Such a frustrating disappointment

Absolutely brilliant

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Years ago, Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby) was a successful singer and actor, but a tragedy turned him in to an alcoholic loser and his wife, Georgie (Grace Kelly), into a bitter shrew. A young Broadway director (William Holden) wants Frank to star in his new show, but Frank's drinking and his uncooperative wife may spell disaster. This stark and touching drama has both Bing and Grace playing against type and they're both wonderful. Bing plays the weak has-been with utter sincerity and Grace drabs it up to play the nagging wife. She won Best Actress and he was nominated for Best Actor. The two reunited two years later in "High Society," playing carefree socialites, showing their versatility. William Holden is excellent as the demanding director who pulls a good performance out of Frank and shakes up the angry Georgie. The script draws on the themes of guilt, alcoholism, and redemption and the black and white photography emphasizes Frank and Georgie's misery. It's a very good and thought-provoking film.

Guilt. Blame. Anger. Despair. These are some of the themes of this movie. In what has to be Bing Crosby's greatest performance, he plays a washed up actor who is given an opportunity to redeem himself yet is on the brink of failing miserably ... and the director is trying to figure out why. The director believes in his actor but for some reason the actor is failing, for reasons that have nothing to do with lack of talent. What makes this movie so compelling is that the audience knows the problem but will the director ever find out and if he does, then what? Grace Kelly's performance is absolutely astonishing. For most of the movie she plays a frumpy, doughty, sour-faced woman yet even here her beauty is apparent. Ms. Kelly was really beautiful ... and extremely talented too. After watching this movie it is easy to understand how a prince would have wanted her for his princess. This movie is so strong that even a powerhouse actor like William Holden can barely hold is own. He's great but its Crosby and Kelly who dominate this wonderful and inspirational movie that everyone should watch.

Seaton's film doesn't hold up as well on repeated viewings. I first watched this last year and was very impressed with the film, and its three central performances from Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly (who controversially won the Oscar over Judy Garland) and William Holden. While I still remain impressed by the engaging performances, I find much of what surrounds the three stars to be flat. The musical numbers in the play-within-a-film, "The Land Around Us" are very ordinary. No wonder Crosby's Frank Elgin receives bad reviews. Seaton doesn't really try to open up the film, adapted from the award-winning Clifford Odets play, and the result is a visually tired film. On subsequent viewings the Odets dialogue is still powerful but several exchanges feel incredibly fake. When Grace Kelly says "The theatre is mysterious" it goes against the grain of what we have already seen of her character. I seem to be bagging the film quite a lot, but I do enjoy it. Holden is excellent and gives the best performance of the film. Crosby is also very good, and Kelly, for all the criticism over her winning the Oscar gong over Garland, does a very admirable job with a difficult character. Watch it for the three stars.

This movie, based on a play, had some of the feel of a 54-ish Mamet stage work. Honest about the theatre. A bit dark. A bit gritty. Recurring worries about the possibility of a bad turn at each step. Yet, frankly, in the end, I thought it was the plot itself that carried the day. I wasn't sure Kelly had the authority to carry the role she had, but she was OK. In contrast, I thought Holden was too repetitively loud and angry - the way in which someone has to do it on a stage to create a personality for the audience. On film, it seemed over the top and one-dimensional. Crosby was a good fit, but he did seem too old even for this older role. Maybe it was partly because 1954 was getting to be the end of Bing's era, and there was growing evidence of a new kind of cinema coming - Brando's. In any event, I waited a long time to see this without commercial interruptions and it was worth it.