| MGM's 1949 'Madame Bovary' is wildly erratic and highly watchable. |
The Vincente
Minnelli-directed 1949 version of Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is fascinating, but wildly erratic, much like the
heroine herself.
The huge hurdles for
the movie-makers with this take on the once-scandalous novel of a French
housewife are never satisfactorily resolved: telling a story that would satisfy
audiences, critics—and censors; movie-making
with more post-war modern realism, and less from the past era’s style; and bolstering
a leading lady who lacked confidence in her acting ability.
| I never realized how James Mason sounded like his own best hammy imitation! |
Some critics have cited
the MGM treatment of Madame Bovary as
anti-Emma, claiming that the studio framed the story within the censors’ rule
that movie sinners must be punished by the last reel. I disagree. There are plenty
of instances in the movie that defends Emma as trapped by her role of a woman,
in male-dominated society. I have not read the book, but this adaptation posits
that her childish ideas of life arise from her sheltered upbringing as a small
town farm girl. When Emma attempts to act on them as an adult woman, the
results are tragic. Director Minnelli deserves credit for a reasonably faithful
rendition of Madame Bovary, filmed in
an era when studios didn’t particularly care about fidelity—to a book, at
least. In case you don’t get the
message that Madame Bovary is great
art and not scandalous trash, there’s a prologue and an epilogue that bookends
the trial, which in turn bookends the movie. The idea of portraying author
Gustave Flaubert on trial, to defend the decency of MGM’s Madame Bovary, must have seemed like a brilliant idea to offset
showbiz censors. However, after James Mason's sonorous speechifying at the
trial, we’re treated to his pompous narration that’s so intrusive that it’s comical.
You’re relieved when he finally shuts up half way through.
| The eternal triangle: Madame Bovary, the suave French playboy, and Mr. Bovary, the dull doctor. Guess what happens next? |
This 1949 version of Madame Bovary was one of Metro's 25th
silver anniversary movies, but in reality, it was their last hurrah as Hollywood’s
greatest studio. Like other MGM takes on the classics about modest folk with
only proximity to wealth, the stars of Pride
and Prejudice, Little Women, and Madame Bovary still wear improbably
lavish costumes and live in “cozy” luxury. Jennifer Jones sports gowns by
Walter Plunkett, famed for his Scarlett O’Hara designs for David O. Selznick’s Gone with the Wind. Director Minnelli,
despite his own love of glamour, at least attempted to give Emma's rustic life
some genteel grit, but was thwarted by MGM.
| Just a simple French farm girl making an omelette for the visiting doctor.! |
In her first scene, when
Emma is cooking breakfast, I burst out laughing. After a stormy night with rain
seeping into the country kitchen, there is Jones as Emma, looking utterly
pristine. Emma’s morning wear is a gigantic gown, with a huge decorative rose, as
she delicately makes an omelette for visiting doctor Charles Bovary (Van
Heflin.)
So it goes, with each
scene, as Jones swans around in a gown or cape even more lavish and absurd than
the last. How much more dramatic would it have been if Emma actually dressed
like a country doctor’s wife, and finally
gets to fulfill her dream at the Marquis’ ball, swathed in her soiree-stopping,
snowy white confection.
| Emma is encouraged to live large by the sinister shopkeeper! |
Madame Bovary is one of those studio system era movies that
are a mish mash of accents—American, British, and one actual Frenchman! Van
Heflin is sympathetic as Charles Bovary, the benign and bewildered husband,
though he is directed to play the drunken hubby at the ball very broadly, where
he bursts Emma’s romantic bubble. The supporting cast, though playing
archetypes, offer skillful portrayals. Ellen Corby, Grandma Walton herself,
plays Emma’s long-suffering maid. I was puzzled that the great Gladys Cooper (Now, Voyager) has just one scene, making
me wonder if a subplot had been cut out of the final film. Louis Jourdan plays
yet another charming, smarmy French playboy, who helps lead the heroine to ruin.
Ultimately, Madame Bovary is all about Emma and the
actress who plays her. There are a bevy of Madame
Bovarys, all have their merits, but the Vincente Minnelli version is still
the most famous. This is a bit surprising, since MGM’s Madame Bovary was a flop at the box office. Originally, Lana Turner
was offered the role of Emma. This could have been an apt choice, as Turner was
a romantic whose shallow outlook created as much disaster in her own life, as
Emma Bovary did in hers. Lana thought the script dull and turned it down, and
found out she was pregnant, as well. Minnelli was relieved, as he felt Turner’s
notoriety would attract more attention from censors, and that an actress with a
more respectable screen image would be a better choice.
| Lana: "No, Jen, YOU play 'Madame Bovary!' You'll win a second Oscar!' |
Enter Jennifer Jones
as Emma. Never mind that Jones’ marriage and family with Robert Walker was
wrecked when Gone with the Wind
producer David O. Selznick set his sights on Jennifer. Or four years later,
Selznick was still haggling with his current wife over the end of their marriage. In fact, it was during Madame Bovary’s production that Irene Selznick
was granted a divorce. Ultimately, image is everything in Hollywood, and Jones
was the dream girl of super productions like Song of Bernadette and Since
You Went Away. Ethereal Jennifer Jones as Emma Bovary therefore took the
onus off playing a scandalous character.
Jennifer Jones is one
of Hollywood's most puzzling personalities. Jones grew up in a theatrical family,
who owned a chain of movie theaters. She and first hubby Robert Walker were
aspiring actors together. Yet, friend and co-star Joan Fontaine said of working
with Jones on her last big movie, 1962’s Tender
is the Night, even at that late date, acting “was a kind of torture” for
Jennifer. Jones is an anomaly among performers who grew up surrounded by
showbiz—Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis—who lived for the limelight.
And there are many stars that are shy off-stage, but who have brash personas. Jennifer
Jones seemed a bit like Marilyn Monroe, both seeking and repelling stardom.
Some critics of Jones have questioned the “shy” Jennifer, claiming it was an act
to cover her ambition. To me, her reclusive nature and increasing discomfort
on-screen seemed to indicate that Jennifer was not pretending. And yet Jones
aspired to stardom, or she wouldn’t have broken up her family for the siren
call of superstardom that Selznick promised.
| Portrait of Jennifer, as Madame Bovary, dressed to the nines. |
Though he technically had
nothing to do with this Madame Bovary,
David Selznick peppered everyone involved with his famous memos—all about how
to bring out the best in Jennifer Jones. Like so many powerful Hollywood men,
Selznick was obsessed with his star, and determined to make her into
Hollywood’s greatest superstar. Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst
attempted the same with Marion Davies. Davies was a showgirl with a natural
flair for comedy, but Hearst’s desire was to make her a great dramatic actress.
Instead, they made a string of big budget flops that made Marion a punch line.
Film contemporaries and historians later said that Davies might have had a more
interesting and relaxed career if Hearst had just butted out. And many film
folk and critics felt the same in regard to Selznick and Jones.
Jones’ ambivalence is apparent
in many of her movies, which is why movie fans and critics are still wildly
divided over Jennifer’s abilities as an actress. As Emma Bovary, Jones gives
off a jittery intensity throughout, which serves her character well. Jennifer
is also wildly uneven as the country girl who longs for romance and riches.
Jones can be subtly in tune with Emma in one scene, studio era “dramatic” in
the next, and feverishly unnerving after that. Even here, critics and audiences
were starting to notice Jones’ nervous tics, especially her tendency to grimace
during dramatic scenes.
Every time Emma
embraces a new dream—a new home, a baby, a lover, or even a ball gown—Jennifer
makes the pronouncement with a fixed, wild stare as if she's playing the
beatific Bernadette again, seeing visions. Jennifer seems most comfortable in
her love scenes, luxuriating in her romantic fantasy. Yet, as the desperate
Emma calling on her former lover for financial help, Jones is theatrically
obvious, and therefore, not especially sympathetic. Finally, as Emma on her death
bed, after swallowing gobs of arsenic, Jones dies a realistically painful
death.
| Jones as Emma, facing her ruin. Jennifer reminds me of Kim Cattrall here. |
Perhaps it is Jennifer’s
lack of confidence and the inability to create empathy for a basically
unsympathetic character that makes Jones' Emma Bovary off putting. Vivien Leigh
and Elizabeth Taylor often played passionate women who did foolhardy things
(off-screen, too!) but they always retained audience sympathy, especially from
female fans. Leigh, a few years before, or Taylor, a decade later, could have
easily played Emma. I think MGM’s Ava Gardner might have made a fine Emma.
Gardner was a small town farm girl who came to Hollywood, where her dreams
turned to disillusion, too. However, Ava was about as insecure about her talent
as Jones.
| 'Madame Bovary' comes alive in the famous waltz scene. This is one of director Vincente Minnelli's best scenes on film. |
Wildly uneven as Jones
is, Jennifer still has her moments. For this Madame Bovary, the famed ballroom scene is where everything comes
together. Jennifer Jones, who looks lovely throughout, is especially fetching
in her gauzy, snow-white gown, with black feathers across the bosom. Surrounded
by admirers, Scarlett O’ Hara-style, Emma takes a breather between dances. Jourdan
as Rodolphe makes his move, the suave stud ready to sweep Mrs. Bovary off her
feet. Emma goes from Cinderella to belle of the ball, and this scene is the
perfect moment: the increasingly giddy waltz, the camera swirling along with
Emma, surrounded by aristocrats, in the arms of a handsome man, waiters who
smash windows with chairs when she exclaims that she can’t breathe, and Emma
Bovary’s romantic daydreams momentarily come true.
Jones’ other big scene
in Bovary is when Emma plans to run
off with Rodolphe. Waiting for a stagecoach on a dark, windy night, Jennifer’s
intensity conveys Emma’s yearning to escape her small town life. As the
stagecoach comes closer into the village, the horses’ hoof beats become louder—symbolizing
Emma’s heart pounding? The stagecoach looms into view…and then passes by,
followed by a huge close-up of Emma screaming, powerfully portrayed by Jones.
Emma, defeated, returns to her home and husband. Charles is waiting and so is a
basket of fruit, from Rodolphe, along with a farewell note. Jones’ reaction to
her lovers’ kiss off is eerily catatonic.
| Emma Bovary's romantic dreams go up in flames. Jones with Van Heflin as Charles Bovary. |
Looking at Jennifer
Jones’ career in terms of hits is bizarrely skewed. Jennifer starred in eight
bonafide blockbusters: Song of Bernadette,
Since You Went Away, Love Letters, and Duel in the Sun in the 1940s. Then in the '50s, there were The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, and the
critically panned but commercial A
Farewell to Arms. Finally, Jones literally went out with a blaze of glory
in 1974’s The Towering Inferno.
Nearly none of these movies hold up today. After those films, Jones’ box
office stand takes a huge dip when looking at her other films like Portrait of Jennie, Carrie, We Were Strangers,
Tender is the Night, as well as Madame Bovary. All were box office duds.
The films that have won her cult status were financial flops too, but got her
good notices, like Cluny Brown, Beat the Devil, and Indiscretion of an American Housewife. I find her appealing both as
the saintly Good Morning, Miss Dove
and as the trashy bayou babe in Ruby Gentry—again,
not big hits. In Jones’ defense, the movies that stars are most remembered for
aren’t always their biggest hits, and Jennifer’s work is worth exploring. Happy
hunting though, because Jennifer Jones' career is checkered, to say the least.
| Bette as a bitchy Madame Bovary! |
Here's a fascinating
coincidence: the same year as Jennifer Jones played Emma Bovary, Bette Davis ended
her Warner Brothers contract playing a modern day version of Bovary in Beyond the Forest. Having just seen Madame Bovary for the first time, I was
shocked at how much Forest author Stuart
Engstrand ripped off the Flaubert classic. Seriously, Beyond the Forest is pretty much a replay of Madame Bovary in modern dress. And Bette's character Rosa Moline is
just a mean girl version of Emma Bovary. Like Emma, Rosa is also married to a
doctor, lives for luxury, looks down on her fellow townspeople, takes a rich
lover, humiliates her husband, berates her maid, and dies a slow, painful death.
The only thing Emma doesn't do is shoot a porcupine and a boozy tattletale!
The best way to watch
this Madame Bovary is to ignore or
enjoy its contradictions. Or maybe watch Jones’ Emma as a double feature with
Bette’s bitchy broad version of Bovary!
| Let's leave Emma Bovary on a happy note, the belle of the ball, and surrounded by admiring men! |