Veteran MacMurray & Newcomer Novak in ‘Pushover’ 1954

 

Veteran star Fred MacMurray & starlet Kim Novak in 1954's film noir, "Pushover."

The tale of an authority figure going bad for big bucks and a beautiful broad is nothing new. In its time, Pushover was a B+ movie with a veteran star who was a leading man for two decades, cast opposite a newcomer starlet with no acting experience. Luckily, Pushover had a strong story taken from two novels, a snappy, adult script and direction, and those stars happened to be Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak. MacMurray was in the process from going from leading man to character roles to future family star via Disney and sitcom My Three Sons. Novak went from minor model to major film star with the release of Pushover. A sleeper hit at the time, Pushover is considered by many a noir classic today.

Note how Kim Novak's outfit and makeup differ in this p.r. photo
than the actual scene depicted at the top from 1954's "Pushover."

Richard Quine directed this crime noir tautly and stylishly. He went from acting to directing about this time, and got praise for handling another B+ film noir with a veteran star: Ride a Crooked Mile with Mickey Rooney. After Pushover, he surprisingly went on to direct mostly romantic comedies. Quine began a professional and occasionally personal association with Kim, and handled her quite well as an actress. Kim was a model with two film credits as an extra to her resume. He worked with her strengths, which was her beauty, sensuality, and vulnerability, which pretty much remained her calling card as an actress. 

Kim Novak spends much screen time silently as Lona McLane in 1954's "Pushover."

Kim Novak, like the later Tippi Hedren, became a star before she developed skills as an actress. Director Quine gave her as little dialogue as possible, photographing her viewed by cops through binoculars, or silently driving in the night, and gazing at herself in mirrors. From the get-go, Kim's first role as Lona McLane was as an object of desire, which Hitchcock utilized best four years in Vertigo. In less voyeuristic ways, Kim was the pretty prize in her breakout star role in Picnic, Jeanne Eagels, Strangers When We Meet, and even her final big movie, The Legend of Lylah Clare. Novak was on the eve of turning 21 during filming of Pushover. Kim is slim, yet curvy and very pretty, though stuck with studio assembly line makeup and hair that make her look a bit tarty—however, it fit the role. Soon after, she'd get the big studio makeover. Despite her trance-like performance, Kim elicits empathy as she goes from a kept woman who schemes to get her bank robber boyfriend’s loot, to a woman who genuinely cares about a crooked cop, played by Fred MacMurray.

Fred MacMurray looked frankly midde-aged as dirty cop Paul Sheridan
in 1954's "Pushover."

Most actors wouldn't want to be cast as middle-aged, even if they actually were. But Fred MacMurray plays the role of Paul Sheridan with no script or visual camouflage. His veteran cop is a bitter about his lot in life, compared to his younger partner, played by Phil Carey. Paul wants to get his hands on the bank robber’s cash stash. MacMurray is photographed jowls and all in his mid-40s, compared to 25 years younger Novak, who get the lovely close-ups. Fred's dirty cop first plays Kim's kept girl, only to fall in love with her. Later, you find out the feeling is gradually mutual from Lona. MacMurray plays basically an older version of his character from Double Indemnity, but more realistically than his previous cad. I never found Fred the most exciting actor in the world, but always thought him more interesting as the bad guy.

Before he was soap bad guy Asa Buchanan, Philip Carey was a good & good-looking
 cop partner in 1954's "Pushover."

As for Philip Carey as McAllister, I wonder why he didn't become a big, mid-century movie star. He was talented, masculine, charismatic, and good-looking. I can think of a number of young actors from the late '40s and early '50s who were given the leading man treatment, but ended up character actors because audiences weren't buying. Carey always worked, but often in westerns and TV guest shots. Much later, Carey became a star, as daytime's version of J.R. Ewing, Asa Buchanan on One Life to Live.

Before Dorothy Malone went platinum, she was the nice nurse next door to sex bomb
 Kim Novak in 1954's "Pushover." With nice cop Phil Carey!

Dorothy Malone, who had been kicking around Hollywood for a decade, as opposed to Kim's instant rise, played the brunette neighbor nurse of Novak’s kept woman. A decade older than Novak, Malone makes the most of her second female lead. It's also amusing that Carey’s good cop is peeping on her Ann Stewart, while bad cop MacMurray is peeping on Novak’s Lona. An easy way to change a golden era actress' image was to dye her hair. Lana and Marilyn's careers took off once they went platinum, and Joan Bennett got a new career by going brunette. This was Malone's last role as with dark hair. She went platinum for 1955's Young at Heart. Her career took off, winning an Oscar for her bad girl in Written on the Wind. 

Like Marilyn Monroe, Kim Novak didn't have much use for bras, either!
With Fred MacMurray as the cop who falls for her, in 1954's "Pushover."

One thing that surprised me was how much got past the censors in Pushover. The production code was starting to erode, but still very much in place. But some of the double entendre dialogue, ala Double Indemnity, is not very subtle. Plus, Kim is obviously bra-less in several outfits, on which the camera lingers. Both Novak and Malone's characters get some fresh attention directed at them, rather blatantly. Not that I'm complaining! I roll my eyes at old movies where prostitutes had to be called hostesses or models, but it’s just surprising here.

Who's playin' who? In film noir, it can be hard to tell! Fred MacMurray & Kim Novak
 in 1954's crime drama, "Pushover."

The bottom line with 1954’s Pushover is that while it's nothing new, it was filmed and performed in fine noir style. The story is told in a very adult way for its time, which is one of the reasons it still holds up. Another reason Pushover still appeals is it’s the first time audiences got to see Kim Novak on film.

Kim Novak's last close-up as the bad girl gone good, in 1954's "Pushover."

Here’s an excellent adult soap, starring Kim Novak and Kirk Douglas, directed by Richard Quine: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2019/02/kim-kirk-team-for-suburban-soap-opera.html

 

 

 

“The Legend of Lylah Clare” 1968

Kim Novak as Elsa Brinkmann, facing the press in "The Legend of Lylah Clare." 
The scene is afternoon, but the window's view always says sunset in Transylvania!

Robert Aldrich, one of the least subtle directors ever, made one of his most outlandish and personal films in 1968, The Legend of Lylah Clare. The 130 minute Tinseltown tale was taken from a 60 minute ‘63 TV drama. Aldrich loved showbiz gothic—imagine The Big Knife, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, and The Legend of Lylah Clare in a triple feature.

How many camp classics feature the star madly slashing away at a portrait?!

This type of hothouse Hollywood story was out of style by the late '60s, when gritty new movie realism had taken hold. What we have here is a Sunset Boulevard-esque show biz mystery: What Really Happened to Lylah Clare?

Those Kim as Elsa portrays '30s star "Lylah Clare," Novak's style says '60s, baby!

Kim Novak plays the legendary title character AND wannabe Elsa Brinkmann. Lylah’s agent, Bart Langner, who discovered the late star, comes across the dead ringer starlet. Thinking he’s struck lightning twice, Bart takes her to Lewis Zarken, Lylah’s late director—and husband, for a day! Skeptical, he runs roughshod over Elsa, though she turns out to be a diamond in the rough. Soon, the starlet is groomed to play Lylah in a big screen bio epic. Along the way, Elsa starts channeling Lylah that borders on obsession…or possession? To describe the byzantine plot any further would require many spoilers and a flow chart.

Tuesday Weld at 20 played Lylah as a fragile Monroe-type starlet.

While Tuesday Weld played TV’s Lylah as a Marilyn Monroe-esque type, Kim's movie Lylah is written as a Garbo/Dietrich-esque icon. Both Lylahs are controlled by a domineering director and claustrophobic Hollywood mindset. The TV version focuses on what Hollywood does to fragile personalities, having been filmed a year after Marilyn Monroe's sudden and shocking death. The expanded movie version gives director Aldrich ample opportunity to take his pot shots at Hollywood, both old and new. Some criticisms are still relevant today, like moviemaking as a mainly tie-in venture, the public's acceptance of anything that's dished up to them as truth, etc. And old Hollywood gets skewered with their crass moguls, bitchy gossip columnists, and movie legends with lurid off-screen lives. 

Kim Novak at 35 played Lylah ala Dietrich/Garbo, here portraying "Anna Christie."

With the exception of Kim Novak, the cast cannot be faulted for the mind-bending awfulness of The Legend of Lylah Clare. It's the absurd, literal screenplay. Robert Thom wrote the original teleplay, but some Aldrich associates with slim resumes wrote the film screenplay, along with Bob’s heavy hand, no doubt.

Elsa/Lylah gives the hunky Italian gardener the Hollywood handshake 
in "The Legend of Lylah Clare, as the Svengali director looks on.

The supporting cast plays types, often stereotypes, but they get the job done. Peter Finch has great fun as the egotistical director, based on Svengali-types of Hollywood past like Josef von Sternberg, Mauritz Stiller, and Erich von Stroheim. Peter's at his most rugged, silver fox best, and he's quite convincing in this cartoonish role. Notice how Peter Finch in flashback as the evil genius sports the same goatee as Kenneth Branagh in his flashbacks from Dead Again. Finch has the film’s most absurd lines and relishes every one of them! Yet, in the few moments of melancholy, Finch is genuinely touching.

In one of the many absurd flashbacks, Peter Finch as the mad director sports a goatee.

...which reminded me of Kenneth Branagh
in HIS maestro flashbacks from "Dead Again!"

 

Everyone assumed that Coral Browne as Molly Luther was playing a mix of Louella Parsons, with her grumpy cat face, and Hedda Hopper, all queen bee snappishness. Perhaps, but it's also a takeoff on lesser-known columnist Radie Harris, who had a wooden leg due to a childhood riding accident, and was usually in a wheelchair. Ironically, Browne was sued by Harris years prior, when she publicly asked Radie how it felt to have showbiz at her FOOT. Browne lost, but got her revenge later!

Coral Browne does a take-off on imperious columnist Radie Harris in "Lylah Clare."

Rossella Falk is quite convincing as ... Rossella! The drug addict lesbian loves Lylah, but seems to have a love/hate feeling toward Zorken, is an interesting character. Why does she stick around and put up with the director’s abuse—the drugs, their secrets? Falk makes this all very believable and empathetic.

Rossella Falk plays imaginatively named Rossella in "The Legend of Lylah Clare."

Ernest Borgnine has a ball hamming it up as the forever shouting movie mogul, Barney Sheean. His exact opposite, mild-mannered Michael Murphy, plays the son, who wants to make films! Aldrich fave George Kennedy has a cameo as Lylah's co-star in a movie within a movie of Anna Christie. 

Ernest Borgnine as the loud studio head, bargaining with Peter Finch's director,
with demurely dressed Kim Novak looking on.

Of the huge cast, the one big problem is Kim Novak. As mousy Elsa Brinkmann, Kim is vulnerable and awkward in the Vertigo mold. Kim's face and figure found her aging far more beautifully than such screen beauties as Rita, Ava, and Liz. However, Kim was 35 and a bit long in the tooth to be playing an aspiring actress. Sharon Tate, a decade younger, might have been a better choice. But that's the least of Kim's problems as Lylah Clare.

I think Kim Novak is actually prettier as "plain" Elsa Brinkmann
than as bleached blonde Lylah Clare.

Once Kim gives up Elsa's dowdy clothes and long brownish wig, Novak gets the Hollywood makeover and is transformed into the late, great Lylah Clare. Kim Novak also seems to have her own version of Wigstock going on in Lylah Clare. Kim looks fab in the Renié wardrobe and sports a variety of puffy platinum wigs and falls, accented with Novak's trademark black eyeliner and frosted lipstick. Oh, wait, isn't Kim supposed to be playing an old-time Hollywood star? Novak's about as convincing a '30s star as Carroll Baker was as Harlow. Authenticity apparently wasn’t “in” during the '60s.

Kim as Elsa starring in a Lylah Clare bio pic, got all that? With Peter Finch.

Kim Novak's 60s's style reminded me of another star
who loved wigs, black eyeliner, and frosted lipstick!

Though Kim looks more like Dusty Springfield than Hollywood golden era, Novak handles the gorgeous part, but doesn't have the flair to play the flamboyant film diva. As Lylah seems to possess Elsa, Kim throws her head back to laugh so far and wide, that you can see all of her fillings. And out from her mouth spouts a baritone German accent that sounds more like Mercedes McCambridge in The Exorcist than Hildegard Knef mimicking Marlene Dietrich. The dubbing comes off especially bad because it seems broadcast in Stereophonic sound compared to Kim’s whisper! The excruciating dialogue makes the accent sound even more absurd: "Keep your FEEL-THEE hands off me!" And her bwah-hah-hah laugh makes me think of Rocky and Bullwinkle's Natasha Badenov! Finally, in the flashbacks, the voices are slowed down, making the dubbed baritone sound especially bizarre. It’s all insane, and instantly undercuts Novak, who looks helpless as the late volatile screen siren.

Photographer Richard Avedon took a series of pictures of Kim Novak as Lylah Clare,
which are more subtle than anything in the film!

Elizabeth Taylor and Bette Davis dished up over the top self-parodies in Boom! and The Anniversary in ’68. Lana Turner and Jennifer Jones were oblivious in their late '60s camp misadventures, The Big Cube and Angel, Angel, Down We Go. But Kim seems painfully aware that she's out of her depth in Lylah Clare. She doesn't just cruise along in like Lana and Jen, or ride the wheels off like Liz and Bette. Novak looks like she wants to leap out of her vehicle!

The finale of "Lylah Clare" is a circus scene. Why? Don't ask! And don't look down!

The last act of Lylah Clare takes the cinema cake. The circus climax that “explains” Lylah’s mysterious death is beyond absurd. The film within a film finale at the premiere is a major eye roll. And the gun-wielding Rossella watching a deranged dog food commercial in the last scene is beyond “what the hell?!”

Kim Novak as Lylah Clare in her swan song... dive. Lylah dies with her tiara intact!

Gossip girl Molly Luther asks Zorken, “Aren't you borrowing from Sunset Boulevard?” Yes, and Vertigo, and Baby Jane, too. And as usual, Aldrich’s film is at least 15 minutes too long.

Rossella and director Louis' reaction to Lylah's bio pic! Bingo to the "BS" logo!

That insane soundtrack by DeVol, especially the theme, is like being put on hold by ‘60s showbiz hell. The music seems more suitable for a sitcom or romantic comedy, not a Hollywood horror story.

I loved all the paintings of Kim as Lylah Clare, which makes me wonder if artist Novak got to keep any mementos. Jaroslav Gebr is the same artist who did the paintings for the Night Gallery pilot, including the famous Joan Crawford painting, and the nostalgic title cards for The Sting.

Artist Jaroslav Gebr with his collection of Kim as Lylah Clare paintings.

Director Robert Aldrich deserves credit for owning up to this debacle and for his mishandling of Kim Novak. Classic film fans will probably find The Legend of Lylah Clare fascinating to watch. More casual movie fans will probably reach for the remote!

Kim at the "Lylah" premiere, channeling more Lylah than Elsa!

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. 

Check it out & join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865/

Like many movie paintings, I wonder who owns Kim's "Lylah Clare" portrait now?

 

‘Picnic’ 1955

William Holden & Kim Novak as the drifter & the beauty queen in 1955's "Picnic."

 

Picnic portrays the lives of quiet—or raucous, in the case of Roz Russell—desperation. Set in a small Kansas town during the 1950s, the story revolves around the effect that a charismatic young drifter has on the repressed townspeople one sizzling Labor Day.

Picnic is the Pulitzer Prize winning play by William Inge, at the height of his acclaim. The domestic drama was a huge Broadway hit that was brought to the screen by its stage director, Joshua Logan. Noteworthy about the stage version were some up-and-coming actors: Ralph Meeker as drifter Hal Carter; Paul Newman in his Broadway debut as rich kid Alan; Janice Rule as beauty queen Madge; and Kim Stanley at age 28, as kid sister Millie! Eileen Heckart portrayed Rosemary, the spinster teacher who spins out of control on Labor Day evening.

William Holden's "boyishness" act as Hal is as awkward as Kim Novak's acting. 

I’m sure Columbia Studios paid William Inge a pretty penny to bring his play to the big screen. Columbia head honcho Harry Cohn was giving Kim Novak a huge build up and decided this property would be perfect to launch her as a leading lady. Therefore, a “name” leading man was needed. Instead of going off the studio lot for a suitable male star to play the sexy young college dropout/drifter—say Brando?—Cohn chose studio homeboy William Holden to play Hal. And Harry didn’t have to pay a pretty penny for Bill, because it was the last film on Holden’s old studio contract. It’s a shame Marlon Brando did Guys and Dolls instead of Picnic. Brando was six years younger than Holden, far more boyishly charismatic.

William Holden was a fine actor, but too careworn & not carefree as Hal in "Picnic.

While Holden was an especially subtle male actor for the era, he was a decade too old for the part. What made this especially noticeable was that while Bill’s bod was still in fine form, Holden’s face was already showing signs of alcoholic dissipation at just 37. When Holden acts like an over-aged teenager, it’s especially awkward as he tries to impress Madge, played by 22-year-old Novak.

William Holden's form was fine, but his close-ups showed hard living in "Picnic."

Still, Bill had charisma, authority, and “rugged” sex appeal, so Holden as the young stud wasn’t a total dud. Hal Carter reminds me of Tennessee William’s later character, Chance Wayne, in Sweet Bird of Youth. They’re golden boys who come to a small town and stir things up, and both want to make off with the lovely ingénue. Both are Peter Pans, star athletes with aspirations of movie stardom, but neither have never amounted to anything. Ironically, Paul Newman was the same age as Holden in Picnic when he played Chance in ’62. While Newman liked his beers, it didn’t show, like the effects of whatever Holden hoisted.

Rosalind Russell lets rip on William Holden's shirt, as passions get heated in "Picnic."

An amused eye roll comes when Columbia cut the line from Picnic’s climactic dance scene: “I feel just like Rita Hayworth!” I guess they were more concerned with shining a spotlight on Columbia’s new love goddess, Kim Novak!

Cliff Robertson as the rich beau that Kim Novak's Madge "should" want, in "Picnic."

Kim as Madge is a contradiction, as often is the case with Novak’s acting. Kim’s shyness and uncertainty works for the character, and she was often cast thusly. I’m sure playing a girl who is valued mainly for her looks hit home for insecure Kim, who was treated like an object by Harry Cohn. Yet, Novak’s studio-trained mannerisms and dazed demeanor reminds me of another actress who often felt uncomfortable in front of the camera, Jennifer Jones, thrust into the spotlight by her Svengali, David O. Selznick. Kim’s Madge is an uneven performance, yet her vulnerability goes a long way, and she and Holden have a strong chemistry. Kudos to whoever decided that Novak temporarily drop her “lavender blonde” look. With her simple makeup and a long reddish brown wig, Kim looks pretty yet realistic as the local beauty queen.

Columbia Studios' blonde bombshell Kim Novak was toned down
for the small town drama "Picnic."

Rosalind Russell as Rosemary, the middle-aged teacher who boards at the Owens’ home, is another mixed blessing from the leads. Eileen Heckart was said to be a wow in the role on Broadway, though she was known to play big, too. While Roz bravely goes glamour-free and plays her age, unlike most of her contemporaries, Russell plays to the rafters far too often. It’s a tricky role, because Rosemary is an over the top character, which can be problematic when played by an actress who is often the same. As often the case with a “big” performance, Roz fares best in the smaller moments, when her Rosemary shares the fear of growing old alone. Russell is obviously a skilled actress and a smart one, but like the other lead actors in this film, she would have benefited from a more experienced film director, and not a theater director whose film work showed a heavy hand.

Rosalind Russell emotes as Rosemary, the desperate school teacher in "Picnic."

Arthur O’Connell is appealing and effortlessly believable as Howard, the store owner across the river, who sees Rosemary, but from a safe distance. Betty Field doesn’t play brassy for a change, as Madge and Millie’s mother. Field’s Flo has been deserted by her husband to raise the two girls the best she can. Betty is totally natural as a woman whose dreams are now for her daughters. Only in a ‘50s movie would Susan Strasberg be cast as the “plain” sister. Susan’s naturalistic as the brainy kid sister (with eyeglasses!). Strasberg’s as emotional as Novak is remote as the pretty sister, Millie’s outburst—“Madge is the pretty one!”—was the “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia” of the ‘50s!

Lovely Susan Strasberg is Millie, Kim Novak's "bookworm" kid sister in "Picnic."

Cliff Robertson does what he can with the role Alan, the rich, weak kid.

In the smaller supporting roles, Nick Adams is cockily amusing as Bomber, the brash neighborhood teen; Verna Felton is most endearing as the neighbor lady who’s the first to befriend Hal; and Reta Shaw is salty as a fellow teacher. The entire supporting cast is strong, but it’s the three leads that are a mixed bag.

The superb supporting cast of "Picnic" bring reality to this slice of life drama.

Others have noted that Inge, just as popular as Tennessee Williams in the ‘50s, with a string of hits, isn’t as well remembered. Well, Williams went through a period where he was considered passé, too. I’ve read that it’s perhaps that Inge’s dialogue wasn’t as poetic and quotable. Still, William Inge did write plays about real people and their problems, often small town people. Come Back, Little Sheba, Bus Stop, Picnic, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs were huge hits. On film, he wrote screenplays for Splendor in the Grass and All Fall Down. Not too shabby!

Playwright William Inge & Director Joshua Logan surely loved this opening title!

Director Joshua Logan had an incredible string of musical, comedy, and dramatic successes on Broadway. That’s probably why Logan was asked to recreate some of those stage hits on film, as well as other blockbuster productions. That said, most films I’ve seen directed by Joshua Logan all seem a bit off-kilter: Picnic, Sayonara, South Pacific, Camelot, and Paint Your Wagon. The man had mad stage credentials, but I don’t think Logan was in film making on a regular basis to learn its intricacies. In Picnic, that’s apparent with the uneven lead performances and the very intrusive music score.

Madge gets out of Dodge at the finale of 1955's "Picnic."

Picnic is one of those movies which are frequently labeled dated. Indeed a product of its time, the drama is a snapshot of the repressed ‘50s. However, how much has really changed in small towns since then? We are obviously less repressed and are able to communicate through the internet and social media. Still, how many people feel stuck and stifled in small towns, with dreams that don’t come true? As someone who lives in rural Upper MI, I see it all the time. In that sense, Picnic is timeless.

My look at Kim Novak, teamed with Sinatra, in The Man with the Golden Arm: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-man-with-golden-arm-1955.html

And here’s my take on Rosalind Russell, in her signature role as Auntie Mame: https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2020/12/rozs-signature-role-auntie-mame-1958.html

FYI: I put all the movie overflow on my public FB  movie page. 

Check it out & join!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/178488909366865/

The poster of "Picnic" promises more than it delivers--typical of the era!

Super Star Gazing in "The Mirror Crack’d" 1980

Miss Marple in "The Mirror Crack'd" turned out to be a sneak preview for
"Murder, She Wrote" and its star Angela Lansbury.

The 1980 take on the thrice-told The Mirror Crack’d looks better in retrospect than it did on release. While not in the same league as the ’74 classic, Murder on the Orient Express, this Mirror is worth a look.

Judging from reviews in recent years of The Mirror Crack’d, the film’s reputation has improved, versus the poor initial reception. When this Agatha Christie adaptation came out Christmas 1980, the response was cool, after Orient Express.1978’s Death on the Nile got a better response, though disappointing, too. When Mirror opened, without exotic locations or younger stars, Mirror’s English village and middle-aged cast seemed mild, at best.

Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak are dueling divas Marina and Lola, with Rock Hudson
as the poor director!

Some Agatha Christie fans have criticized this take on Mirror as unfaithful to the novel, The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side. Considering that the movie Mirror was conceived as a vehicle for the superstar cast, the streamlined version does keep the core story. The time frame is set back a decade—so what? And making Marina and Lola actress old enemies instead of casual, catty acquaintances is a brilliant way of condensing the story and heightening its tension. Even the two British TV remakes, more true to the book, lifted a few things from this film.

The Mirror Crack’d investigates several murders and further attempts that indicate someone is trying to kill the leading lady of a movie production. Luckily, the film folk are in proximity of ace amateur detective, Miss Marple!

Miss Marple, played by Angela Lansbury at 55, has the solution for every mystery.

Mirror benefited from lovely British locations and a stellar supporting cast that feel authentic to another era. Ironically, it’s the ‘50s star quartet who literally looks a bit generic. Taylor and Novak’s costumes, while flattering, don’t feel fab fifties at all. Hudson looks like ‘70s Rock, and Tony Curtis wears his usual bizarre suits that predate Prince’s one-of-a-kind duds. Novak sports her Lylah Clare wig and Elizabeth got Alexandre of Paris to recycle her spiky Boom! bouffant. The leading ladies wore their fave late ‘60s ‘dos, however, the film is set in 1953.

Kim, Rock, and ET in a candid shot promoting "The Mirror Crack'd."
Of the three, Rock looks best here, better than he did in the actual film!

Before the Internet and 24 hour news cycle, stars were not in our eyes 24/7. Post-Watergate reporting style on public figures had taken hold, but technology hadn’t—yet! So, back in 1980, it was one thing to see Elizabeth Taylor Warner as an overweight political wife in the tabloids, but quite another to see “Liz” looking “larger than life” on the big screen. Add dissipated Tony Curtis, distinctly middle-aged Rock Hudson, and a still-curvaceous but slightly drag queen-esque Kim Novak, all sharing the screen. For audiences, to watch their middle-aged idols, playing ‘50s movie folk, then deemed depressing. As time went by, Elizabeth, Rock, Kim, and Tony went from first viewed as falling stars, to a last chance to watch such Hollywood greats together. As a bonus, add Angela Lansbury, who soon became a beloved institution after Murder, She Wrote.

It's showbiz folk versus village sleuths in "The Mirror Crack'd."

The Mirror Crack’d was filmed the summer of 1980. At 48, Elizabeth Taylor had trimmed down a bit from her all-time high of 180-plus pounds as Senator Warner’s fried-chicken lovin’ wife. By next spring, Taylor would be down over 40 pounds for her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes. In Mirror, I’d say ET’s about half way there, and the extra weight shows more in her body than face.

They say film acting is all in the eyes. Well, ET knew how to wield those famous violet eyes!

The biggest departure from the Christie mystery was screenwriter Barry Sandler’s tweaking the story to “mirror” the legendary ‘50s stars. In the book, Taylor’s Marina Gregg was already a multi-married, middle-aged movie star making a comeback. Marina’s newest marriage and pastoral home are supposed to offer the star stability. All this sure sounds like Elizabeth Taylor Warner to me! What Sandler added was cracks about Marina’s weight and her abuse of pills. Though Marina’s nerves call for constant doses of “Calmo” in the novel, the film makes greater references to Marina/Elizabeth’s prodigious pill use. Was this already common knowledge in the business? I wonder, since Betty Ford was only three years away for ET.

Life imitated art when, in the film, Taylor’s star is referred to as Marina Gregg, but the credits list her as Marina Rudd, after the character’s latest husband, Jason Rudd. Off screen, Elizabeth reportedly requested to be billed as Elizabeth Taylor Warner, but was turned down by the studio. In retrospect, good call!

The recycled humor of  "The Mirror Crack'd" is hardly highbrow, but mildly amusing.

Considering Taylor’s latter day flair for bitchy comedy, Marina’s zingers are the least zesty aspect of her performance. This is partly because screenwriter Sandler’s wit is a bit wanting—it comes off like bitchy “ba-dum-tss” drag show patter. More than a few stale show biz jokes get recycled here, such as Taylor gazing in the mirror, wearily wishing: “Bags, bags, go away. Come right back on Doris Day.” The camera cuts to a mild double take of frequent Day co-star Rock Hudson. Director Guy Hamilton sets up the dramatic moments better than those with a comedic tempo, which comes across as abrupt or intrusive.

Maureen Bennett as Heather Babcock, Marina Gregg's biggest fan!

Still, Marina Gregg is one of Elizabeth’s best latter day portrayals. I read an interview with director Hamilton, who had great affection for Taylor, about the making of Mirror. Guy said that Elizabeth was indeed full-bodied, and though she was a good sport to spoof her figure, he instructed the camera man to take time to photograph her still-beautiful face for her big scenes. This wasn’t common practice once ‘70s realism came into vogue, and striking the balance between cinema verite and star vanity was just converging in the ‘80s. Taylor’s grand entrance, plus the extended scene where Marina is transfixed by what the first murder victim-to-be shared, is visually most generous toward Taylor. The violet flowered turban may be a bit much, but Taylor sported such headgear in her heyday. Elizabeth’s face is framed flatteringly here, and she knowingly raises her chin up when a local photographer requests a snap of the star. When Taylor’s Marina has her startling epiphany, Elizabeth uses those fabled eyes expertly.

Taylor's troubled star, Marina Gregg, has her big moment of revelation.

Post-murder, Inspector Craddock (Edward Fox) comes to interview Marina. This set piece offers Elizabeth Taylor a mini acting marathon. The scene begins simply, but Taylor gradually becomes hysterical. The movie fan inspector plays along for a bit, and then exposes her ruse. Marina’s recycling a dramatic moment from one of her old movies. Elizabeth’s Marina response is a raucous Taylor cackle. ET also just spoofed her own “emotional” movie image. Marina seemingly comes clean, showing the detective threats she’s received, which reminds her of a painful childhood incident. Taylor plays this scene in her most open style.

"You didn't!" ET is terrific in this extended scene, twitting the Inspector for not falling for her "act."

Kim Novak has a comic field day as Lola Brewster, a no-talent hack and tough broad, who is arch enemies with Taylor’s Marina. Novak, who made a career of being breathy, hesitant, and vulnerable, is obviously enjoying herself as the superficial Lola. It’s lucky for Joan Collins that Dynasty producers didn’t cast Kim as super bitch Alexis. It would have made Blake Carrington look a bit like John Derek, with a harem of past and present blonde wives, but Kim might have been quite marvelous! Anyway, Novak preens, parries, and thrusts that still-fabulous body, while skewering everyone in sight. First up is her reunion (next round) with Marina, with cracks about each other’s age, hair, weight, and just about everything else. Kim gets to be the comic to Taylor’s straight woman retorts. I love Kim’s line reading of this catty question to ET: “So, tell me. How does it feel to be back, after being gone for so-ooo long?”

As Lola, Kim Novak checks out her "Lylah Clare" wig, while Tony Curtis' producer makes them a drink.

Kim’s vamping and evading the detective’s questions is nearly upstaged by the pushed-up Novak knockers! Kim is again quite funny, with her husky voice pitched so low that you think she’s channeling The Legend of Lylah Clare. When the Inspector Craddock brings up an unpleasant past incident, when she fired a gun at Marina, Kim’s delivery of this line is a hoot: “So, I was a little miffed!” When Novak’s Lola isn’t sparring with Taylor’s Marina, or toying with the detective, she blasts Hudson’s director, that she could eat a can of Kodak and puke a better film! Novak and her onscreen husband, Tony Curtis’ crass producer, are both amusing caricatures. Kim’s deep voice and vamping, and Tony, dressed in black, including a fedora, remind me of Natasha and Boris Badenov!

Whatever Lola Brewster wants, Lola gets! Tony Curtis  goes gangsta as producer Marty Fenn!

Tony's inspiration?

Ruta Lee: A contender for Lola Brewster?

Kim Novak, 47 when Mirror was made, had recently wowed Oscar audiences with a trimmer than ever figure in a black sheath gown. It’s obvious from the candid shots that Kim hadn’t gone down the plastic surgery road just yet. Guy Hamilton also plays to Kim’s strengths favorably. With her favorite page boy wig, skin tight clothes, and stylized makeup, Kim came away with the kudos for her appearance in this Mirror.

What's bothering Taylor's Marina more... Novak's Lola or that painting in the background?

Rock Hudson, usually a warm, sympathetic screen presence, plays a bit of a departure here. As director Jason Rudd, Hudson’s character is challenged: directing an emotionally fragile wife trying for a comeback; keeping a voracious ex-girlfriend at arm’s length; tangling with crass producer; and keeping his secretary close, but not too close. One thing that may complicate things—is Jason the murderer? Hudson has a number of scenes where his character is distant, very effectively making you wonder if he’s more than just an unfaithful husband. As Jason Rudd, Rock has a number of scenes where he’s comically yelling on the phone or the set. When we wonder what Rock’s up to in the quiet scenes, that’s when Hudson is most effective.

Rock Hudson as Jason Rudd, director and long suffering husband of Taylor's Marina Gregg.

Tony Curtis is the natural comedian in The Mirror Crack’d, as crass, fast-talking Marty Fenn. I’ve never cared much for Curtis as a person, but admire his flair for comedy and strengths as a dramatic actor. Tony seems to be enjoying his bad self here, taking pot shots at the industry, and has a deflective one-liner for every occasion. Like Kim Novak, Tony has the cartoonish comic role, and both perform as well as they can, given the material.

Tony Curtis as slick producer Martin N. Fenn, whose middle initial stands for... Nothing!

Angela Lansbury makes a fine Miss Marple, but even she got nitpicked by some critics at the time. There were complaints that Marple got sidelined by an ankle injury was a story liability. Some considered Lansbury too young and that the old age makeup was a stunt. I think Miss Marple is integrated into the mystery and Angela’s makeup is realistic, as well. Lansbury’s scenes with Edward Fox, as her nephew Inspector Craddock, show a nice rapport, in solving the mystery together. Angela’s owlish features also lend itself to playing an older woman, and she shows a both serious and humorous side as the brilliant armchair detective. You just automatically believe Angela as Miss Marple, the grand matriarch of her village and home. There were supposed to be more Miss Marple movies with Lansbury but Mirror’s demise ended that line of thought. Still, it proved to be a great dry run for Angela Lansbury’s mid-career comeback as Jessica Fletcher.

Angela Lansbury as Miss Jane Marple, who I thought was terrific, as usual.

Geraldine Chaplin is well-cast as the neurotic, mousy secretary, having a not-so-secret affair with Marina’s husband. Chaplin gives snap to her many catty lines, most of them aimed at divas Marina and Lola. She definitely has a way with a comic delivery, never becoming tiresome. Geraldine also creates some sympathy for the character, as Ella is clearly in love with Jason, and she’s obviously just a shoulder for his ego to cry on. Again, amidst the campy humor, Geraldine Chaplin creates a real character here in Ella Zielinsky.

Along with her crisp way with a catty one liner, Geraldine Chaplin is also touching as Ella.

Edward Fox, often the villain, is endearing as the occasionally clueless Inspector Craddock. His flustered scenes with Novak’s brash Lola are funny, and Fox seems to have great fun in his big scene with Taylor’s diva, Marina.

Edward Fox is fun as the inspector who is frequently outwitted by his Aunt Jane Marple!

The Mirror Crack’d boasts a supporting cast of character actors: Margaret Courtenay as Mrs. Bantry, the pickle puss who’s given up her house to Marina and Jason; Charles Lloyd-Pack as the vicar, Maureen Bennett in her film debut as Marina Gregg’s biggest fan, Heather Babcock; Wendy Morgan as Miss Marple’s maid, Cherry; and plus great cameos from the “cast” of Murder at Midnight, the fun film-within-a-film. These actors and more bring some atmospheric heft to this lightweight mystery.

And how about Pierce Brosnan in his first role, as Marina’s Mary Queen of Scots paramour, with big ‘80s hair! Pierce later said he lost 35 pounds after seeing himself onscreen—five when he got a haircut?

The second most embarrassing moment of Pierce Brosnan's career? In his first movie,
Pierce probably made Elizabeth Taylor jealous that his hair was bigger!

Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, and Angela Lansbury were at a lull in their careers when they made The Mirror Crack’d in 1980 and what came after was significant for all.

Three years after Mirror was released, Elizabeth Taylor became the first celebrity to go public about going into the Betty Ford Clinic, for severe drug and alcohol issues. Ironic, since Taylor had recently played a movie star addict Marina in Mirror and an alcoholic divorcee in ‘83’s Between Friends. Elizabeth Taylor found much needed sobriety, went on to become an AIDS activist, perfume mogul, and even tried one more marriage—and reclaimed her great beauty until old age and illness finally set in. Elizabeth died at age 79 in 2011.

Elizabeth Taylor at Cannes, 7 years after "The Mirror Crack'd,"
in 1987, at the height of her Betty Ford renaissance.

Rock Hudson, looked distinguished in his middle age here, in spite of his years of heavy drinking and smoking. In reality, Rock had only a few more years until he was diagnosed with AIDS, the first film star to admit to the disease. Less than five years after the release of Mirror, Hudson was gone, but Rock put a famous face on the AIDS epidemic. Since 1985, Hudson’s plight as an actor in the closeted era has been viewed with greater empathy, as well.

Rock Hudson's legacy runs the gamut of putting a famous face on AIDS, to classic comedies
with Doris Day, to films with Douglas Sirk, and "Giant," with BFF Elizabeth Taylor!

Like Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis had yet to find sobriety, and looks much older in Mirror than fellow former Universal heartthrob Hudson. Curtis, Hudson, and Lansbury were all born in 1925, age 55 the year that Mirror was made. Tony eventually did straighten up and fly right, got plastic surgery, and his thinning, dyed black hair was replaced by a luxurious silver wig. Tony Curtis continued to work and tell tall tales about his life in show biz until his death in 2010.

Tony Curtis in "The Mirror Crack'd."

Tony, sober and silver!

At the time of Mirror, Kim Novak was considered a well-preserved, but lightweight star. A few years later, with the restoration of Vertigo and its ongoing revivals, Kim’s reputation as an actress was revitalized. As for Kim’s later cosmetic enhancements, Novak looked great without looking overdone until the last decade or so. It’s puzzling that Kim went this far, as she’s seldom acted onscreen since she left Hollywood in the mid-1960s. Novak lives in Washington, long happily married and a talented painter, too. Kim Novak has opened up over the years about her issues and seems happy today, at 86 in 2019. 

Kim Novak was in great shape at the 1980 Oscars, in a gown by Ron Talsky,
who was dating Raquel Welch at the time... he knew his curves!
Nearly 40 years later, Kim is still renowned as a classic Hitchcock blonde.

And who would guess that character actress Angela Lansbury would be the star to enjoy the greatest career renaissance. People talk, and rightly so, about Joan Collins’ huge TV comeback as Alexis Carrington on Dynasty. But even more extraordinary was Lansbury’s megahit with Murder, She Wrote. Angie’s show outlasted Dynasty by 3.5 seasons, 12 total years, plus four Jessica Fletcher TV movies after the show ended. Lansbury also had great control over the show, and her renewed stardom led to a slew of TV movies, a memorable turn as Teapot in Beauty and the Beast. When the series ended, she was an even bigger draw where she had the most success, the stage. And Angela still acts at age 95!

The financial failure of "The Mirror Crack'd" ended the idea of
more Miss Marple movies, but if only Angela Lansbury knew what lie ahead!

So, if you’re in the mood for a light, comedic take on an Agatha Christie murder mystery, enjoy some great star gazing in The Mirror Crack’d.

When Elizabeth Taylor was cast as a washed up actress, some unkind souls called it typecasting.
The next year, ET trimmed down and took on Broadway in 'The Little Foxes.'
And that was just the beginning of the last act of Elizabeth Taylor!