Main Cast: José Ferrer, June Allyson, Joy Page, Kenneth Clark
Release Year: 1955
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
Plot
Joseph Kramm's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play The Shrike was brought to the screen by its original director/star, Jose Ferrer. Most of the film takes place in a state hospital, where theatrical director Jim Downs (Ferrer) is convalescing after a suicide attempt. Downs' wife Ann (June Allyson) visits every day, ostensibly to offer support and comfort to her husband. In truth, Ann is the "shrike" of the title, tearing into Downs and mercilessly berating him for his lack of success. To the rest of the world, however, Ann is a self-sacrificing saint, because that's the side of her personality that she prefers to display. Unless Jim can escape Ann's harangues, he will be driven completely over the edge. The script, by Ketty Frings, adds all sorts of motivations for Ann's abusive behavior, thereby softening the misogynism of the original play. June Allyson does as best as she can in a most atypical role, though one would liked to have seen the original "shrike", Judith Evelyn, whose talents were never sufficiently utilized by Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The screen is littered with award-winning plays that were magic in the theater but pedestrian on the screen, and The Shrike, regrettably, is one of them. While one suspects that the play itself would not really hold up well nowadays either, at least the play had the courage of its convictions and created a striking, memorable, repugnant, yet fascinating character in Ann Downs, the shrike of the title. (A shrike, by the way, is a bird that seems perfectly ordinary and innocent, but has a habit of using thorns in a rather nasty way to murder its victims.) Whether because of censorship pressures or because the studio feared audiences would reject such a strong female character, or simply because they had cast eternal girl-next-door June Allyson in the role, the decision was made to soften the character. She's no girl scout, but she's no longer the force to be reckoned with that had been found on-stage, and as a result, the entire enterprise totters and, by the time of its enforced happy ending, sinks. Allyson tries hard and is better than might be expected, but she's simply wrong for the part. José Ferrer's performance, fortunately, is quite strong, even if his direction is a trifle weak. The end result is not terrible, just kind of so-so, but it's a shame that the opportunity to create a truly memorable character was missed. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Jay Barney - Dr. Kramer; Will Kuluva - Ankoritis; Billy Greene - Schloss; Leigh Whipper - Carlisle; Adrienne Marden - Miss Raymond; Richard Benedict - Gregory; Herbie Faye - Tager; Edward Platt - Harry Downs
Credit
Alexander Golitzen - Art Director, Richard H. Riedel - Art Director, José Ferrer - Director, Frank Gross - Editor, Frank Skinner - Composer (Music Score), Joseph E. Gershenson - Musical Direction/Supervision, William H. Daniels - Cinematographer, Aaron Rosenberg - Producer, Ketti Frings - Screenwriter, Joseph Kramm - Play Author
