Yet another example of a 1950s stage to screen adaptation in which the entire reason for the play's existence is removed from the screen version in order to placate the censors. Why did people even want to make movies out of plays if they wanted to remove everything that made the plays interesting in the first place? Without the homosexual subtext, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" isn't about very much except Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor disliking each other until they do a complete 180 and get it on in the film's final scene. I guess at the time the pairing of two hot actors was enough to get audiences into the theatres, but that's not good enough now. This is tepid and bland, with uninspired direction, and would make anyone wonder why this Tennessee Williams play is considered to be such a classic.
There is one reason to see this film, though, and that's Burl Ives. Newman and Taylor fade into the background, and the movie becomes the story of Ives' Big Daddy, who gives a fascinating, bellicose performance as a dying patriarch, desperately in need of a worthy heir to carry on his legacy. With this and "The Big Country," released the same year, Ives had perhaps the best 1958 of any other actor working at the time.
Grade: C
There is one reason to see this film, though, and that's Burl Ives. Newman and Taylor fade into the background, and the movie becomes the story of Ives' Big Daddy, who gives a fascinating, bellicose performance as a dying patriarch, desperately in need of a worthy heir to carry on his legacy. With this and "The Big Country," released the same year, Ives had perhaps the best 1958 of any other actor working at the time.
Grade: C