O Profundo Mar Azul

For a while it looked as though the BFI's Vivien Leigh season would be without "The Deep Blue Sea". As others have noted here, it's been unavailable for many years. Programme notes revealed that the BFI has a single 35mm print in its archive - with faded colour, sound damage in the first and last reels, and many splices. Nothing better could be located anywhere in the world. The BFI digitised the print and this was shown tonight to a sold-out house seemingly well aware this may be the only chance to see the film on the big screen. It looked better than anticipated. The performances are excellent. Incidentally, whoever said the film is "stagebound" can't have seen it since 1955. Rattigan's play has been cleverly opened out with flashbacks, many locations (among them an air show, Klosters, and the London Embankment) and several big studio sets including a law court, bars and pubs, and a huge recreation of London's Soho. I didn't have a pen and and have now forgotten many of the uncredited actors. But they include Frederick Schiller, Gerald Campion, Jacqueline Cox, Shandra (later Sandra)Walden, Amanda Coxell (later Mandy Harper),Patricia Hayes, Raymond Francis and John Boxer.

"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.

"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.

Terrence Rattigan's play was a popular success in London, tho not in the NY production that starred Margaret Sullavan. There were two revivals last year, one in London and one in NY, starring Blythe Danner. Although the movie is boxy and stagebound, it does preserve one of Rattigan's most entrancing creations, Hester Collyer (Vivien Leigh), a woman all at once rabid with latent sexual desire and without remorse or ounce of self-pity for her choices. The performance more than meets the requirement that Hester should never be viewed as either sordid or immoral. Listen, this is the early 50s.

Rattigan's closest American playwright kin was William Inge. Like Inge, he favored characters tormented with issues out of sexual repression and the price they paid for what society, then, viewed as their *sins.* Like Inge, Rattigan was homosexual and often used his characters to illuminate his own dark closet. A video transfer is desperately needed.

Anyone expecting an aristocratic performance by Vivien Leigh is doomed to disappointment. Clad in a drab series of blouses and slacks, she makes Hester Collier a self-interested neurotic perpetually needing succour from anyone willing to listen. Her main problem is a lack of self-reliance, as the Doctor (Eric Portman) informs her. The men in her life are self-interested in their different ways, and have no emotional capacity to empathise with her. The only person who understands anything is her landlady (Dandy Nichols).

Director Anatole Litvak opens the play to include multiple views of the seedier parts of London, where Hester (Leigh) has voluntarily ended up. The sera is hard and tough - not the place for a shrinking violet trying to assert her authority yet failing.