Auntie Mame (1958)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Morton DaCosta

Writers:

Betty Comden (screenplay) and
Adolph Green (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

27 December 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

An orphan goes to live with his free-spirited aunt. Conflict ensues when the executor of his father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle.

Plot Keywords:

Socialite | Will | Orphan | Guardian | Love

Awards:

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Rosalind Russell	...	Mame Dennis
Forrest Tucker	...	Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside
Coral Browne	...	Vera Charles
Fred Clark	...	Dwight Babcock
Roger Smith	...	Patrick Dennis -older
Patric Knowles	...	Lindsay Woolsey
Peggy Cass	...	Agnes Gooch
Jan Handzlik	...	Patrick Dennis - younger
Joanna Barnes	...	Gloria Upson
Pippa Scott	...	Pegeen Ryan
Lee Patrick	...	Doris Upson
Willard Waterman	...	Claude Upson
Robin Hughes	...	Brian O'Bannion
Connie Gilchrist	...	Norah Muldoon
Yuki Shimoda	...	Ito

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #19033) | USA:Unrated (video release) | USA:TV-MA | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The stage play "Auntie Mame" opened at the Broadhurst Theater in New York on October 31, 1956 and ran for 639 performances. Rosalind Russell, Yuki Shimoda, Jan Handzlik, and Peggy Cass were in the original cast and reprise their roles in the film.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Patrick and Ms. Muldoon arrive on the afternoon of Mame's "Affair" to tell Mame that Ms. Muldoon is not the glass washer lady, Mame says, "Then I must have invited you" and takes a cocktail from Ito's tray. You hear the ice tinkling in the glass but clearly there is no ice in either of the glasses.

Quotes:

Auntie Mame: What an honor it is to have you in our little home... though I wonder if it does make the best first impression on a sensitive young mind to see you drinking during business hours.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Biography: Angela Lansbury: A Balancing Act" (1998)

One of the greats!!!!

Auntie Mame is a long movie, but it goes by as fast as a giggle!! There are few movies that I care to watch over and over again. I never tire of Auntie Mame because the screenplay is simply a brilliant piece of work. Comden and Greene are from the laudable days where one was expected to engage the brain when writing comedy! Practically every line is a quotable classic. Warner Brothers did us all a service by hiring theater director Morton da Costa to recreate the Broadway stage play. The movie is classy, sumptuously designed and brilliantly staged with those exquisite blackouts after each scene. Rosalind Russell should have won an Academy Award for this role (she refused to campaign for it) because no one will ever come close to getting that perfect timing that she displays in every scene. You love her from the moment she shakes the monkey's hand in the second scene. The supporting cast is perfection, especially Coral Browne, an undeservedly little known actress who makes a meal of Vera Charles. Peggy Cass is hilarious as Agnes Gooch; Forrest Tucker a charmer as Burnside. Everything about this picture makes it a true classic of the American cinema; one of those rare movies that makes you laugh, but even more important, makes you feel good!!! They don't get any better than this!