The Country Girl

I accidentally came across this movie on a classic movie channel and decided to watch. I have never considered Bing Crosby or Grace Kelly to be academy award winning actors, and I knew little of William Holden's acting abilities. I was both surprised and moved to tears in watching the compelling performances of these actors. I forgot that they were the "stars" and only saw them as the desperate individuals that they portrayed. I also realized that scripts like those no longer appear in contemporary films. Each word chosen for it's precision, poignancy and heart. Also surprising is how well the disease of alcoholism was understood even at that time, although there are sadly still many in society today who lack that level of sophistication to fully comprehend the agonizing aspects of alcoholism both to the individual addict and his family. Brilliantly performed by all! Thank you.

Adapted from the stage play of the same name, the narrative follows fading star Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby) whose drinking and shunning of any responsibility over the years has completely taken a toll on his relationship with his rather worn-out wife Georgie (Grace Kelly). He gets a chance at redemption when Bernie Dodd (William Holden) recruits him to star in a stage play.

Frank had been a big musical and theatrical hit at one time, but now he's eking out a living singing for commercials and living in a shabby apartment. Frank tends to be a shape-shifter. He badly wants to be liked, so when he hears Dodd talk about his bad marriage, he makes up a story about Georgie that paints her as a hopeless alcoholic who has had multiple suicide attempts and tries to live her life through controlling his. Dodd believes this story because he WANTS to believe this story -it rather mirrors the story of his own failed marriage. In fact it is Georgie propping up alcoholic Frank, not vice-versa. I'm not spoiling anything here, because all of this is clearly shown. How does this work out? Watch and find out.

This is passable enough entertainment, but it seems like a stage play that is filmed, just like every stage play that Mervin LeRoy ever directed as a film. In fact, after I saw this, I went to look up the director, thinking it might be LeRoy - it was not. As for Grace Kelly, I couldn't see how she could have won the Best Actress Oscar for this. She's not bad or unauthentic, but she doesn't come close to knocking it out of the park like she did in "High Noon" where she wasn't even nominated. I can only explain it by Kelly daring to look drab throughout the proceedings and 1954 being a weak year for performances by an actress.

Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, & William Holden all give what I consider to be their best performances. Crosby plays a neurotic drunk, and is just unbelievable. Or should I say is quite believable. I didn't know he could act, but can he ever. Grace Kelly is his frumpy wife. Not her usual type-cast character, either. Even though it's pretty much a forgotten film, a must-see for classic movie fans.

All the other comments here-on the quality of the three leads' acting, the somberness of the film, the plot, etc--I agree w/ pretty much. For me the standout was not Grace but Bing. He was cast vs type the most and if anyone deserved an oscar here, it was him. Grace was fine, but still-it's like seeing Michelle Pfieffer or Theresa Russell playing frumpy-it don't really work.

Typical solid 50's dramatics, Holden in his element as always, very believable.

***1/2 outta ****

It has long been assumed that, had the music been eliminated from "The Country Girl" and, in the process, taking emphasis off Bing Crosby's singing and more on his acting, he would have certainly beaten Marlon Brando for the Oscar of 1954. Crosby is extraordinary in this film, playing an alcoholic, washed-up actor/singer with few if any redeemable qualities. William Holden, as the director of a new Broadway musical, insists that Bing be cast in the lead role, even though he is painfully aware of the actor's history. Grace Kelly is Bing's misunderstood wife. While all three performances are first rate, it is Crosby who stands so far above the others, especially considering Hollywood's idea of realism in 1954. Kelly, on the other hand, who DID win an Oscar as best actress, seems workmanlike but not of that acting calibur. Miss Kelly was such a glamorous "star" that simply putting her in a frumpy housedress does not a plain and ordinary housewife make! Her last scene, in which she appears in a very elegant evening gown (but with glasses to downplay her beauty) is completely unconvincing. But, taken as a whole, "The Country Girl" is great video viewing!