Movie Reviews for The Country Girl

The Country Girl

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Movie Reviews of The Country Girl

Movie Review: "For years no one has ever touched me"
Summary: 5 Stars

The beautiful Grace Kelly was awarded with the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as the long-suffering, embittered wife Georgie Elgin in The Country Girl, and rightly so. It's a beautifully understated performance and an interesting departure for Kelly, who obviously had the guts to take up such an unglamorous role and make it her own.

But the Country Girl isn't just about Grace Kelly. Bing Crosby and William Holden also turn in absolutely knockout performances and manage to hold their own against the actress in this unashamedly theatrical melodrama.

Based on Clifford Odets' play, The Country Girl is all about lies and deceit, and disappointment and blame; it's the story of a washed up, alcoholic actor, and his wife, who has spent the last ten years of her life caring for him, even though she's gone to seed because of it.

Bing Crosby stars as Frank Elgin. Frank is desperate to get back onto the stage. A natural showman, and a once famous singer, Frank has sunk to an all time low after a terrible accident took the life of his young son. Wracked with guilt and blaming himself for his death, Frank had turned to the bottle, with his control freak wife Georgie (Kelly) left to pick up the pieces.

But Frank is also a liar and a schemer, and tells Bernie Dodd (William Holden), his childhood idol, that it was actually Georgie who took up drinking and tried to commit suicide. This leads Bernie to treat Georgie badly, even though, after all these years, she has been trying to help Frank to stand on his own two feet.

Frank is among the best-crafted passive-aggressive characters ever and his different sets of lies to Georgie and to Frank end up in a nasty confrontation over who has Frank's best interests at heart. Frank sets it up so that he's never the bad guy and always the victim.

Each character brings their own bitterness and guilt to the situation - Frank just can't go on and let go of the pain; Georgie feels trapped in a dependent marriage, increasingly embittered; and Bernie, badly burned by his own failed marriage, sees only animosity in a women like Georgie.

Although some of the onstage dancing and singing routines are a little long and overly dull, the movie certainly makes up for this by giving us a number of rapid fire exchanges between the three lead characters. Viewers have a chance to see how Hollywood stars used to transform and enlarge performances without having to rely on the distractions of much action.

Consequently, the showdown between Bernie and Georgie is spectacular, it's one of the best dramatic scenes ever seen on film, even if it involves little more than angst-ridden dialogue. But The Country Girl is mostly worth watching for the exquisite Grace Kelly who just shines as the character, who refers to herself as a simple "country girl" but who clearly contains far more wisdom, pent-up desires, and street smarts than she's willing to let on. Mike Leonard September 05.

Movie Review: Classic film gets the star treatment
Summary: 5 Stars

Grace Kelly walked away with the Oscar in one of the most hotly contested Academy Awards ceremonies of the time. Her scene stealing turn as Georgie Elgin the wife of alcholic performer Frank (Bing Crosby in a marvelous performance). When Frank's career blossoms again, pressure forces many ugly secrets and anger to blossom as well threatening their marriage. With a stunning support performance by William Holden as director Bernie Dodd, "The Country Girl" holds up amazingly well due to the exceptional work of the cast and crew. George Seaton's ("The Counterfeit Traitor") direction and adapation of Clifford Odets' ("None but the Lonely Hearted") play manages to restrain the soap opera elements of the story that might have overwhelmed the dramatic possibilities of the film.

The transfer is exceptionally good but could have been better. While the black and white images have solid blacks and grays, there's a fair amount of analog blemishes in the form of scratches and dirt that occasionally do distract the viewer. Still, even with these minor blemishes the film looks better than it should given the age of the negative. The film is presented in full screen (sorry folks this wasn't shot widescreen like lots of movies at the time. Widescreen didn't really catch on till later in the 50's). The mono sound has been cleaned up a bit although there is some minor issues with hiss. "The Country Girl" still sounds remarkably rich and vibrant for a picture of its time.

Paramount has chosen to release this with no extras which is a pity. This wonderful classic certainly deserved a retrospective documentary on the production of the film (particularly since William Holden and Bing Crosby supposedly had affairs with Kelly during and after the shooting of the movie). Crosby, Kelly and Holden all give rich performances and a brief featurette on their respective careers would have been great. All three actors came from very different places as performers and their contrasting styles meshed amazingly well here.

Movie Review: Fascinating Character Study
Summary: 5 Stars

It took a while for me to shine to "The Country Girl". It moves at a deliberate pace and there is a certain staginess to the proceedings. There is a virtue to the pacing for any discriminating viewer. Our assumptions about the characters and their relationships are dropped on their head and our initial reactions are not the correct ones. Some reviewers called the film drab but I would say it has a gritty realism. The three principals here are superb. Bing Crosby gives probably his best performance ever as the dependent alcoholic. Forget the Oscar. Forget the drab clothing and lack of makeup. Grace Kelly here delivers a performance of great complexity as the enabling spouse who has finally gotten to the end of her rope. The glue to the film is William Holden, the theatre director who acts as a surrogate for the audience in trying to sort out Crosby and Kelly's less than ideal relationship. An interesting and provocative film all around.

Movie Review: riveting dramatic classic
Summary: 5 Stars

What a treat! Grace Kelly without glamour and Bing Crosby not just a smooth baritone...great story... great performances and a healthy dose of the crooner's mellow tones... recommended highly... can't look away...don't miss it!