In a movie deeply flawed by excessive psychobabble, not to mention letting the evil-doers get the "last laugh," Joan Crawford is convincing playing an aging cougar. She not only evokes Mary Todd Lincoln; she dresses like the former First Lady as well, especially with her omnipresent white gloves. As Millie, Joan plays MOMMIE DEAREST to husband Burt, portrayed by pre-PT-109 youngster Cliff Robertson. That is, when Burt doesn't pull his T-Rex role reversal by smashing professional typist Millie's fingers with her bulky work tool, or blackening her eyes with his short, little atrophied punches. At one point someone on the committee of screenwriters for AUTUMN LEAVES has Pops Cartwright (Lorne Green) hatching an elaborate scheme to wrest away son Burt's birthright maternal inheritance through long-term torture by incest with Burt's wife. But excruciating bouts of Electro-Shock Therapy (shown here with loving detail) inexplicably convince Burt to sign away his financial future without a fight. This leaves Papa Hanson with BOTH Burt's high school sweetie\wife AND the late Mama Hanson's fortune. The idea that Joan Crawford could make suddenly penniless\prospect-lacking Burt forget about the charms of his Virginia (Vera Miles) is preposterous enough to prompt a barrage of wire hangers at the screen!
Review of Autumn Leaves
