Autumn Leaves (1956)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers (WGA):

Jean Rouverol (written by) (front Jack Jevne) &
Hugo Butler (written by) (front Jack Jevne) ...

Release Date:

1 August 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In the dark, when I feel his heart pounding against mine - is it love? or frenzy? or terror?

Plot:

Millicent Wetherby is a middle-aged woman whose life is devoid of love and affection. Millicent's solitary...

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | Unmarried Woman | Loneliness | Trauma | Ex Wife

Awards:

1 win

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Nov. 18

2:00 PM

TCM

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Millicent Wetherby
Vera Miles	...	Virginia Hanson
Lorne Greene	...	Mr. Hanson
Ruth Donnelly	...	Liz Eckhart
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Dr. Malcolm Couzzens
Selmer Jackson	...	Mr. Wetherby
Maxine Cooper	...	Nurse Evans
Marjorie Bennett	...	Waitress
Frank Gerstle	...	Mr. Ramsey
Leonard Mudie	...	Colonel Hillyer
Maurice Manson	...	Dr. Masterson
Cliff Robertson	...	Burt Hanson

Also Known As:

The Way We Are (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #17762) | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

William Goetz Productions

Quotes:

Virginia: Sure, he should be committed!
Milly: Of course, you'd want me to commit him, get him out of your life, put him away permanently someplace where he can never again remind either one of you of your horrible guilt; how you and you had committed the ugliest of all possible sins, so ugly that it drove him into the state he's in now!
Mr. Hanson: What kind of a woman are you to be satisfied with only half a man? There must be so...
Milly: Even when he doesn't know what he's doing, he's a saner man than you are! He's decent and proud. Can you say the same for yourselves? Where's your decency? In what garbage dump, Mr. Hanson? And where's yours, you tramp?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Outrageous! (1977)

Soundtrack:

Autumn Leaves

Joan suffers and suffers but it's a fan's delight...

JOAN CRAWFORD was approaching that phase of her career where women of "a certain age" don't have much of a choice in being able to find good scripts. If they do, it's usually a bit of a comedown from the kind of roles they were offered in their heyday.

AUTUMN LEAVES is no exception. While it's by no means a disaster, it does strain credibility and proves to be a rather over-baked vehicle for an actress who was by now getting to suffer more and more in stylish women's films that suited her screen persona.

Here she is teamed with newcomer CLIFF ROBERTSON, new to films after a brief stint on stage in plays like "Picnic". He plays a young charmer she befriends at a diner (after a concert) and before you know it they're an item at the local beach-front. Hastily, impulsively swept off her feet by this twenty-year younger man, she allows herself to marry him but then discovers that he has a troubled past that makes him turn into a monster when he doesn't get his way.

It's the kind of role Crawford was born to play and she goes through all the motions beautifully under Robert Aldrich's direction. Women fans will especially enjoy the fantasy aspect of such a story and will probably pine away with wistful longing when they watch Robertson take Joan in his arms. Some unexpected turns by LORNE GREENE (as Robertson's father) and VERA MILES (as a woman Crawford calls "a slut").

Summing up: A good Joan Crawford melodrama--but SUDDEN FEAR was better.