Une fille de la province

It has long been assumed that, had the music been eliminated from "The Country Girl" and, in the process, taking emphasis off Bing Crosby's singing and more on his acting, he would have certainly beaten Marlon Brando for the Oscar of 1954. Crosby is extraordinary in this film, playing an alcoholic, washed-up actor/singer with few if any redeemable qualities. William Holden, as the director of a new Broadway musical, insists that Bing be cast in the lead role, even though he is painfully aware of the actor's history. Grace Kelly is Bing's misunderstood wife. While all three performances are first rate, it is Crosby who stands so far above the others, especially considering Hollywood's idea of realism in 1954. Kelly, on the other hand, who DID win an Oscar as best actress, seems workmanlike but not of that acting calibur. Miss Kelly was such a glamorous "star" that simply putting her in a frumpy housedress does not a plain and ordinary housewife make! Her last scene, in which she appears in a very elegant evening gown (but with glasses to downplay her beauty) is completely unconvincing. But, taken as a whole, "The Country Girl" is great video viewing!

In the ranking of American playwrights Clifford Odets is usually placed in the second tier behind Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Lillian Hellman and Tennessee Williams. His output was something less than theirs and his two best-known plays, Waiting for Lefty and The Country Girl, never quite reached the artistic pinnacle of say, Miller's Death of a Salesman or Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. Nonetheless as a movie The Country Girl is a brilliant piece of work thanks in part to a fine adaptation by director and screenwriter George Seaton (Oscar for best screen adaptation, 1954) and sterling performances by Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and William Holden. Seeing this for the first time I was almost as much impressed by Holden, who played a part very much in keeping with his character and with other parts he has played, as I was by Kelly and Crosby who both did 180 degree turns in type-casting.

Grace Kelly won an Oscar as the faithful, strong-willed, bitter, dowdy co-dependent wife of crooner Crosby who played a whimpering, guilt-ridden alcoholic. You have to see Grace Kelly in the bags-under-her-eyes make-up and spinster get-ups to believe it. She looks at least ten years older than her 25 years with a sour puss of a face and an attitude to match. I think she won best actress (over Judy Garland in A Star Is Born) partly because her appearance was so stunningly...different. (While I'm musing, I wonder if this was the film of hers that was banned in Monaco.) It would seem to be the height of creative casting to put her into such a role, yet she is excellent, wonderful to watch as always, her timing exquisite, her expression indelible, and her sense of character perfect. When she says to Holden, "You kissed me--don't let that give you any ideas," and then when we see her face after he leaves, loving it, we believe her both times.

Bing Crosby too is a sight to behold in what must have been his finest 104 minutes as a dramatic actor. He too played way out of character and yet one had the sense that he knew the character well. He was absolutely pathetic as the spineless one. (In real life Der Bingo was reportedly a stern task master at home--ask his kids.) Clearly director Seaton should be given some of the credit for these fine performances. When your stars perform so well, it's clear you've done something right.

The production suffers--inevitably, I suppose--from the weakness of the play within the play. Crosby is to be the star of a Broadway musical called "The Land Around Us." (What we see of the musical assures us it's no Oklahoma!) He's a little too old and stationary for the part, but of course he sings beautifully. (Painful was the excruciatingly slow audition scene opening the movie with Crosby singing and walking through a thoroughly boring number.) Holden is the director and he is taking a chance on Crosby partly because he believes in him and partly because he has nobody else. Naturally if Crosby returns to the bottle, everything will fall apart.

What about the nature of alcoholism as depicted by Odets? Knowing what we now know of the disease, how accurate was his delineation? I think he got it surprising right except for the implied cause. Crosby's character goes downhill after the accidental death of his son, which he blames on himself. Odets reflects the belief, only finally dispelled in recent decades, that alcoholism was indicative of a character flaw, as he has Crosby say he used his son's death as an excuse to drink. Today we know that alcoholism is a disease, a chemical imbalance. Yet Odets knew this practical truth (from the words he puts into the mouth of William Holden's character): an alcoholic stops drinking when he dies or when he gives it up himself. It is interesting to note that as a play The Country Girl appeared in 1950, the same year as William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba, which also dealt with alcoholism. The intuitive understanding of alcoholism by these two great playwrights might be compared with the present scientific understanding. (See for example, Milam, Dr. James R. and Katherine Ketcham. Under the Influence: A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism [1981] or Ketcham, Katherine, et al. Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism [2000].)

Here's a curiosity: the duet song (best number in the movie; Crosby sang it with Jacqueline Fontaine) has the lyric "What you learn is you haven't learned a thing," which is what the alcoholic learns everyday.

And here's a familiar line, cribbed from somewhere in the long ago: Fontaine asks Crosby aren't you so-and-so, and he replies, "I used to be."

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

All the other comments here-on the quality of the three leads' acting, the somberness of the film, the plot, etc--I agree w/ pretty much. For me the standout was not Grace but Bing. He was cast vs type the most and if anyone deserved an oscar here, it was him. Grace was fine, but still-it's like seeing Michelle Pfieffer or Theresa Russell playing frumpy-it don't really work.

Typical solid 50's dramatics, Holden in his element as always, very believable.

***1/2 outta ****

Adapted from the stage play of the same name, the narrative follows fading star Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby) whose drinking and shunning of any responsibility over the years has completely taken a toll on his relationship with his rather worn-out wife Georgie (Grace Kelly). He gets a chance at redemption when Bernie Dodd (William Holden) recruits him to star in a stage play.

Frank had been a big musical and theatrical hit at one time, but now he's eking out a living singing for commercials and living in a shabby apartment. Frank tends to be a shape-shifter. He badly wants to be liked, so when he hears Dodd talk about his bad marriage, he makes up a story about Georgie that paints her as a hopeless alcoholic who has had multiple suicide attempts and tries to live her life through controlling his. Dodd believes this story because he WANTS to believe this story -it rather mirrors the story of his own failed marriage. In fact it is Georgie propping up alcoholic Frank, not vice-versa. I'm not spoiling anything here, because all of this is clearly shown. How does this work out? Watch and find out.

This is passable enough entertainment, but it seems like a stage play that is filmed, just like every stage play that Mervin LeRoy ever directed as a film. In fact, after I saw this, I went to look up the director, thinking it might be LeRoy - it was not. As for Grace Kelly, I couldn't see how she could have won the Best Actress Oscar for this. She's not bad or unauthentic, but she doesn't come close to knocking it out of the park like she did in "High Noon" where she wasn't even nominated. I can only explain it by Kelly daring to look drab throughout the proceedings and 1954 being a weak year for performances by an actress.

Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and William Holden star in "The Country Girl," a 1954 film written and directed by George Seaton, based on the play by Clifford Odets. Crosby plays Frank Elgin, a former Broadway star who hit the skids after the death of his son ten years earlier. Kelly is his wife, Georgie, and Holden is Bernie Dodd, the director of a musical that he has determined will be Frank's comeback. I think it was asking a lot of any performer, no matter how great, to make this Oklahoma rip-off a hit, but Dodd thinks Frank is his man. Dodd takes an immediate dislike to Georgie, who reminds him of his ex-wife. He believes that Frank's dependence on her and helplessness was encouraged by her. Little does he know, Frank puts on a happy face, but in reality, he's lying to Dodd about his true relationship with Georgie and the reason for his fall from grace.

The very strong script is brilliantly acted by its three stars, and for each actor, it was probably their best role. Crosby is not only terrific, but he's a revelation as the alcoholic, weak Frank; Holden pulls out all the stops as the uptight Bernie Dodd; and Kelly is excellent as Georgie. There is still much controversy about whether or not she should have won the Oscar over Judy Garland in "A Star is Born," but anyone who has studied the Oscars knows one thing - whether Kelly deserved the award or not, every time a beautiful woman dresses down and makes herself look plain, she wins an Oscar - Elizabeth Taylor, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron - the list is endless. It's sure fire. Personally, I think Kelly is great in this, and they should have done without the glasses - the fact that she and Frank were too poor for her to afford nice clothes or hair dye would have been enough. Beauty is beauty, and you can't hide it behind a pair of glasses. And what was wrong with Frank being married to a beautiful woman? In one flashback, we're allowed to see her as she was. I'll go out on a limb and say that as much as I loved Judy in "A Star is Born," Georgie Elgin was a real stretch for Kelly.

Beautifully directed by Seaton, "The Country Girl" has a real feel of the theater, of internal fights between producer and director, of dressing rooms and hotels on the road.

An excellent movie all around.