Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

I first encountered "Cat" in a fine National Theatre production in 1988 with Lindsay Duncan as Maggie, Ian Charleson as Brick, Eric Porter as Big Daddy, Paul Jessons as Gooper and Alison Steadman as Mae.

The film is not the play, but you don't often get an opportunity to see a fine cast perform this amazing play, and it needs a fine cast.

The movie has a fine cast. The movie grips you from start to finish. The movie even adds a little; the basement scene works wonderfully in the movie in ways that would be hard or impossible to reproduce on stage.

Yes, the play has been bowdlerised to make it into a movie, but what do you expect in 1958. The reality is, this film is a piece of cinema and drama history. You'd need to be a "Williams Fundamentalist" to hate the movie for its toned-down-ness. To the balanced Williams fan, it is gripping, well acted and nicely-paced.

Once every 10-15 years there is a truly fine production of this play in a world-class theatre. If you get the chance, go see a great production in the theatre. In between times, this movie is a very good second.

Much has been made of the differences between Tennessee Williams' play and this film--the homoerotic themes have been driven further into subtext (though not eliminated entirely) and a more upbeat ending was added. The changes were necessary when the film was made; although theater and literary purists decry the "sanitizing" or censorship of plays when they are adapted for the screen, in some cases (such as this one) the changes can improve the work in question. "Cat" on film is clearer, for one thing. Tennessee Williams plays tend to be "cluttered" in their original form. They are also cynically downbeat; if that type of story appeals to one, this adaptation might be off-putting.

As with all theatrical adaptations, many of the scenes are excessively talky, especially the Brick/Big Daddy scenes in the second act. Some of the highlights are just as wordy but thoroughly enjoyable rather than tedious (especially Maggie's story about Mae's reign as Cotton Carnival Queen and the entire scene in the basement). All of the performances are excellent, though Paul Newman as Brick is less flashy; it's not really until the basement scene that one feels his talent is given a workout. Elizabeth Taylor is an emotional rollercoaster, venturing from flirtatious to hectoring to wheedling to calm to grasping to tender, often within a single scene, and yet she never slips the rails. Watching films from this period (her career peak), one wonders what happened to turn her into the vague, bleary-eyed woman we see today. Judith Anderson's Big Mama is loud, coarse, and bossy, but completely sympathetic both in the scene with the birthday cake and in the confrontation scene at the end. When Big Daddy invites her along with him at the end, it is every bit as welcome to the viewer as it is to her. Burl Ives is the most towering of all; the emotional growth in the film is as much his as it is Brick's. Jack Carson and Madeleine Sherwood are every bit as good despite being relegated to comic relief at times.

My favorite aspect of this story, however, is the social dynamic. Brick and Maggie are spoiled, young, "beautiful people" who have yet to take on any responsibility, while Gooper and Mae are the epitome of a serious young family. Brick is an alcoholic former football player, while Gooper is a corporate lawyer. Despite these obvious differences, however, both their parents and the audience (and Tennessee Williams, obviously) clearly prefer Brick and Maggie. Every aspect of Gooper and Mae's personalities, even those which bespeak traditional values, are portrayed as petty and unimaginative. Even if one believes that Gooper and Mae have done all the right things, they have done them for the wrong reasons. Thus the theme of the story is most clearly presented: all that is important is to love and to express that love.

Elizabeth Taylor's death a few days ago prompted me to watch one of her most famous movies.* I've never seen a stage production of Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", but I will say that the movie version is worth seeing, despite the unrealistic southern accents. The storm taking place outside the mansion is nothing compared to the tension between all the family members gathering for the patriarch's birthday.

As with another notable Tennessee Williams play -- "A Streetcar Named Desire" -- they had to remove the references to homosexuality to bring the movie to the silver screen. Still, the scenes of Maggie (Taylor) in her slip seem as though they would have been risqué for the time. Along with her, just about every character made me feel as if my throat was going to constrict. In a way, it's as if the only truly benign characters were the servants.

All in all, I wouldn't call this movie a supreme masterpiece, but I found it to be worth seeing. This one, along with "Streetcar" and "Baby Doll" are the three great adaptations of Tennessee Williams plays. Also starring Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Judith Anderson (Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca"), Jack Carson and Madeleine Sherwood (Reverend Mother on "The Flying Nun").

*This is going to sound insane, but prior to "COAHTR", the only movie in which I'd seen Elizabeth Taylor was the god-awful "Flintstones" movie, in which she played Wilma's mother.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is truly an actor's movie, and it is one of those rare films where every single actor is perfect.

Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor are both brilliant as Brick and Maggie Pollitt, respectively. Not very often is there a screen couple that have the same chemistry together that they do.

Newman, however, steals the show. If you watch "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" for nothing else, watch it for his performance. One of the greatest actors of all time, Newman showcases how powerful an actor he can be. This is not to say the supporting cast isn't excellent. Burl Ives is superb in a supporting role as Big Daddy, a man who's greatest concern is having his legacy live on after him. The sequence with Ives and Newman in the basement of the house remains one of the most incredible displays of acting I have ever seen.

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a very appropriate title. It is a searing, wonderfully acted film that I will not soon forget. I recommend those who haven't seen it yet to rent it as soon as they get a chance. A true classic.

There are tensions that have built between a couple, Brick Pollitt shows contempt, it's far from subtle, his wife Maggie's in despair, she's in love and really cares, but it's fair to say this pairing, is in trouble. Big Daddy joins the party for his birthday, but the whiskey being drunk just goes down one way, secrets hidden and withheld, relationships are hewn and felled, wounds reopened, from a friend, lost through betray. At the climax of this film you'll hold your breath, as the family is overwhelmed, distressed, with performances profound, so much lost and so much found, you will not be disappointed, I attest.

Three of the greatest cinematic performances placed on film.