Lillian Hellman’s mediocre stage play, Toys in the Attic, is turned into a hysterical and over-the-top melodrama in this screen version, boasting a stellar cast of women, though each one of them acts in a different style.
Grade: C+ (* 1/2* out of *****)
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Dean Martin plays Julian Berniers, a no-good con man who return from Illinois with his young bride Lily (Yvette Mimieux) to his family in New Orleans.
At first, his spinsterish sisters Carrie (Geraldine Page) and Anne (Wendy Hiller) are happy to see the couple, expressing amazement at the expensive gifts Julian had bought for them.
The sisters hope that their brother would help them with the house’s growing expenses. Indeed, Julian reassures them that, while his profitable factory went out of business, he did save some money. However, it turns out Julian had pulled out of a real estate scam and stole the money.
Showing obsessive infatuation (perhaps even incestuous affection), the manipulative Carrie wishes to fully welcome her brother. But Carrie’s jealousy of Lily motivates her to dig in and discover the shady deal.
The child-bride Lily then runs back to her mother, Albertine (Gene Tierney, in poor form), only to be horrified by Albertine’s affair with their black chauffeur, Henry (Frank Silvera).
In her lurid ideas, twisted characters, and cultural stereotypes, Lillian Hellman follows in the footsteps of such gay writers as Tennessee Williams and William Inge, known for their perverse characters and psychological melodramas set in the Deep South or the Mid-West.
For instance, Mimieux’s character of the child-bride echoes a similar creation in Kazan’s controversial, Oscar-nominated Baby Doll, the 1956 film version of Tennessee Williams’ play.
As the charming outsider, Martin, better known for his comedies with Jerry Lewis, struggles with a demanding part; essentially, he’s miscast.
And while British actress Wendy Hiller underacts, Geraldine Page (who had embodied many of Tennessee Williams’ great heroines) overacts. Having lost her pretty looks, Gene Tierney seems to be out of place.
The movie is further marred by the plodding direction of the young George Roy Hill. In less than a decade, he would helm a series of Hollywood blockbusters, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in 1969, and the 1973 Oscar-winning The Sting; both pictures co-star Paul Newman and Robert Redford.
Greeted with indifferent reviews, the movie was a commercial flop.
My Oscar Book
Oscar Nominations: 1
Costume Design (b/w): Bill Thomas
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The winner of the Costume Design Oscar was Piero Gherardi for Fellini’s “81/2,” which also won the Best Foreign Language Oscar
Credits
Running time: 88 Minutes.
Produced by Walter Mirisch
Directed by George Roy Hill
Screenplay by James Poe, based on Toys in the Attic by Lillian Hellman
Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc
Edited by Stuart Gilmore
Music by George Duning
Color process Black and white
Production companies: Meadway-Claude Productions Company
The Mirisch Corporation
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: July 31, 1963
Budget $2.1 million
