Joan Crawford is at the height of her "big eyebrow" look in this film. She looks so much like Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest" (or is it the other way around) that it is scary. Dunaway must have studied this film to perfect that look and it worked.
"Autumn Leaves" has two things going for it......the theme song as done by the masterful Nat "King" Cole and Joan's line to Vera Miles "And you, you SLUT"....only Crawford could pull that off with such panache. But sadly, the film itself is a dog.....the first half is extremely talky with not much being resolved. The second half tries to pull it all together by explaining how Cliff Robertson became a paranoid schizophrenic mess thanks to Vera Miles (the slut) and a very creepy Lorne Greene as Robertson's father and Vera's paramour. I never realized what a terrible actor Greene was. Some shock treatments and paraldahyde and Cliff is cured of his emotional problems and all is well.....duh. He and Joan walk off into the sunset and live on love and her typing income. Very sappy.
BUT, you can never fault Crawford for giving her all in her films, no matter how bad they might be. She suffered better than any actress in history and boy, does she suffer here. To tell the truth, getting through this film would make anyone suffer.....I know I did.
"Autumn Leaves" has two things going for it......the theme song as done by the masterful Nat "King" Cole and Joan's line to Vera Miles "And you, you SLUT"....only Crawford could pull that off with such panache. But sadly, the film itself is a dog.....the first half is extremely talky with not much being resolved. The second half tries to pull it all together by explaining how Cliff Robertson became a paranoid schizophrenic mess thanks to Vera Miles (the slut) and a very creepy Lorne Greene as Robertson's father and Vera's paramour. I never realized what a terrible actor Greene was. Some shock treatments and paraldahyde and Cliff is cured of his emotional problems and all is well.....duh. He and Joan walk off into the sunset and live on love and her typing income. Very sappy.
BUT, you can never fault Crawford for giving her all in her films, no matter how bad they might be. She suffered better than any actress in history and boy, does she suffer here. To tell the truth, getting through this film would make anyone suffer.....I know I did.