This movie is overwrought. But Davis is good when she can resist her hamming the accent. Ernest Borgnine , much like Karl Malden, always appears to be middled aged. Richard Brooks is as much a director of detail as Vincente Minnelli or Hitchcock. They are poor. The movie never overcomes its television birthright. But Debbie Reynolds deserved an Oscar nomination. At first it doesn't seem like her at all. And young Rod Taylor...well.

by Anonymousreply 18October 11, 2020 10:51 PM

Bette is miscast. Debbie, indeed, is very fine in it.

by Anonymousreply 1October 11, 2020 9:18 PM

Bette Davis was only 48 at the time, if you can believe it. The 50s were not kind to her.

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by Anonymousreply 2October 11, 2020 9:25 PM

It was a role made for someone like Maureen Stapleton, who looked middle-aged even as a young woman. While Bette isn't terrible, she is too obvious in the part and is going slumming at the same time.

by Anonymousreply 3October 11, 2020 9:33 PM

This is what 48 looked like in the 1950s. Wow.

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by Anonymousreply 4October 11, 2020 9:35 PM

R2 and R4, you may find this thread of interest:

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by Anonymousreply 5October 11, 2020 9:40 PM

Maureen would have been great except for the fact that she was only 7 years older than Debbie, r3. The perfect fit for the role was...of course...Miss Thelma Ritter.

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by Anonymousreply 7October 11, 2020 9:46 PM

^

From Wiki:

Chayefsky later called the play "an unfocused piece, in which the first act was farce, and the second was comedy-drama and the third was abruptly drama. There aren't a dozen actresses who could make one piece out of all that; Miss Ritter, of course, did."

by Anonymousreply 8October 11, 2020 9:49 PM

Faith Prince was absolutely wonderful in the Davis role in the musical remake a few years back.

by Anonymousreply 9October 11, 2020 9:49 PM

Or Shirley Booth.

Someone other than that big fat movie star Bette Davis.

by Anonymousreply 10October 11, 2020 9:49 PM

R10 Shirley Booth would have been great! I never thought of her...great suggestion. This movie definitely belonged to Debbie and Ernest Borgnine was great as usual.

by Anonymousreply 12October 11, 2020 10:08 PM

Didn't Shirley Booth originate the part on Broadway?

by Anonymousreply 13October 11, 2020 10:12 PM

Oops! I was thinking of "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". There was no Broadway version of the play (other than the musical.) However there WAS a TV version that preceded the movie, and Thema Ritter did play the mother in that one. (It was part of Goodyear Playhouse.)

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by Anonymousreply 14October 11, 2020 10:15 PM

Watching it now. Bette's performance is awful. She's all 'Bette" and not 'ma'. Ernest and Debbie are perfect. Shirley Booth would have made this movie a classic.

by Anonymousreply 15October 11, 2020 10:16 PM

"The Catered Affair" was the last original drama that Paddy Chayefsky wrote for television.

by Anonymousreply 16October 11, 2020 10:20 PM

Followed by Flower Drum Song.

by Anonymousreply 17October 11, 2020 10:24 PM

This was like "Marty II" with poor Marty now married to a "slatternly" [Bosley Crowther] frump pushing 50 instead of cute, sensitive Betsy Blair. The whole thing is an embarrassment. Gore Vidal wrote it from Paddy Chayefsky's "vignette." Did this finish off Vidal's television career? Wasn't he really active in TV before 1956?

by Anonymousreply 18October 11, 2020 10:51 PM

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