No Vale das Grandes Batalhas

While this film is hardly at risk of being called the greatest movie ever made, it's also not bad...a decent film.

If I have one complaint about the film it's the role played by one of my favorite character actors -- Karl Malden. Playing the "bad" father shouldn't have meant that it had to be over the top, and Malden really goes over the top here. It's a shame; he was normally a very fine actor. I'm guessing the blame lies with the director and/or screenwriters who apparently didn't understand that most people -- unless they're bipolar -- have a rather even demeanor most of the time.

Probably the best acting in the film is by veteran character actor Dean Jagger. His presence is a blessing in any movie, and certainly in this film.

The lead -- Troy Donahue -- whose talent was about as shallow as a summer stream -- actually does fairly well here. Other than a handsome face and blonde hair, there certainly wasn't much to the skinny, almost puny (though tall) actor. While not a memorable performance by any stretch of the imagination (were any of his roles?), he plays the part satisfactorily.

This was Claudette Colbert's final big screen appearance, and she is always a welcome presence in virtually any film. What a shame she walked away from movies. What a wonderful, wonderful actress.

The plot here is quite good, and production values were high, and much of it filmed on location. It's a longer-than-average movie, but it still ended rather abruptly (and predictably). Recommended, with reservations.

There is an extreme close-up of Diane McBain fairly early in the picture, when she runs into Troy on the lawn of the manor house. It is still one of the most beautiful close-ups I have seen, ever. It never fails to take my breath away, even when I know its coming.

McBain was equally beautiful in "Claudelle English". Of the three women, McBain, Connie Stevens and Sharon Hugeny, it is Connie who takes the acting honors. She was even better in her follow up, "Susan Slade".

How strange that McBain's career would end with weird films like "Thunder Alley" and "Mini-Skirt Mob". By then her acting was excellent and there is a powerful scene in "Mini" when she describes a snake eating a mouse. But her looks had become shockingly hard.

Connie became more and more beautiful, but too Vegas and cartoon-like to play real people.

This is a semi-guilty pleasure. In some ways it retains the sheen and talents at the waning days of the big studio machine, and that's a plus. It's soapy, melodramatic and over-the-top, which is certainly entertaining if you don't look for Art with a capital A. And there is a visual lushness in the cinematography not to mention the emphasis on physical lushness, eg Troy Donahue and Diane McBain, and some of the other characters, all dressed to the nines in suits, ties, contrasting sharp vests, crinolined party dresses, preppy red v-neck sweaters backdropped against a blue sky on an impossibly handsome blond Adonis. I can't even say anymore if Troy Donahue is a good actor. I just like watching and listening to him, and I think he does have a certain conviction- his earnestness - which lends authenticity to his performances. Others call him wooden. I think he's more than good, and under-rated. (And my eyes can't get enough of his physical beauty.) Then there's Diane McBain, who I scantly know but is right up there with Donahue - breathtakingly beautiful. Claudette is okay, but the part itself is anachronistic and annoying - a bit long-suffering and stoic, as her parts often are - in a role that demands she ignore a cruel, brutish, crass man she marries. And rounding out the pluses, I love Max Steiner's lush, anachronistic score. The negatives do abound: the script is a bit shrill and melodramatic, which you expect of soap operas of that period. I can't decide if Karl Malden is dynamic or excessive, though he's always effective. Connie Steven was never my perky cup of tea. Dean Jagger caught my attention as a gentle father-figure, and touched me deeply. Ultimately, my feelings are colored by the bias of nostalgia. I very young when it was released, and have some residual nostalgia for what I remember and miss from that era. Someone twenty years old would find it mostly silly, I think.

While the novel by Mildred Savage contains plot lines the film simply could not cover due to time constraints,the beautifully photographed "Parrish" is very enjoyable if you have read and loved the book.Some of the deletions from the novel tightened the storyline though at least one section (where Judd swindles Parrish on a boat deal) should have been added to the film to provide better character motivation and audience understanding.However,at 138 minutes (most prints) already this was not practical.To appreciate the novel and film, the time and place the story takes place (late 1950's rural America) must be taken into consideration.This was a much more innocent time.The actors/actresses used by Producer/Director Delmer Daves are a near perfect fit to reflect the authors intention;a mixture of attractive,unsure,inquisitive,opinionated and passionate teens/early 20's making their place in an adult world.Troy Donahue,not an actor of great expressiveness and polish,had the part of a lifetime as his limitations were the same as the title character.He became Parrish. Karl Malden as Judd Raike was brilliant. I wish there had been a sequel!

Director Delmer Daves also adapted Mildred Savage's sprawling novel about four adjoining tobacco farms in New England, and the love, lust and sabotage which occurs there. Troy Donahue is the stilted, inert title-named lothario who arrives in town with his mother, a dignified Claudette Colbert (in her theatrical bow); Connie Stevens, Diane McBain, and Sharon Hugueny are Donahue's love interests; Karl Malden is the tyrannical stepfather and boss from hell. Beautifully filmed by Harry Stradling, but the heated melodrama is engineered to be overwrought (Daves probably wouldn't have it any other way!). It's actually more involving than it has any right to be, though the narrative (spanning several years) is ridiculously rushed along in the third act, and the romantic clinches are so florid they generate some unintended laughs. **1/2 from ****