Dalla terrazza

A story about an ambitious married man who on the verge of his success has a change of heart.

I really loved this movie. It's a masterpiece of a drama about what we want in our life doesn't always coincide with our happiness. Money changes everything, and in this story it's especially so. This might be one of the quintessential story that money doesn't get you happiness, and is done in a very realistic way.

Beautifully made movie that features one of Paul Neumann's best performance. I really thought he was great in this movie. He has other good movies, but this is one of his gems.

Good movie that's highly recommended.

As a youngster, I saw Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in person, a few years after they finished this picture, in New York. They were appearing on Broadway in a comedy called "Baby Want A Kiss," and I was passing by Sardi's on 44th Street, I believe. First to come out was drop dead gorgeous Joanne, still wearing her FROM THE TERRACE hairstyle (shoulder-length pageboy flip) & dark movie star sunglasses, accompanied by two men in suits. She ignored the crowd who screamed, "Joanne, over here!" "Hi, Joanne!" Next, Paul Newman came out (two suited men on either side) as he held a cocktail glass in his hand. Obviously on his fourth or fifth drink, he looked like Alfred Eaton in TERRACE. But, unlike Joanne, he smiled and flashed the bluest eyes I've ever seen! He even toasted the screaming crowd. Women AND men were fainting unashamedly.

Personally, I loved FROM THE TERRACE. I was just fascinated by all the glamour, wealth, sex, adultery and sheer drama (especially between Leon Ames (Paul's father) and Newman.

Joanne as Mary St. John was a stone nympho, similar to Susanne Pleshette's over-sexed character in another John O'Hara book-to-film, A RAGE TO LIVE.

It was just a joy to see Woodward wear all those fabulous clothes and look spectacular in those hairdos and 60's makeup (it was all in the eyes!) After getting propositioned on the dance floor, Mary rebuked the man who knew "all about her..." donned a tremendously long white satin coat and "floated" like a regal queen to the limo (hair in a French Roll and a tiara!) Gorgeous.

Yes, she was an adulteress, but what was a "hungry" girl like her to do when her husband didn't want to touch her?

Reading the comments on this movie tells me a lot about our culture at the dawn of the 21st century. Yes, by today's standards this movie seems to move slow and a is little dull. It was made before pornography passing for entertainment was permitted. It contains lots of subtlety and innuendo. It was considered racy when it was made.

One of my favorite scenes is when Mrs. Eaton is talking to her husband on the phone about her lover. You never see the lover in the scene, but at the end, you realize he's been in the bed all along. Another favorite scene is when Mrs. Eaton meets her husband's lover for the first time. It is in the car afterward that she asks what this woman call's Mr. Eaton.

The only disappointment is the superficial way the film treats marriage. No children are involved in this marriage and it only deals with how the husband and wife consider their lives. It tries to make a case for divorce and treats the subject far too lightly.

Her bone structure and diction still flawless, Myrna Loy remains as handsome as most of the other females in permanent waves that populate this plush John O'Hara saga. But she's learned the hard way what a quarter of a century's drinking can do even to a woman as classy as her, and that being a nymphomaniac isn't really as much fun as she made it look in 'Love Me Tonight'.

She's extremely moving in her scenes with a dashing young Paul Newman that comprise much of the first half-hour of this very long film. But sadly the movie (SPOILER COMING:) shifts it's attention to him at her expense, and once again the sublime Myrna is wasted.

Paul Newman is doing his angry young man thing here, and Joanne Woodward is wonderful as she goes from rebellious rich brat to shrewish, slutty harridan. It's beautifully filmed with lots of sumptuous sets and it's obvious that a good part of the budget went to costumes. If you like movies with boozy, unhappy rich people who do little more than snipe at each other, you've got to see "From the Terrace."