Contramarcha Nupcial

Nurse Isabel Crane (Jane Fonda) rushes to marry her patient, Korean War veteran George Haverstick (Jim Hutton). She's not happy that he had recently purchased a black hearse and they're driving away from their wedding in it. He quitted his job without telling her. His hands still shake from unknown afflictions. It's Christmas time. They're on their way to their Miami honeymoon but he's stopping in Tennessee to visit his war buddy Ralph Bates (Anthony Franciosa). Meanwhile, Ralph also his own problem within his marriage.

I don't know how this is a comedy. The music cues and the directions keep trying to drive it into the comedic arena. I don't see how this can be a comedy. Non of these people are appealing. There is too much anger for that. Their problems are serious. Their dysfunctions are terribly unfunny unless getting your young son burnt is hilarious to you. Getting yourself burnt can be lots of hilarity but this is not that. This seems to be a lot closer to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. I would be interested in treating this Tennessee Williams play as a much darker drama.

Based on a play by Tennesee Williams, the story revolves around two couples-one that's fun to watch, and one that drags. Jim Hutton (Timothy's dad) and Jane Fonda play George and Isabelle Haverstick-a simple, bull-headed young buck and his high-maitenance southern belle bride who drop in on his 'ol war buddy (a handsome Tony Franciosa) married to an unhappy rich girl (Lois Nettleton fleshing out a very difficult role) around Christmas. Jim and Jane inject their characters with enough exuberance to shoot them to the moon; thus, they expose the rather bland quality in Ralph and Dorothea even though Tony and Lois are fine actors who do what they can. Director George Roy Hill tries to keep the action from being too stagy and is generally successful, though less so in the second half.

The main attraction here is Fonda: playing a sweet, jittery mouse with surprising outbursts of anger, she turns in a memorable comic performance. The desperate phone call to 'Daddy', her initial introductory scenes with Hutton, a tragic attempt to get her 'little blue zipper bag', and the first meeting with the Baitz's dog are beautifully done with gusto. If you look at her work here along with Barbarella, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Klute, and Julia-you'll see she had that rare quality few leading movie stars have: the ability to be a damn good character actor.

The movie's harmless fun and I recommend watching it under a blanket with a hot cup of cocoa, a roaring fire, and a lighted Christmas tree. Please read the review submitted by Eric Chapman. Enjoy!

Jim Hutton and Jane Fonda are a pair of newlyweds, she's a nice, but not terribly bright young lady and he's a bit of a blow-hard. But it will all work out they're told because they're just going through a Period Of Adjustment to each other and to their new status as marrieds.

But the viewer might not think so at first when after a minor quarrel mushrooms the two of them arrive unexpectedly at the home of Hutton's Korean War buddy Tony Franciosa on Christmas Eve. But he's having some marital problems of her own. His wife Lois Nettleton has just walked out on him, taking their young son with him. As gently as he can put it, Franciosa's not one for giving marital advice, especially not at this time. But war breeds some interesting bonds and what's an old army pal to do?

Tennessee Williams whose work is usually heavily laden with dramatic angst about sexual issues, takes a lighter tone in Period Of Adjustment and while it might not always work the film does have some good laughs in it. Of course I'm a bit prejudiced with the presence of Anthony Franciosa in the cast, one of the best and most underrated actors around. Jim Hutton also proves to be a good comedian.

I was a bit confused however because the play was written and debuted on Broadway in 1961 where it ran 132 performances. Hutton looks to be a bit young for a veteran just coming from the war and Williams doesn't really date the play as 1953 when the war ended. I'm sure revivals of the play have made appropriate corrections for the Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq War whatever war as Hutton's character says they're working on starting now.

Part of the problems that Franciosa and Nettleton are facing is that he really didn't love her when he married the richest girl in town, but was looking for a leg up economically and socially. He's made a bad bargain, now having to be under foot and dominated by Nettleton's parents, John McGiver and Mabel Albertson. Turns out though that McGiver made the same kind of bargain back in the day.

I can't forget a very adroit performance by Jack Albertson as a philosophical police sergeant when the whole kit and kaboodle of the cast winds up in front of him on Christmas Day. If they didn't make his Christmas merry, they sure made it interesting. I think Tennessee Williams borrowed from Garson Kanin in My Favorite Wife drawing from Granville Bates's performance as a judge.

Period Of Adjustment is not one of Tennessee Williams better works, but there's still enough of his ideas in the play to satisfy his admirers, even if they are served on the funny side.

I fell in love with this movie the first time I saw it on TCM. I've always liked Jane Fonda, she is great in this picture. Its well acted and filmed. Its a beautiful movie. I liked the realistic look of the film. In digital it looked brand new, it looked as if it was modern film shot in B&W. Basically its about a couple having marriage problems. Its mostly a one scene shoot with a lot of dialogue. I really enjoyed it, like all Tennessee Williams play adaptations. This is a great movie for repeat viewing.

... because it is just so doggone depressing! Only Williams can take Christmas Eve and turn it into a dysfunctional family fest that makes me want to throw myself out of a window, and definitely not have good will towards mankind! I didn't see the opening credits, so at the end it was no surprise who wrote the source material.

Jane Fonda and Jim Hutton play newlyweds Isabel and George Haverstick. And they apparently did not spend enough time together beforehand to see if they were compatible before hastily marrying. George is an inconsiderate jerk towards Isabel. Isabel is whiny and scolding. And each just ratchets up the unpleasantness in the other. They visit George's old Korean War army buddy, Ralph (Tony Franciosa), on Christmas Eve on their honeymoon. But in the meantime Ralph is having his own problems because he married his wife without love or physical attraction five years before, because of her father's money and position and him pushing the union, and she realizes this and has just left him.

So George seems more in love with Ralph and the idea of them running a dude ranch together than with this woman he just married, and the whole thing just turns into a shrill production. Humor is attempted with a bunch of drunken carolers who get more drunken with every house they visit, but by the end of the film they have just worn out their welcome. You can't convince me that there is going to be a happy ending for any of these people any more than you can convince me that there is deep snow in the deep south at Christmas, which in this film apparently there is.

I'd recommend it only for the players - Hutton, Fonda, and Franciosa, - who always turn in good performances like the troopers that they are.