Derek Winnert

Information

This article was written on 17 Dec 2017, and is filled under Reviews.

Current post is tagged

, , , , , , , , , , ,

BUtterfield 8 ** (1960, Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Dina Merrill, Mildred Dunnock) – Classic Movie Review 6417

Elizabeth Taylor won the 1961 Best Actress Oscar as Gloria Wandrous, a beautiful New York fashion model and classy call girl with problems, in director Daniel Mann’s 1960 drama based on the novel by John O’Hara. She is literally a call girl, just call BUtterfield 8.

Taylor is fine, though this time she did not really deserve the Oscar which she should have won for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1958. The striking photography by Joseph Ruttenberg earned an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, Color. And there’s good work from the support players.

John O’Hara’s novel might have raised a few eyebrows in its day but it is tame and stale as old toast now, at least in this screenplay by Charles Schnee and John Michael Hayes.

Butterfield 8 by Graeme Jukes.

The bland performances of Laurence Harvey, as Weston Liggett the married socialite man Gloria Wandrous pursues, and Taylor’s real-life husband (at the time!) Eddie Fisher as Steve Carpenter, are other drawbacks.

Also in the cast are Dina Merrill as the wife Emily Liggett, Mildred Dunnock as Mrs Wandrous, Betty Field as Mrs Fanny Thurber, Kay Medford, Susan Oliver, George Voskovec and Jeffrey Lynn as Bingham Smith.

BUtterfield 8 is directed by Daniel Mann, runs 109 minutes, is produced by Afton and Linebrook, is released by MGM, is written by Charles Schnee and John Michael Hayes, is shot by Joseph Ruttenberg and Charles Harten, is produced by Pandro S Berman and scored by Bronislau Kaper.

Taylor won a second Best Actress Oscar for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. She was also nominated for Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).

New York socialite actress Dina Merrill.

New York socialite Dina Merrill died on 22aged 93.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6417

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Comments are closed.

Recent articles

Recent comments