Carrie (1952)

Carrie's dreams of adventure in the big city are quickly squashed as she discovers all that awaits her there is a bleak life of grueling and poorly-paid factory work. That is, until a traveling salesman named Drouet steps into her life and changes her outlook. Breaking all the rules of morality at the time, Carrie moves in with him and at first she's content, but when Drouet introduces her to the wealthy and married Hurstwood, who manages a restaurant, Carrie instantly sizes up the difference between the two men and discovers she's falling for him.

Film version of Sister Carrie

I must have read Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" in college 25 years ago, and I teach American literature at the high school level, but I barely remembered the novel and so decided to re-read it this summer, in two different versions-- manuscript and published 1906 version,Sister Carrie (Norton Critical Editions). And I also decide to see the film, which I liked so much that I bought a copy.

No, it isn't 100 per cent faithful to Dreiser's work, but it is a very good film. I was most impressed by Olivier's performance and by the set design. The latter truly puts one in early 20th Century Chicago (and I would know something about this, since I was raised by a great-grandmother who was born on Chicago in 1901, lived there through the early 1930s, and was constantly telling me about her experiences of it throughout my childhood and adolescence).

I plan to show parts of this film to my Am Lit classes as a comparison/contrast to Crane's "Maggie: A Girl of the Streets: and Other Tales of New York (Penguin Classics)," which we do read. My only real complaints about the film are that it has Carrie becoming pregnant, liking the idea but having a miscarriage; and that Carrie does not go on stage at all in Chicago. These changes conflict with the story and the development of the main character, in my view. Carrie is not a person interested in children or family-- the fact that she does not conform to romantic, sentimental female stereotypes of the day is perhaps her saving grace, shallow though she may seem (but her avoidance of pregnancy in the novel is rather odd). And if she had not had amateur stage experience in Chicago, she would not have thought of entering the theater world in NYC!

But the scenes of the bar Hurstwood manages in Chicago are deeply evocative of the time and place, and Olivier's portrayal of Hurstwood is superb. These elements make the film affecting and unforgettable.

August 11, 2008

Carrie 1952

Based on Theodore Dreiser's novel, Sister Carrie. Jennifer Jones plays Carrie Meeber, a young woman who moves to Chicago to better herself. Carrie learns the facts of life, that the big city is filled with selfish people. She goes through two lovers, a young Eddie Albert and an older man whom she ruins. Laurence Olivier plays Hurstwood, the man who risks all to recapture his youth. Carrie loves the attention, and Hurstwood has his moment. My favorite scene is where he gives her a new hat. The relationship runs its course. Carrie becomes an actress, and Hurstwood hits the skids. Dreiser's prose is clumsy.
February 22, 2008

Carrie

This is a superbly written, directed, and acted movie, based on the superbly written novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. The story remains timely and compelling. It will make you cry. December 12, 2007

Carrie with Laurence Olivier

I enjoyed this movie very much. Laurence Olivier is great, as usual along with Jennifer Jones and Eddie Albert. A great love story between Olivier and Jones. June 27, 2007

Olivier & Jones at their best

*** A bit of a spoiler, the package makes this look like a glossy romance, and it is much deeper and darker.***
This movie really should have been called "George,"as it is the story of a man (Laurence Oliver) who ruins his life for love. Olivier is essentially different here, a humble man who suffers silently, simply wonderful, and shows here in his youth moments of the great acting of his last years (important, because he was aged up for this role). It is a simply brilliant film for him.
Jennifer Jones, playing Carrie, also gives one of her best performances, and their chemistry is fantastic. She was in her 30s and still looks 18, which helps a film where she ages from about 18 to 36.
I did not know anything of this "girl comes to the big city, gets compromised, and rises above" story. It is far more than this trite outline. This wonderful script dips and turns with the complexities of life relationships, legal relationships, and the things we don't tell each other.
Miriam Hopkins, even in her perky youth, was always rather arch and tart. This is used to fantastic advantage here in a very dislikable role. Eddie Albert is also used to best advantage as a flirty traveling salesman and lady killer.
In black and white, the story is about the divisions of poverty and wealth, and how life can take us through levels. Edith Head's magnificent costuming takes the leads from highs to lows, tenements to townhouses to the glamour of the stage in the early 1900s.
The score is by David Raksin, who did such memorable scores as WHIRLPOOL, THE BIG COMBO, FALLEN ANGEL, and PAT AND MIKE. While heavy handed by today's standards, it is musically complex and eloquent, and truly augments the emotional journey of the action. It is some of the best of it's time, evocative of the dissonant soundtracks of ON THE WATERFRONT, and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE.
The realeased film had a section removed set in poverty row/homeless men's housing. This section has been restored on the DVD, which reinstates yet another level of complexity, the mixture of poverty, humiliation and pride.
All this makes this film wrenching, memorable and complete. Do not miss this one, it is highly regarded for all the right reasons.
January 25, 2007

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