From the Terrace

I guess they butchered the book to keep the movie within 2 hours. The book has subtleties and plots that make this an INTERESTING chronicle of life in the 20th century for a typical upper class white male. This movie is not interesting. This features a good cast -- Newman and Woodward and Patrick O'Neal. Newman takes the harder path to success, wins the girl of his dreams (Woodward) and should live happily ever after. For some reason he falls head over heels with a girl 20 years his junior and his wife decides at the same time to return to college boyfriend O'Neal. The movie somehow manages to make Woodward look like a tramp and Newman like a long-suffering man. In reality they are both cheating. So I guess hollywood couldn't admit that there was a guaranteed network of prep school and clubs for the white protestant male. They had to rewrite the book to make it appear like Newman struggled. Then the entire WW2 sequence so important to the plot of the book is skipped which means we have a happy ending instead of a man who ends up a pathetic loser.

Paul Newman is doing his angry young man thing here, and Joanne Woodward is wonderful as she goes from rebellious rich brat to shrewish, slutty harridan. It's beautifully filmed with lots of sumptuous sets and it's obvious that a good part of the budget went to costumes. If you like movies with boozy, unhappy rich people who do little more than snipe at each other, you've got to see "From the Terrace."

Screenplay based on a novel by John O'Hara in 1958. One of a dozen films Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward did as husband and wife. They stayed married until Newman died in 2008. The film cost $3 million and grossed $5 million. So it was major deal in those days but was not a runaway success. There was quite a lot of adult content for the time which was surprising. It was certainly apt for the time but all the concern about divorce makes it a period piece but an accurate period piece. I find all the filming on sets restrictive as I am spoiled by modern location and outdoor shooting. Although it is certainly not a great work. Will give it a solid 7. RECOMMEND

This engaging 1960 Hollywood production anticipated a coming decade of changing values in America. Its script teeters a bit, emphasizing a bit more the strain of the love conflict rather than the story's real essence. This is an easy mark for critics standing by with sharp knives who may then view it as superficial. However, its real drama depicts the changing generations of an America where at one time successes was measured only by the bank account and social prominence and not by integrity, the ramifications of truth in character.

Here, we see the contrasting generations in conflict. The Old Guard embraced expediency and placed the home and its values second to business success. Once in a while, a young man came along with enough awareness to see the lie in this doctrine. FROM THE TERRACE is in its pure essence the story about such a young man. This was done with a bit more success a few years before in THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT but this drama is certainly worthwhile seeing. It is well cast and played with production values that at the time were the best that Hollywood could offer. This includes an outstanding music score by Elmer Bernstein.

Her bone structure and diction still flawless, Myrna Loy remains as handsome as most of the other females in permanent waves that populate this plush John O'Hara saga. But she's learned the hard way what a quarter of a century's drinking can do even to a woman as classy as her, and that being a nymphomaniac isn't really as much fun as she made it look in 'Love Me Tonight'.

She's extremely moving in her scenes with a dashing young Paul Newman that comprise much of the first half-hour of this very long film. But sadly the movie (SPOILER COMING:) shifts it's attention to him at her expense, and once again the sublime Myrna is wasted.