L'enquête

The filmic trope of presenting a mystery woman to the viewer through the recollections of her friends and lovers has a long history. Perhaps "Laura" is the most famous. A much lesser-known one is the British "Woman in Question." "Sylvia" is in that tradition: a wealthy man wants to find out about the background of his fiancée, Sylvia, so hires a private detective to investigate. As the P.I. encounters people from Sylvia's past, the stories that they tell him are the flashback elements of the film. There's a very touching episode with Viveca Lindfors, as well as one with Ann Sothern. While the film is somewhat desultory in its pacing, it's got some great folks-Edmund O'Brien, Joanne Dru, etc.--and a suitably disengaged performance from Carroll Baker in the title role. It actually works well for the character, who throughout a series of tawdry experiences has kept a part of herself removed and untouched. We also get to see a well-toned George Maharis with his pajama top off--another reason to catch the film if it ever shows up.

David Raksin, who composed the score for "Laura," some twenty years earlier, provides a nice score for "Sylvia" (note the use of the waltz from William Wyler's "Carrie"--also a Paramount film-- in the scene at the restaurant with Sothern and Maharis).

Excellent Carroll Baker flick. Made just before Harlow almost ruined her career. Carroll plays a rich novelist who's engaged to sleaze-bag Peter Lawford. Lawford knows squat about her past so he hires second rate P.I. George Maharis to find out about her life. What he uncovers is on the tawdry side. Carroll endured many a degredation before turning to prostitution. Some scenes are a little campy. I love the scene where she gets a job in a hooker pick up joint run by a drag queen who's idea of warbling a song is climaxed by him/her karate chopping some blocks of wood on stage. Good supporting cast including Joanne Dru and the ever talented Ann Southern playing a frumpy has-been hooker. Lloyd Bocher plays a client who has some rather kinky-S&M ideas about foreplay, quite shocking for 1964, tame by today's standards. I really liked this movie as the viewer starts to feel much empathy for Carroll's character after surviving all the crap she went through in her life. Not your typical Hollywood ending either.

Carrol Baker is fluidly extraordinary in this film. Her character's life is explored in a dreamlike series of flashbacks which unravel like time travel. The various other characters are woven in and out in florishes from charactor actors.

I had seen this a long time ago then caught it on Turner Classics. Kind of bizarre in a good way.

Because of the complexity of the subject matter and the way the film is structured, I think it will get better on repeated viewings.

Sylvia certainly has a great tradition of similar films to fall back on. Chicago Deadline, The Mask Of Dimitrios, and the great Citizen Kane all deal with someone trying to pick up the real story of somebody by interviewing people from the past and getting flashback incidents.

Peter Lawford has hired PI George Maharis to trace down the background of Sylvia, the girl he plans to marry. What Carroll Baker in the title role has given him is completely bogus though she's pretty well fixed on her own and doesn't need Lawford's millions. But he's a careful sort and Maharis begins his work.

I have to say that it was a clever idea for him to use her writings, she's a poet, for traces of local idiomatic expressions. Maharis has a linguistics professor on call who tells him his starting point should be Pittsburgh.

After that Maharis starts on his hunt and meets a variety of characters played by some really fine character actors. It's the best thing Sylvia has going for it. These people really make the film. The most memorable for me are Ann Sothern who works in a penny arcade and is a drunk and Viveca Lindfors as a librarian from Pittsburgh who gives Maharis his first bit of real information.

Baker does well as a woman who really graduated summa cum laude from the school of hard knocks. The film was supposed to be a breakout film for George Maharis who left his TV series Route 66 for a career on the big screen. It never quite worked out that way. He does all right in the part of the PI, but I think either Paul Newman or Robert Mitchum would have aced the part of the private eye.

Still Sylvia is worth watching for one of the best cast of character players ever assemble this side of John Ford or Frank Capra.

The best thing about this movie is the truly first-rate supporting cast: Peter Lawford, Viveca Lindfors, Aldo Ray and Ann Sothern all give outstanding performances. Ann's, in particular, will stay with you long after the movie is over. She's a gem!