Sony remasters its top Kim Novak gems for this nicely appointed disc set, a collection
graced with the presence of the legendary actress herself. This is indeed a unique
occasion, as the wisely privacy-minded Ms. Novak has made very few personal appearances
since retiring from the screen. We've known her only through her glamorous film roles and
not through a publicity smokescreen or a history of self-promotion. The result is that
the captivating star of great pictures like
Vertigo still retains the power to
fire our imaginations. A potent 1950s sex symbol, Novak is a class act all the way.
The movies in Sony's
The Kim Novak Film Collection take her appeal in four
different directions.
Picnic gives Novak her most iconic role. Madge Owens is the
Kansas high school prom queen desperate to escape her identity as the 'local beauty'.
Madge's mother Flo (Betty Field) wants to hurry her marriage to the local rich kid Alan
Benson (Cliff Robertson), but Madge unconsciously envies her brighter, less dazzling
sister Millie (Susan Strasberg), who hates small town life and wants to run away to New
York to "write books to shock everybody". Meanwhile, the spinster schoolteacher Rosemary
(Rosalind Russell) is living another female nightmare -- well into middle age, she's
desperate to marry the local merchant Howard Bevans (Arthur O'Connell).
The catalyst arrives in the form of Hal Carter (William Holden), a former college buddy
of Alan's who tells spicy tales of bumming around Hollywood and wants to beg Alan's dad
for a job. Hal talks big but can't hide the fact that he's a bum and will have to start
as a laborer. That doesn't decrease his appeal to Madge, much to the horror of her
mother. Hal's virility also upsets Rosemary, who causes a scene at the grand Labor Day
picnic that gets them all into trouble. The film's classic scene is an almost magical
evening dance at the picnic. Hal and Madge suddenly know that they're fated for each
other, in a relationship with little hope for a future.
Made on location at great expense,
Picnic is an exceptional Columbia film.
Cinematographer James Wong Howe's warm, diffuse colors give the show a special look for
its year (1955), transforming the harvest picnic into a painfully poignant ritual for
those in desperate need to change their lives. Director Joshua Logan handles the actors
extremely well, and the camera blocking is worked out to perfection. The superb dialogue
by William Inge, the original author of the Broadway play, gives William Holden a
terrific opportunity to show how appealing he can be as a tough-guy loser. We soon forget
that Holden is at least ten years too old to play Hal. Kim Novak's part seems almost
autobiographical -- the deceptively "shallow" girl weary of being told she's beautiful.
It's said that Inge adapted
Picnic and
Splendor in the Grass from
real events he witnessed back in Independence, Kansas -- tragedies that befell admired
young high school celebrities. He stirred up resentment when the locals recognized the
original cases.
Picnic has dramatic teeth because we know that Flo Owens, the
abandoned mother, is almost certainly correct in trying to stop her daughter from
leaving: Hal and Madge's passion will almost certainly collapse in poverty, gambling, or
liquor. That's apparently what happened in real life. But Madge resolves to take her
chances with the cards she's dealt. Inge gives his most hopeful thoughts to the sweet
lady next door, Helen Potts (Verna Felton). She's an elderly woman taking care of an even
older mother, and locked away from opportunities of life and love. Helen gives Madge her
unspoken blessing -- she knows that a woman must follow her heart, one way or another.
Sony's DVD of
Picnic is an improvement on their earlier widescreen disc, with
softer colors and less grain. Some fading has occurred but the digital restoration is
remarkably effective.
The second film in the Kim Novak Collection
Jeanne Eagels is reviewed
here.
Pal Joey is another George Sidney effort adapted from the 1940 Broadway musical
that had made Gene Kelly a star. Pushed and pulled out of shape to accommodate the
requirements of its stellar cast -- especially Frank Sinatra --
Pal Joey has its
own glossy appeal. Originally a womanizing heel who uses both a socialite and
stenographer as a path to getting his own nightclub, Joey has been transformed into a
more sympathetic Frank Sinatra clone. Although much of the bite of John O'Hara's original
has been left behind, the film offers Sinatra singing more Rodgers and Hart standards
(
The Lady is a Tramp). The colorful, classy cinematography is a treat -- many
shots look as though they could be Sinatra album covers from the period. Some Sinatra
fans consider this his best film role.
Besides making Joey a nice guy, the adaptation reinvents socialite Vera Simpson (Rita
Hayworth) as an ex-burlesque queen. Showgirl Linda English (Kim Novak) tempts Joey in a
scene that's at least
verbally sexy. Everybody gets to sing and dance although
Novak's singing voice is dubbed. With a couple of characters dropped and an entire
blackmail scheme eliminated,
Pal Joey becomes a Sinatra star vehicle plain and
simple. Among the supporting players, Barbara Nichols has some nice moments as another
showgirl.
This new transfer is much nicer than grainy Sony disc from about ten years ago. Colors
pop quite beautifully, giving Novak's close-ups an almost hallucinogenic quality.
Although Rita Hayworth has more depth as an actress, Novak's youth has the edge in the
glamour department.
The Stephen Rebello-hosted extras really hit their stride for
Pal Joey . The
discussion starts off with Jean Louis' gowns -- Novak remembers taking a big interest in
her clothing and participating in the design process. Rebello also solicits comments on
Novak's preference against wearing bras. We then see quite a lot of Novak's beautiful
home on a river, and hear more about her happy life in an artist's colony. Her bedroom
features her own painted murals.
The select-scene commentary aligns nicely with its subject matter, with Novak discussing
her dubbed singing and the experience of working with Sinatra. She remembers a marked
change in Sinatra's attitude from
The Man with the Golden Arm. Novak explains that
her complicated dance number with Hayworth was ruined when Frank arrived and cut out
moves and bits he didn't like or didn't want to learn. In the finished film, the number
is pretty ragged.
1958's
Bell, Book and Candle re-teams the stars of Hitchcock's
Vertigo in a
quirky romantic comedy that plays like a do-over to allow Kim Novak and James Stewart a
happier finish. Beautiful, mysterious art gallery proprietress Gil Holroyd (Novak) is
actually a practicing witch. She resorts to a love charm to attract Shep Henderson (James
Stewart), prying him away from his icky fianceé Merle (Janice Rule, wonderful in
the thankless role). Less like
Burn Witch, Burn and more like TV's
Bewitched, witchcraft here is an apparently non-Satanic lifestyle. Gil's Aunt
Queenie (Elsa Lanchester) and her own brother Nicky (Jack Lemmon are a happy-go-lucky
Greenwich Village practioners that limit their magic to petty ends -- Nicky can't find a
good job. Nicky foolishly helps phony occult writer Sidney Redlitch (Ernie Kovacs) learn
about real witchcraft, which threatens to expose all of them.
Of course, romantic problems arise when Gil breaks the rules of witchcraft by falling in
love with her new 'enchanted' boyfriend, and regrets not winning him the honest way. This
is of course foolish, as any breathing man would crawl through fire for a date with Gil,
who is a knockout in her glamorous hip-chick costumes.
Kim Novak takes to the barefoot Bohemian style quite well, even with a pair of painted
eyebrows that look more like giant commas come to roost. Stewart exercises his comedy
skills without resorting to
Harvey- type slapstick. His late night snuggling
scenes with Novak equate romantic infatuation with magical enchantment. Gil and Shep
indeed make a very attractive couple, and the picture works. Hermoine Gingold adds spice
playing an even more adept spell-caster than Novak's Gil.
In the accompanying featurette Kim Novak sticks to standard praise to talk about her
co-stars Lemmon and Kovacs but assures us that she recognized a fellow 'real person' in
James Stewart, a man as comfortable "as a pair of old slippers". Novak also cops to
loving the witchcraft angle -- she obviously delighted in working with Gil's 'familiar',
a Siamese cat named Pywacket.
1959's
Middle of the Night is a heavy but rewarding drama from Paddy Chayefsky,
who adapts his own play. Set in a somewhat depressing vision of the New York garment
district, the show is about aging widower Jerry Kingsley (Fredric March) and his unstable
relationship with the young Betty Preisser, his secretary (Novak). Betty is divorced from
George, a musician (Lee Phillips) and has trouble making decisions. Her planned marriage
to Jerry meets plenty of resistance from her mother (Glenda Farrell) and she sometimes
feels like getting back together with George. Meanwhile, Jerry takes flak from his bossy
older sister and his married daughter Lillian (Joan Copeland), who makes life difficult
for her own husband (Martin Balsam) as well. Providing a negative role model is fellow
garment worker Lachman (Albert Dekker) a boastful but unhappy womanizer. Does Jerry and
Betty's romance have a chance?
Middle of the Night looks at a
Marty- like situation from a different
angle, with two well-meaning and emotionally needy people negotiating a minefield of
disapproval and self-doubt. It doesn't take much to change their mood from infatuation to
suspicion. Both feel like losers in love and neither wants to be hurt again. But all
relationships are fraught with risk, and Jerry and Betty feel a strong attraction across
the May-December gulf.
Once again Paddy Chayefsky's flair for the natural flow of dialogue pulls us deeper into
the drama. Jerry's pride is too easily hurt and Betty is woefully insecure. The depth of
her weakness becomes clear when the smooth-talking George shows up one evening and too
easily talks his way back into her bed. The show looks at adult relationships in an adult
context, and comes out a winner. This is one of Novak's finest films.
Middle of the Night benefits from the presence of quality actors like Glenda
Farrell and Lee Grant. Young Jan Norris also makes a big impression as Betty's precocious
younger sister -- as she did a year or two later as one of Natalie Wood's girlfriends in
Splendor in the Grass.
On the set's final featurette Ms. Novak talks at length about her rewarding experience on
Middle of the Night, despite the fact that it didn't do well at the box office.
It's her most accomplished acting part and she's perfect for it. Betty is a mess of
contradictions; Kim describes her as a "baby" hungry for intimacy and a father figure.
Novak tells us that the telling blocking in one scene, where Jerry handles a dress dummy
as if it were Betty's body, was her idea. She also says that March had to be repeatedly
reminded to respect her 'personal boundaries'!
The Kim Novak Film Collection makes us grateful that Sony is currently doing such
a fine job with its library titles, when several other studios have more or less
abandoned classic movies. The transfers are all exceptionally good and widescreen
enhanced. The color films range from the candy-hues of
Pal Joey to the softer
palette of
Picnic, while the stylized B&W work in
Jeanne Eagels contrasts
strongly with
Middle of the Night's documentary look.
Picnic and
Pal
Joey have 5.1 tracks, which may be original mixes.
Added value producer Greg Carson has scored a coup with Kim Novak's participation, and
author Stephen Rebello (
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho) delivers an
exemplary interview portrait of this legendary shrinking violet. Ms. Novak's attitude
about her own fame is very interesting. She understands the point of view of Marlene
Dietrich, who worked into her seventies and then retreated forever away from cameras that
would mar her near-mystical image of glamour. Kim Novak liked her Hollywood work but
loves her privacy and creative life more. Her interviews convince us that she's happy
with the way things worked out. She sees no need to appear on camera in close-up. For the
many among us who have been enamored of her for half a century, her comments and
confidences here are more than enough reward.
For more information about
The Kim Novak Collection, visit
Sony Pictures. To order
The Kim Novak
Collection, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Glenn Erickson
