Gift of Love (1958) Robert Stack Lauren Becall

[kaslovesTCM]

I watched this movie last night and hadn't seen it in about 40 years

it is so odd seeing a movie after that length of time

it is such a tear jerker and ok it had its hokie moments but it made me cry then and it made me cry last night

Robert Stack was such a hunk

I think Lauren Becall was miscast

but the little girl Evelyn Rudie

she was such a great little actress

 

after the movie was done I was hoping they would say something about her

I googled her and it looks like she is still alive

[DownGoesFrazier]

I saw about the last half-hour of this film, and not a single Bacall sighting. Was she killed off or something?

[TopBilled]

She dies around the 70-minute mark and is absent the last half-hour. I thought we would see her as a ghost, but they just keep mention talking to her spirit (off-camera mostly).

 

I did not think Bacall was miscast.

 

And I did not think the little girl was good enough to handle such a huge part. She was no Natalie Wood. The last thirty minutes where the narrative relies on her and Robert Stack was difficult to watch, because he was trying to get her to bring some depth to the role, especially in those dramatic scenes but her line deliveries were so monotone and emotionless that all the hard work Bacall had done earlier in the picture was compromised. The scene where she calls the orphanage and tells them to come back and get her was painful, no feeling to it at all. She should have been borderline hysterical, or at least very bereft, at that point.

 

Lorne Greene also seemed miscast here (a year before he started his famous TV role of Ben Cartwright).

[musicalnovelty]

Maybe I missed something, but why did Robert Stack need to have all his important formulas written on blackboards all over the house (and run the risk of them being erased)? Couldn't he or Lauren afford at least one pad of paper?

[Hibi]

Didnt watch the movie, but LOL!!!

[clore]

> {quote:title=musicalnovelty wrote:}{quote}

> Maybe I missed something, but why did Robert Stack need to have all his important formulas written on blackboards all over the house (and run the risk of them being erased)? Couldn't he or Lauren afford at least one pad of paper?

Maybe he was hoping that Klaatu would stop by and give him a hand as he did for Sam Jaffe in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

[RainingViolets101]

A sign of the times...After Miss Bacall falls down the stairs and is rushed to the Doctor's office

 

He tells her she just had a heart attack and would have to take it easy

 

then she proceeds to LIGHT UP A CIGARETTE , and the Doctor doesn't tell her to put it out

 

the time this picture was made Doctor's waiting rooms all had ash trays on the tables

 

 

[Hibi]

LOL. The doctor probably smoked too...........

[joefilmone]

The movie is a perfect exaple of late 1950's major studio production- glamorous unreality- I love the credit scene in which Bacall gives Stack back rubs (?!) while the theme song plays. Both stars look great and you can never gor run with Northern California in cinemascope.

[RainingViolets101]

I much prefer the original film "Sentimental Journey" with Maureen O'Hara in the role of Julie Beck

 

The little girl Hittie was played by Connie Marshall

[MovieGal53]

>

> And I did not think the little girl was good enough to handle such a huge part. She was no Natalie Wood. The last thirty minutes where the narrative relies on her and Robert Stack was difficult to watch, because he was trying to get her to bring some depth to the role, especially in those dramatic scenes but her line deliveries were so monotone and emotionless that all the hard work Bacall had done earlier in the picture was compromised. The scene where she calls the orphanage and tells them to come back and get her was painful, no feeling to it at all. She should have been borderline hysterical, or at least very bereft, at that point.

>

 

 

When Hettie made the phone call to the orphange she WAS without emotion. That was self preservation for her. Withdrawing from the reality of the situation was the only way the child could cope. So I don't think it was the actress but rather the way in which the director wanted the scene to play out.

[kaslovesTCM]

do you watch TCM?

 

how are you?

[MovieGal53]

Here is a present day photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evelyn Rudie is a playwright, director, songwriter, film and television actress and teacher. Since 1973, she has been the co-artistic director of the Santa Monica Playhouse. As an award-winning costume designer, she uses the pseudonym Ashley Hayes. [Wikipedia|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Rudie]

 

[born|http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1241&bih=584&q=evelynrudieborn&sa=X&ei=3vBkUPjgLq3W0gGMk4CQBw&ved=0CHoQ6BM]: March 28, 1949 (age 63)

 

[TopBilled]

>So I don't think it was the actress but rather the way in which the director wanted the scene to play out.

 

I think we may be trying to justify a lackluster performance. Of course anything can be played any way an actor chooses. I did think about the director, but I have a feeling Negulesco was focusing on the composition of each shot over the performances, and he probably let Bacall take the little actress under her wing. I am not going to argue the point, because I can see this heading into a series of posts where I will see it one way and you will see it another way. I do feel I am entitled to my opinion that the girl was under-directed and did not give a strong enough performance. Moving on...

[kaslovesTCM]

thank you

I saw that after googling her name and wasn't sure if it was the same person or not

thanks again

kas

[DownGoesFrazier]

...and he recommended it to all his patients because it was soothing to the T-zone.

[Hibi]

LOL. Why would smoking soothe your t-zone?

[MovieGal53]

> {quote:title=TopBilled wrote:}{quote}

> > So I don't think it was the actress but rather the way in which the director wanted the scene to play out.

> I think we may be trying to justify a lackluster performance. Of course anything can be played any way an actor chooses. I did think about the director, but I have a feeling Negulesco was focusing on the composition of each shot over the performances, and he probably let Bacall take the little actress under her wing. I am not going to argue the point, because I can see this heading into a series of posts where I will see it one way and you will see it another way. I do feel I am entitled to my opinion that the girl was under-directed and did not give a strong enough performance. Moving on...

 

 

TopBilled, my sincere apologies if you took offense in my post or if any of my responses to you in the past seemed argumentitive. That was not my intent. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion which I respect very much. I was merely stating mine.

 

 

 

All of the posters on the boad, including yourself, bring such insight to each film. My knowledge is small in comparison.

[TopBilled]

I know. I did not take offense to anything you wrote. It's all fine.

 

I am glad we got to see this mostly obscure film.

[MovieGal53]

Good, I'm glad.

[Dothery]

I always liked Robert Stack; in this I thought he was wasted, but what the heck.

 

He seemed to me (in interviews and doing commentary) to be always stifling laughter. He seemed to find the world really funny, and although he was perfectly professional, you could imagine him at parties telling stories that would paralyze you with giggles.

 

A friend of mine met him many years ago doing a photo shoot at his home, and while he didn't say that about him, he did say he was a tremendously nice man with wonderful manners.

[Sprocket_Man]

 

Stack was always a pleasure to watch, but he was even nicer in person. Meeting him nearly thirty years ago was a high point of my time in Hollywood.

 

 

[kaslovesTCM]

it would be great to see Robert Osborne interview her

[Hibi]

He has. In fact they ran it again in September........