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"The Deep Blue Sea" is a rather depressing film where, at times, art seems to be imitating life. Vivien Leigh stars in this film as a woman who is suicidal her second marriage dissolves. This marriage is, frankly, a mess...as her husband is an alcoholic and he has a lot of ambivalence about their marriage. In contrast, her first husband loves her and wants her back...and she feels that this relationship is boring. I said art imitating life because in real life, Miss Leigh' own behaviors and relationships were a bit like the film...complete with suicidal ideation and affairs.

So is the film worth seeing? It depends. While the script is good as well as the acting, it's also a seriously depressing story...one that also is tough to watch because you really DON'T like the characters nor care about the mess they've made of their lives. As for me, I just couldn't wait for the movie to end.

"Suicide is painless", the M. A. S. H. song announced, but Hester (played by a negative Vivien Leigh) is determined to commit suicide, beginning and ending the film on the verge of it.

I have long admired Ukrainian-born Director Anatole Litvak for his ability to bring emotional situations to the screen, and I am particularly fond of GOODBYE AGAIN and SNAKE PIT, but here the room where pretty much all the action unfolds has no view at all, other than suicide.

Perhaps the beautiful Vivien Leigh identified with Hester's plight because in reality she was a nymphomaniac bipolar schizophrenic who kept cheating husband Laurence Olivier with Peter Finch and a host of other men, and it fits that she might want to convey to all that she could only see suicide as the solution. Sad as that might be, she died in 1967 of chronic TB.

I watched a shabby, rather unfocused copy of this claustrophobic film on Youtube, which only rendered it bleaker, but I still liked Kenneth More's performance, a happy jobless golfer brimming with unconcerned humor and selfishness, Eric Portman as the horse race bookie apparently preparing medication for the quadruped competiitors who comes to her rescue, Emlyn Williams, as her ditched Old Bailey judge husband who still loves her but is shunned, Moira Lister as the gossipmonger of a neighbor, and other minor characters who you can see fitting into this play by Terence Rattigan.

Vivling, as Larry Olivier used to call his then wife, delivers a rather cold and helpless performance vaguely reminiscent of Blanche in STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE but without the sympathetic touch and the deft direction of Kazan, and not even Jack Hildyard can save the film from unremitting hopelessness with his usually top notch cinematography, here reduced to pretty one living room, with the odd exterior shot.

All told, I can understand why the film rated a dud with critics when it came out. 6/10.

"The Deep Blue Sea" represents a notable staple in the film repertoire of Vivien Leigh. Given the enormous popularity and artistic achievements of this consummate British actress, it seems incredible that this film is not available on video. She is always fascinating to watch, and this drama about marital difficulties provides her with a good "modern day" role, compared to her many period/costume pieces. She is beautiful, skillful, and intelligent in her approach to and realization of her characters, and all are evident in this sensibly presented drama. Her co-star, Kenneth More, is professional as always; Eric Portman gives his usual strong character support; and the appearance of Emlyn Williams is a special bonus. The film needs to be seen on the big screen in CinemaScope to get its maximum impact. It deserves to be revived, and more importantly, made available on video.

After her second Oscar in Streetcar Named Desire Vivien Leigh made only three more films and in all of them she played older women who are hungering for love. Hardly the image of the saucy Scarlett O'Hara which she won her first Oscar with, but it did allow her to transition into roles for older women. This one her in The Deep Blue Sea is way too uncomfortably close to her real life.

In this film it opens with her attempting suicide and being saved by prying neighbors. Her much younger second husband has left her and in flashbacks we learn what was going on. Vivien had been raised a prim and proper church girl with a country parson for a father. She learned the biblical view of sex that did not leave much room for later research into the field on a more clinical basis. She married the older and more settled Emlyn Williams who is a judge. But as they got older Emlyn got less interested in sex. Enter Kenneth More who was an RAF air ace and now a test pilot. That's real glamor for her and like Anna Karenina, another Leigh part she leaves Williams and runs off with More.

But More's got issues also, he's an alcoholic and deep down he's looking for a mother figure. Since she and Williams had no children, Leigh isn't recognizing this nor is she prepared to deal with it.

Terrence Ratigan adapted his own play to the screen and rather well since the play only takes place in Leigh's apartment. We get some scenes of London night life in 1955 and with More's job, part of the film takes place at an air show. On Broadway the play ran for 132 performances in 1952-53 and starred Margaret Sullavan.

Offering advice and counsel is defrocked psychiatrist Eric Portman who is a neighbor. But as Leigh finds out as does the audience there are no no easy answers.

The Deep Blue Sea is not as good a work from Ratigan as The Browning Version or Separate Tables. Still the cast performs well, especially Vivien Leigh who made very infrequent screen appearances now.

To all extents and purposes this film adaptation of Rattigan's arguably most famous play is lost. It was also written by Rattigan himself which gives it extra value as it broadens out the drama and uses flashbacks which could not be used on the stage, showing the growing relationship between the two lovers played by Vivien Leigh ( an extraordinary performance ) and Kenneth More as her weak willed lover. Emlyn Williams plays her unimaginative husband and he too stands out as being just right for the role. In fact the whole cast is excellent and Moira Lister is almost a match for Vivien Leigh in her gossipy role of a neighbour who tries to help when Hester ( Vivien Leigh ) tries to kill herself. The performance that is equal to Vivien Leigh is that of a struck off doctor played superbly by the great actor Eric Portman, and in the penultimate scene of the film he gives a light of hope in the darkness of the play which is both wise and moving. That this underrated film may have been too downbeat for audiences and perhaps critics alike is sadly possible in 1955, but for an audience of today the complexities of physical passion and love could be fully understood. So why has it not been put on to DVD ? There must be a good copy out there as it was shown at the National Film Theatre in recent years. So again who is sitting on it and why are no distributors interested ? I possess a poor copy of it in drained out colour, jump cuts and yet despite this the film glows and resonates. No Vivien Leigh film should be forsaken like this; especially a film of her last years when her acting was at its finest. Personally I find this loss shameful and should be rectified as soon as possible. Since writing the above review I have just seen it on UK Talking Pictures, and many thanks for showing it. The film looks almost perfect in Cinemascope and much cleaned up. Leigh is devastating, and Kenneth More's performance excellent. A heart breaking play and a heart breaking film.