Themes: Crumbling Marriages, Alcoholism, Death of a Child
Main Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, William Holden, Anthony Ross, Gene Reynolds
Release Year: 1954
Country: US
Run Time: 104 minutes
Plot
Bing Crosby does the Academy Award-bid bit in the atypical role of a self-pitying alcoholic, but it was his co-star, a deglamorized Grace Kelly, who won the Oscar for her performance in The Country Girl. This adaptation of Clifford Odets' play stars Crosby as Frank Elgin, a once-famous Broadway star who's hit the skids. Hotshot young director Bernie Dodd (William Holden), a longtime admirer of Elgin, tries to get the old-timer back on his feet with a starring role in a new play. But Dodd must contend with Elgin's hard, suspicious wife Georgie, who seemingly runs roughshod over her husband. Dodd holds Georgie responsible for Elgin's lack of self-confidence and his reliance upon the bottle--a suspicion fueled by Elgin himself, who insists that Georgie has been suicidal ever since the death of their son. When Elgin goes on a monumental bender during the play's out-of-town tryouts, the truth comes out: it is Elgin who is suicidal, and Georgie has been the glue that has held him together. Adopting a now-or-never stance, Dodd forces Elgin to stay off the sauce long enough for the play to open--and, in spite of himself, falls in love with Georgie. A few Hollywood liberties were taken with the Odets original, including a slightly altered ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Country Girl is a star vehicle for Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby, who play an alcoholic actor and his dedicated wife. It produced acclaim and respect for Kelly, cast against type and wearing drab dresses to accentuate her performance as a frumpy housewife. Adapted by director George Seaton from Clifford Odets' stage play, the movie unwisely alters the source material to make room for Crosby's singing numbers, though in other respects it's a reasonable transference to the big screen. When Paramount released the film, it launched a major campaign to generate Oscar nominations, and it garnered seven, including Best Picture and Best Director, winning Best Screenplay and Best Actress for a pre-Monaco Kelly. Ironically, Seaton lost the Best Director Oscar to On the Waterfront's Elia Kazan, who was in part the basis for the director played by William Holden in The Country Girl. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Jacqueline Fontaine - Singer and Actress; Eddie Ryder - Ed; Robert Kent - Paul Linger; John W. Reynolds - Henry Johnson; Ida Moore - Woman; Frank Scannell - Bartender; Ruth Rickaby - Second Woman; Hal K. Dawson - Actor; Howard Joslin - Actor; Charles Tannen - Photographer; Les Clark - Actor; Allan Douglas - Mian; Jon Provost - Jimmie; Don Dunning - Expressman; Max Wagner - Expressman; Chester Jones - Ralph (Dresser); Jack Roberts - Man; Richard Keene - Actor; Jack Kenney - Actor; Bob Alden - Bellboy
Kelly also won the Oscar for Best Actress for the role which had won Uta Hagen her first Tony Award in the play's original Broadway production. The role, a non-glamorous departure for Kelly, was as the alcoholic actor's long-suffering wife. The win was a huge surprise, as most critics and people in the press felt that Judy Garland would win for A Star Is Born. NBC even sent a camera crew to Garland's hospital room, where she was recuperating from the birth to her son, in order to conduct a live interview with her if she won. The win by Kelly instead famously prompted Groucho Marx to send Garland a telegram stating it was "the biggest robbery since Brinks."
Given the period of its production, the film is notable for its stringent dialog and honest treatments of the surreptitious side of alcoholism and post-divorce misogyny.
In a theatre where auditions are being held for a new musical production, the director, Bernie Dodd, watches a number performed by fading star Frank Elgin and suggests he be cast. This is met with strong opposition from Cook, the show's producer.
Bernie offers the role to the down-on-his-luck Elgin, who is living in a very modest apartment with his wife Georgie, a cold and bitter woman who has aged far beyond her years. They are grateful, though not entirely certain Frank can handle the work.
Bernie assumes that Georgie is the reason for Elgin's career decline and strongly criticizes her, behind her back and even to her face. What he doesn't know is that the real reason that Elgin's career has ended is due to the death of their five-year-old son Johnny, who was hit by a car while in the care of his father.
Mealy-mouthed to the director's face, Elgin is actually a demanding alcoholic who is totally dependent on his wife. Bernie mistakenly blames her for everything that happens during rehearsals of the show, including Elgin's requests for a dresser and a run-of-the-show contract. He believes Georgie to be suicidal and a drunk, when it is actually Frank who is both.
Humiliated when he learns the truth, Bernie realizes that behind his hatred of Georgie was a strong attraction to her. He kisses her and falls in love.
Elgin succeeds in the role on opening night. Afterward he demands respect from the producer that he and his wife had not been given previously. At a party to celebrate, Bernie believes that now that Elgin has recovered his self-respect and stature, Georgie will be free to leave him. But she stands by her husband instead.
