nettleton is dark and fragile as Dorothea, but Franciosa easily walks away with the acting honors as Ralph, a guy whose honesty about the mistakes he's made in his marriage doesn't qualify him for husband of the year either. John McGiver and Mabel Albertson are also fun as Dorothea's parents, but the acting quartet at the center of this comedy will definitely hold your attention.
Some terrific performances from a young cast at the beginning of their careers help to make a talky but entertaining comedy from 1962 called Period of Adjustment worth your time.
George Haverstick (Jim Hutton) and his new bride Lil' Bit (Jane Fonda) climb into a hearse and arrive on the doorstep of George's old war buddy Ralph Bates (Anthony Franciosa) on Christmas Eve, shortly after Ralph's wife, Dorothea (Lois Nettleton) has walked out on him.
This comedy is actually the film version of a play by Tennessee Williams that premiered on Broadway in 1960. Williams is not a playwright known for producing a lot of laughs in his work but Isobel Lennart's screenplay does attempt to open up the play and make it play more like a movie, though it never really escapes its stage origins.
The subject matter also seems to be a bit for foreign territory for Williams...this view of two different marriages in two very different places often plays like a TV sitcom with typical male vs female views on the institution of marriage but about halfway through the proceedings, those lengthy and allegedly deep monologues that Williams was so famous for creep their way into the story and you do see Williams' style come through, which really doesn't work for what is supposed to be a comedy.
What makes this film work is some really first rate performances by a quartet of stars who weren't really stars yet. Jane Fonda is a bit on the shrill side, brings another entertaining sex kitten part to the screen and Jim Hutton is absolutely charming as George, the war vet with the shakes that defy medical explanation but brought him and Lil Bit together. Nettleton is dark and fragile as Dorothea, but Franciosa easily walks away with the acting honors as Ralph, a guy whose honesty about the mistakes he's made in his marriage doesn't qualify him for husband of the year either. John McGiver and Mabel Albertson are also fun as Dorothea's parents, but the acting quartet at the center of this comedy will definitely hold your attention.