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Auntie Mame (1958)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
27 December 1958 (USA)
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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. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 6 Oscars.
Another 6 wins
&
3 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(13 articles)
Jerry's Girls Plays The Ivoryton Playhouse 10/28-11/14
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 14 November 2009, 2:00 AM, PST)
AFI's 100 Years ...100 Movie Quotes
(From Extra. 4 November 2009, 4:45 AM, PST)
(From BroadwayWorld.com. 14 November 2009, 2:00 AM, PST)
AFI's 100 Years ...100 Movie Quotes
(From Extra. 4 November 2009, 4:45 AM, PST)
User Comments:
Perfect? Just about!
more (91 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
143 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
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:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The movie's line "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" was voted as the #93 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
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Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Norah is paying the taxi, she says, "Keep the change" but her lips don't move.
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Quotes:
Gloria Upson:
Miss Charles, I've just got to tell you how I adored you in "Mary of Scotland."
Vera Charles: Did you dear? That was Helen Hayes.
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Vera Charles: Did you dear? That was Helen Hayes.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "The Simpsons: Flaming Moe's (#3.10)" (1991)
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (91 total)
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When "Auntie Mame" was first published, I read and re-read it (and its sequel, "Around the World with Auntie Mame") for several summers. Believe it or not, the books are even funnier than the film. They were not "memoirs," though that was the PR at the time. Edward Everett Tanner, or "Patrick Dennis," ultimately admitted as much. Auntie Mame was a creation from Tanner's own talented imagination.
No one ever has, or ever will, embody Auntie Mame as well as Rosalind Russell, who, by the time her Broadway performance in the role was filmed, had honed her portrayal to one of the finest in American theatre and film.
Listen to her vocal technique: from high girlish squeals to basso-profundo sarcasm.
Or watch her remarkable body language throughout -- from grande dame theatricality to lowbrow burlesque.
Russell's supporting players are magnificent -- from the 12-year old Jan Handzlik, through Coral Browne, Peggy Cass, Forrest Tucker, Fred Clark, Patrick Knowles, Connie Gilchrist, Yuki Shimoda, Robin Hughes, Roger Smith, Pippa Scott -- and, my own particular favorites who almost, but not quite, steal their scenes from Miss Russell: Willard Waterman, Lee Patrick and Joanna Barnes as the unforgettable Upsons.
George James Hopkins' brilliant sets and set design, and Orry-Kelly's amazing costumes, along with Branislau Kaper's score and Morton Da Costa's direction are like Tiffany settings, showing off this flawless cast at the top of their form.
Lawrence and Lee's original Broadway script was adapted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, whose main contribution would appear to be the hydraulic furniture at the final dinner party.
The famous line, originally from the Broadway play and not found in the novel, is "Life is a banquet! And most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death!" "Damn" and "hell" both are heard in the film: but "sons-of-bitches" was apparently too strong for the MPAA in 1958.
Is the film dated? I suppose. In the same way that "Citizen Kane" is dated, or "Some Like It Hot." It's also timeless. And Miss Russell's performance, here at the zenith of her long and distinguished comedic and dramatic career (Eugene O'Neill's "Mourning Becomes Electra," anybody?) is an acting lesson unto itself.