Tender Is the Night (1962)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Henry King

Writers:

F. Scott Fitzgerald (novel)
Ivan Moffat (writer)

Release Date:

23 February 1962 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

In the tender moments of the night...SHOULD LOVE BE ALL THERE IS?

Plot Keywords:

Composer | Actress | Beautiful Woman | Forbidden Love | Wealth

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Jennifer Jones	...	Nicole Diver
Jason Robards	...	Dr. Richard 'Dick' Diver (as Jason Robards Jr.)
Joan Fontaine	...	Baby Warren
Tom Ewell	...	Abe North
Cesare Danova	...	Tommy Barban
Jill St. John	...	Rosemary Hoyt
Paul Lukas	...	Doctor Dohmler
Bea Benaderet	...	Mrs. McKisco
Charles E. Fredericks	...	Mr. Albert Charles McKisco (as Charles Fredericks)
Sanford Meisner	...	Doctor Franz Gregorovious
Mac McWhorter	...	Colis Clay
Albert Carrier	...	Louis
Richard De Combray	...	Francisco Prado
Carole Mathews	...	Mrs. Hoyt
Alan Napier	...	Señor Pardo

Runtime:

142 min | 132 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #20019)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The first plans for a screen adaption dates back to the 1930s, when F. Scott Fitzgerald wanted to make it a Norma Shearer vehicle. Producer and Shearer's husband Irving Thalberg voted against it.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Tender Is the Night" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Tender Is the Night

Jones, Robards shine in this Fitzgerald adaptation

**spoiler alert**

This movie does not have the greatest reputation in the world. I'd read that Jennifer Jones was too old to play Nicole, that she overacts, that she has no chemistry with Jason Robards, that it was too long, etc.

Well don't believe it!

It DID take me several attempts to watch the whole thing, but that nothing to do with the movie, that had to do with something else. When

I finally saw the whole thing all the way through, I enjoyed it very much and questioned why it does not have more admirers.

It explores many themes, thoughtfully and without exploitation. Should a doctor romance his patient? When does the patient stop being a patient, exactly, and start being a person?

Nicole meets Dick in a sanitarium. She's there for a variety of reasons, none of which sister Joan Fontaine really care to discuss. It has something to do with their father. Nicole eventually is released and runs into Dick years later, and they get married. They have a wonderful life and two children but it starts to fall apart. Not because of Nicole's mental state - actually, as it turns out, she becomes the stable one. But a friend of theirs (Tom Ewell, making a fool of himself as a chronic drunk) dies, their daughter almost dies from alcohol poisoning, and Dick is see with an actress (Jill St. John) at a brawl in a café and their picture makes all the front pages.

Jennifer Jones is prone to be very mannered. In spite of them she's still a favorite, but here she's really very good, she's not too old to play the part, and her chemistry with Robards is believable. Fontaine doesn't do much but enjoy her own wardrobe. As I mentioned, Ewell is a drunk but his death scene (or, rather, the circumstances surrounding it) are the worse thing in the movie. Jill St. John is first seen as a youngster but she matures as the movie progresses..unfortunately, her acting does not improve.

At over 2 1/2 hours, its an investment, but worth your time. Now I want to watch it again. 8/10.