Tea and Sympathy - 1956 - Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, Leif Erickson

Kitty Hollywood reviews Tea and Sympathy.
1956, MGM
Director: Vincent Minelli
Starring:
Deborah Kerr
John Kerr
Leif Erikson
Darryl Hickman

This is a poignant, tender tale examining the concepts of love and masculinity. Truly controversial in its time, the film now is a fascinating glimpse into a world that really isn't all that far away from the one we currently occupy.

I had heard of this film but, times being what they were back then in the 80's and 90's I had to scour the television guide on a regular basis to get a glimpse of this film. Ah, the internet.

In the end, the first time I saw any of this film was when I went to see 'The Celluloid Closet'. It is the most fascinating documentary about the depiction of LGBQTI in Hollywood films (both positive and negative) and utterly opened this naive little bunny's eyes. Find out more here.

Like many films that were stage plays first, this has a slightly staged feel about it. I don't mind this - the claustrophobic feel that you get from the film works very well with the subject matter. Check out this blog post for what I consider to be a really great take on the film.

http://acertaincinema.com/media-tags/helen-rose/

The costumes in this film were done by Helen Rose, who was the head of Costume at MGM at the time. Helen Rose was an extremely prolific and successful designer both in film and then in then later she opened her own design business. She is perhaps best known as the designer of Grace Kelly's wedding gown.

http://goodbyemiss.com/wedding/wedding-dress-style-inspiration-grace-kelly

She obviously worked very closely with Vincente Minnelli to follow through with his use of colour in the film. There has been quite a lot written about the use of blue in particular in this film (it's in the essay I mentioned earlier) - with Tom commencing in light blue and travelling throughout the film in various light blue shades - until towards the end when he is determined to show the world what a 'man' he is, he appears in a dark blue suit. I don't honestly know whether it would be a blessing or a curse to have a director with such a strong colour connect with his film, but personally I think it would be a great challenge.

And finally, Darryl Hickman. He is one of those people who, as soon as you are properly aware of them, they start popping out at you from all over the place. I had no idea he was in so many films - or indeed, had gone on to be such a success behind the screen. Here's a fascinating double shot of him and his more televisually famous brother Dwayne...

http://relatedhowagain.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/121-that-famous-relativity-ii

Check out 'Tea and Sympathy' - we might kid ourselves that we are a million light years away from this in terms of how society has progressed, but  I don't know - it doesn't always seem that way.