Daisy Kenyon
Posted: January 3rd, 2008, 1:43 pm
I'm sticking this thread in "Dramas" even though Fox will be releasing it on dvd under it's Noir banner.
Fur mein Herr I braved the cold and went to see Daisy Kenyon last night and it was worth it to me. Worth it to renew and expand my appreciation of how good Dana Andrews is in this movie. He really sweeps away the show and it's much more apparent on the big screen what a consumate actor he was. He seldom was more commanding and charismatic than he is as Dan O'Mara, the rude, egotistical, but rudely and egotistically charming lawyer who forms the sharpest point of the triangle with Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. This is the kind of melodrama I can't get enough of. It's one of Otto Preminger's "talky" pictures referred to by Mr. Hirsch, with plenty of gusto in the script. The movie also has its share of flaws but I never feel competent enough to talk about a picture's weaknesses as I can gush over its strengths.
Aside from Dana Andrews, I will also give both Joan and Henry their due. Joan is definitely still classic Joan here, but considerably "Toned" down (ha!) and Henry delivers a slyly subdued performance, convincing me that Daisy really is better off with him than with Dan. And that's not easy to do. I'm not sure if everyone will agree that Preminger does a good job of analyzing how people know what they really want and whether what they feel is love or not, but at least he presents an engrossing "case study". The dialogue, as I said, is clever, funny and terse---and occasionally unintentionally funny ("I never thought you were worth killing before...")---but the performances are all sincere---with the exception of Ruth Warrick as the wife. Poor thing, it's a lousey role to play in real life and surely no easier on screen, especially as written. She's not given much common sense to work with so how else could she play it other than as an hysteric? In fact, I don't recall ever seeing Ruth Warrick so emotional; her discarded wife in Citizen Kane this is NOT.
Back to Danaville. Most interesting (and entertaining) to me was the way Dan O'Mara played that "love ya baby" routine with everyone in his circle: relations, employer, Maitre-d' or mistress, they were all "honeybuches" to him. It made him seem likable and at the same time kept everyone at a distance, emotionally. Andrews had much to be proud of in this overlooked performance---he manages to hit all the right buttons and even bring nuance to a potentially florid character. By contrast, Henry Fonda is decidedly one-note, though it's a pleasing enough note. Where Fonda is most effective is when he simply and eloquently talks about his dead wife. He wisely paces his style to a slow burn as counterpoint to all the extravagances and scenery chewing provided by the other leads. It endangers his performance to near obliteration but I think he manages to make his presence felt. And his last line is one of the best.
The last few scenes---all but the very last one, are the most uneven to me. They seem to descend into the realm of cheap melodrama until Otto yanks them back --- or the screenwriter, with some pithy but sardonic dialogue and, again, the sincerity of the performances.
One more word about Joan Crawford. I truly prefer her in this kind of honest attempt to turn in something sincere because she certainly had all the background in the world to draw on for hyper-emotional scenes, making it entirely unnecessary for her to rely so much on technique and her tried-and-true trademark stylizing. Many of her fans prefer her more manic and over-the-top, but I think the high energy she possessed was more appealingly presented in the early thirties romantic comedies than later on in her more celebrated virago roles. As Daisy Kenyon, she comes as close to balancing the two extremes (tough/together vs. falling apart) as she ever did. Not that you won't lack for those "classic Joan" moments if any of you do rent or buy Daisy Kenyon when it comes to dvd in March.
If I'd been around when this movie was released in theaters (1947), it would have been one of those flicks I'd have gone back again and again to wallow in. In other words, I'm not sure if guys will like this movie as much as women.
Fur mein Herr I braved the cold and went to see Daisy Kenyon last night and it was worth it to me. Worth it to renew and expand my appreciation of how good Dana Andrews is in this movie. He really sweeps away the show and it's much more apparent on the big screen what a consumate actor he was. He seldom was more commanding and charismatic than he is as Dan O'Mara, the rude, egotistical, but rudely and egotistically charming lawyer who forms the sharpest point of the triangle with Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. This is the kind of melodrama I can't get enough of. It's one of Otto Preminger's "talky" pictures referred to by Mr. Hirsch, with plenty of gusto in the script. The movie also has its share of flaws but I never feel competent enough to talk about a picture's weaknesses as I can gush over its strengths.
Aside from Dana Andrews, I will also give both Joan and Henry their due. Joan is definitely still classic Joan here, but considerably "Toned" down (ha!) and Henry delivers a slyly subdued performance, convincing me that Daisy really is better off with him than with Dan. And that's not easy to do. I'm not sure if everyone will agree that Preminger does a good job of analyzing how people know what they really want and whether what they feel is love or not, but at least he presents an engrossing "case study". The dialogue, as I said, is clever, funny and terse---and occasionally unintentionally funny ("I never thought you were worth killing before...")---but the performances are all sincere---with the exception of Ruth Warrick as the wife. Poor thing, it's a lousey role to play in real life and surely no easier on screen, especially as written. She's not given much common sense to work with so how else could she play it other than as an hysteric? In fact, I don't recall ever seeing Ruth Warrick so emotional; her discarded wife in Citizen Kane this is NOT.
Back to Danaville. Most interesting (and entertaining) to me was the way Dan O'Mara played that "love ya baby" routine with everyone in his circle: relations, employer, Maitre-d' or mistress, they were all "honeybuches" to him. It made him seem likable and at the same time kept everyone at a distance, emotionally. Andrews had much to be proud of in this overlooked performance---he manages to hit all the right buttons and even bring nuance to a potentially florid character. By contrast, Henry Fonda is decidedly one-note, though it's a pleasing enough note. Where Fonda is most effective is when he simply and eloquently talks about his dead wife. He wisely paces his style to a slow burn as counterpoint to all the extravagances and scenery chewing provided by the other leads. It endangers his performance to near obliteration but I think he manages to make his presence felt. And his last line is one of the best.
The last few scenes---all but the very last one, are the most uneven to me. They seem to descend into the realm of cheap melodrama until Otto yanks them back --- or the screenwriter, with some pithy but sardonic dialogue and, again, the sincerity of the performances.
One more word about Joan Crawford. I truly prefer her in this kind of honest attempt to turn in something sincere because she certainly had all the background in the world to draw on for hyper-emotional scenes, making it entirely unnecessary for her to rely so much on technique and her tried-and-true trademark stylizing. Many of her fans prefer her more manic and over-the-top, but I think the high energy she possessed was more appealingly presented in the early thirties romantic comedies than later on in her more celebrated virago roles. As Daisy Kenyon, she comes as close to balancing the two extremes (tough/together vs. falling apart) as she ever did. Not that you won't lack for those "classic Joan" moments if any of you do rent or buy Daisy Kenyon when it comes to dvd in March.
If I'd been around when this movie was released in theaters (1947), it would have been one of those flicks I'd have gone back again and again to wallow in. In other words, I'm not sure if guys will like this movie as much as women.