autumn leaves

December 17 movie: Autumn Leaves. Joan Crawford and Cliff Robertson costar in this psychological melodrama which was much more affecting than I expected. Crawford is a lonely spinster who marries Robertson after a very brief relationship, then finds out he's crazy and a compulsive liar. And he has an, um, complicated family. Special bonus: Lorne Greene as Robertson's sleazy bastard of a father. A small part which Greene makes the most of.

The directing by Robert Aldrich is excellent, drawing top-notch performances out of both stars. My beef with the movie is an extremely negative message for women. [major spoilers ahead] When Robertson loses it he becomes violent, blackening Crawford's eye and crushing her hand. (in the movie it's depicted as a gash or sprain or something, but we see him try to bash in her head with a typewriter, she rolls out of the way and it lands on her hand. Which would have shattered the hand. Those old typewriters were heavy!)

A sane woman would call the ambulance, the cops and the locksmith. Crawford goes all "Stand By Your Man," comforting him after his attack on her. Lucky for her he switches to docile crazy after that, so she's able to care for him at home & lie to him about the source of her injuries. Eventually she takes him to a mental hospital, convinced that if they make him sane he won't need her anymore. Well they do, and he still does, and don't you love happy endings! Ugh.

It feels like there are two movies here: the one they think they're making and the one they're actually making. It's the story of two deeply disturbed people who feed each other's delusions. Neither one gets better: Crawford is just as fearful and dependent and Robertson just as much of a lunatic at the end as at the beginning. I felt like it was only a matter of time before the typewriters started flying again.