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This was a good movie, but the portrayal of Frances Farmer by Actress Jessica Lange was absolutely worthy of an award. That version of her life is truly a film every aspiring actor should see. "Frances" is one of the most powerful movies I have seen and I highly recommend it.

I have already seen the movie starring Jessica Lange and curiously made the same year, in 1983. Both features are powerful, so are the performances. But I wonder why the Leif Erikson's character - former Frances Farmer's husband - is not spoken about in this TV movie. I don't remember if it was in the film with Jessica Lange. And I also wonder why the hell they made two films about the same topic in the very same year. I really don't get why. But after all, who cares, both are very good. I guess there were so many other actresses who deserved to have their lives told about. Hollywood was a real meat chopper for actors and actresses. A pit for broken dreams. Anyway, this kind of story is perfect for TV audiences and not for theater ones, who rather look for fun and entertainment instead of true and realistic face of life. Its darkest side.

I read the book, which was very compelling and upsetting. This TV film is pretty average. Blakely is a decent actress when she has a good script. She doesn't in this vehicle.

Lee Grant is awful. She always is. She even sports the same wig she wore in The Swarm and Airport 77. In playing Lillian Farmer, one would think her bitter schtick would come in handy. It doesn't.

This film is devoid of over histrionics which plagued other biopics of the era, such as The Jayne Mansfield Story and The Rosemary Cloney Story. Actually that might have helped. Then this movie might have had some camp value. It is best to just watch the 1982 film Frances.

A copy is on YouTube.

Susan Blakely plays '30s actress, Frances Farmer brilliantly in this tragic autobiography which writer Dalene Young has adapted well. Blakely starts when Frances is in her teens and the film tracks her life (of 60+ years) from the budding actress who wins a trip to Moscow and New York and the Group Theatre by writing an essay entitled, "God Is Dead." Her goal was never movies but her mother, played by Lee Grant with great power, pushed her into a career in Hollywood. Frances put up with it but her heart was with the Group (she married Clifford Odets briefly), and her willfulness got her arrested. Then her mother had her committed in an attempt to control her. And Frances wound up in the dark ages of psychiatry in a mental institution in Washington. Her father, played by the great actor,Royal Dano, too meek to stand up to Mrs. Farmer, allowed that Frances remain in the harshest institution even after the docs were ready to let her go home. Blakely's acting won the highest praise. The scenes in the mental institution are fascinating in terms of what the world was like then. This was a three hour special for CBS (the entire prime-time).

The White Washed Version Of The Book Of The Same Name This movie retells the story of how actress Frances Farmer Who was declared mentally insane and spent many years in and out of Asylums I think the book is mostly true because Farmer wrote it But she died before it was published and my understanding is they hired a ghost writer to finish the book So I'm not really entirely sure what is or isn't true At any rate whoever wrote the movie definitely added stuff that wasn't in the book at all Mostly what led up to Frances being committed The parts of the movie depicting her time in the asylum stayed pretty true to what was in the book I don't know much about Susan Blakely as a actress other than this movie But she was really convincing as Frances in particular what lead up to Frances having a nervous breakdown I have my problems with the movie Not because it isn't good It's very good for a made for tv movie I just don't like it because they tampered a lot with the story as it was written in the book Watched it on YouTube.