The Trip to Bountiful

This is a wonderful example of why television in the 1950's was known as the golden age. Lillian Gish gives a wonderful performance in the role Geraldine Page later won an Oscar for. She is an older lady looking to return to her hometown of Bountiful so she can regain her dignity and her happiness there. It is probably her best performance on film, except for The Night of the Hunter. Film also features John Beal as her weak son and an early Eileen Heckart performance as her annoying and selfish daughter-in-law. Both give fine performances. Also there is the beautiful young Eva Marie Saint in one of her many live television performances as the young war bride who Gish befriends on the bus trip to Bountiful. This was written for television by Horton Foote and it is a truly moving and beautiful hour.