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I love black and white films.
That Kind of Woman is beautifully melodramatic in the way that old movies are, but without being saccharine or overwrought.
Sophia Loren plays Kay, the mistress of The Man (George Sanders), a wealthy, older man, who falls in love with a young paratrooper on a train. Red, played with earnest sweetness and apple-pie naiveté by Tab Hunter, is determined to keep Kay despite her resistance and the counsel of his more world weary friend, George Kelly (Jack Warden).
Set in 1944 during the second World War, That Kind of Woman does a disturbingly gentle job of describing the plight of women whose only real currency is their bodies. Both Kay and Jane (another 'kept' woman, played by Barbara Nichols) barter themselves in pursuit of security and, hopefully, marriage in an America at war where factory jobs had become de rigueur for women. Jane verbalizes the problem, what happens to her once the war is over? With the end of the war looming in 1945, it's a question that Kay, Jane and all the women of the nation will have to face as they are replaced by the men *they* replaced. Kay ultimately grabs the brass ring and The Man proposes in response to her sudden infatuation with the young Red. There is the suggestion that The Man really does feel something for Kay, even if it isn't reciprocated. The Man woos her with promises of wealth and a life of leisure. Kay, and later Jane, must determine what will win out -- love or money.
Sophia Loren is luminous, playing a woman struggling with a desire for security and a desire for love. There are plenty of close-ups, light glittering off the tears in her eyes. Equally as plentiful, close-ups of Tab Hunter focus on his eyes, open and constantly yearning. He's all-American. Full of optimism as shiny as his curly blonde hair, Red is convinced that what he has with Kay is worth keeping.
Although reviews of the film seem to pretty much pan it, I found the movie oddly tragic. The burden of that sensibility rests squarely on the shoulders of Sophia Loren who does a gorgeous job of playing a woman vacillating between love and security. She's subtle and conflicted and acts the pants off of Tab Hunter. Hunter, however, in his defense, really doesn't have to do much. He plays pretty, simple, unjaded and uncomplicated Red as straight forward and that is what I think the draw is for Kay. When she's with The Man she is Katherine, a sophisticated Italian mistress, dressed in black. With Red she becomes Kay, a girl in a white dress who wears flowers on her lapel from her beau and walks barefoot in the park. The question is: which life will she choose and do we believe in the choice that she makes?
Unfortunately, I didn't buy it. After finally sending Red on his way and remaining with The Man, Kay has a change of heart and rushes to meet her love on the train. The movie initially establishes Kay as a woman who enjoys her status and is very aware of the pleasures and comforts attendant with her position; she's comfortable with it. For her to make a sudden switch at the movie's close was somehow diminishing. The saving note was the very ending when she reunites with Red on the train. The tears and the look on her face suggest that she has realized, with horror, just what she's given up for "true love". Red, as grateful and clueless as ever, is only happy that she is there.
In other news, Celebrity Circus is incredibly lame. It is, in fact, pretty much as lame as I thought it was going to be. Lame and dangerous. WTF, NBC! WTF!?
That Kind of Woman is beautifully melodramatic in the way that old movies are, but without being saccharine or overwrought.
Sophia Loren plays Kay, the mistress of The Man (George Sanders), a wealthy, older man, who falls in love with a young paratrooper on a train. Red, played with earnest sweetness and apple-pie naiveté by Tab Hunter, is determined to keep Kay despite her resistance and the counsel of his more world weary friend, George Kelly (Jack Warden).
Set in 1944 during the second World War, That Kind of Woman does a disturbingly gentle job of describing the plight of women whose only real currency is their bodies. Both Kay and Jane (another 'kept' woman, played by Barbara Nichols) barter themselves in pursuit of security and, hopefully, marriage in an America at war where factory jobs had become de rigueur for women. Jane verbalizes the problem, what happens to her once the war is over? With the end of the war looming in 1945, it's a question that Kay, Jane and all the women of the nation will have to face as they are replaced by the men *they* replaced. Kay ultimately grabs the brass ring and The Man proposes in response to her sudden infatuation with the young Red. There is the suggestion that The Man really does feel something for Kay, even if it isn't reciprocated. The Man woos her with promises of wealth and a life of leisure. Kay, and later Jane, must determine what will win out -- love or money.
Sophia Loren is luminous, playing a woman struggling with a desire for security and a desire for love. There are plenty of close-ups, light glittering off the tears in her eyes. Equally as plentiful, close-ups of Tab Hunter focus on his eyes, open and constantly yearning. He's all-American. Full of optimism as shiny as his curly blonde hair, Red is convinced that what he has with Kay is worth keeping.
Although reviews of the film seem to pretty much pan it, I found the movie oddly tragic. The burden of that sensibility rests squarely on the shoulders of Sophia Loren who does a gorgeous job of playing a woman vacillating between love and security. She's subtle and conflicted and acts the pants off of Tab Hunter. Hunter, however, in his defense, really doesn't have to do much. He plays pretty, simple, unjaded and uncomplicated Red as straight forward and that is what I think the draw is for Kay. When she's with The Man she is Katherine, a sophisticated Italian mistress, dressed in black. With Red she becomes Kay, a girl in a white dress who wears flowers on her lapel from her beau and walks barefoot in the park. The question is: which life will she choose and do we believe in the choice that she makes?
Unfortunately, I didn't buy it. After finally sending Red on his way and remaining with The Man, Kay has a change of heart and rushes to meet her love on the train. The movie initially establishes Kay as a woman who enjoys her status and is very aware of the pleasures and comforts attendant with her position; she's comfortable with it. For her to make a sudden switch at the movie's close was somehow diminishing. The saving note was the very ending when she reunites with Red on the train. The tears and the look on her face suggest that she has realized, with horror, just what she's given up for "true love". Red, as grateful and clueless as ever, is only happy that she is there.
In other news, Celebrity Circus is incredibly lame. It is, in fact, pretty much as lame as I thought it was going to be. Lame and dangerous. WTF, NBC! WTF!?
