JOAN CRAWFORD was approaching that phase of her career where women of "a certain age" don't have much of a choice in being able to find good scripts. If they do, it's usually a bit of a comedown from the kind of roles they were offered in their heyday.
AUTUMN LEAVES is no exception. While it's by no means a disaster, it does strain credibility and proves to be a rather over-baked vehicle for an actress who was by now getting to suffer more and more in stylish women's films that suited her screen persona.
Here she is teamed with newcomer CLIFF ROBERTSON, new to films after a brief stint on stage in plays like "Picnic". He plays a young charmer she befriends at a diner (after a concert) and before you know it they're an item at the local beach-front. Hastily, impulsively swept off her feet by this twenty-year younger man, she allows herself to marry him but then discovers that he has a troubled past that makes him turn into a monster when he doesn't get his way.
It's the kind of role Crawford was born to play and she goes through all the motions beautifully under Robert Aldrich's direction. Women fans will especially enjoy the fantasy aspect of such a story and will probably pine away with wistful longing when they watch Robertson take Joan in his arms. Some unexpected turns by LORNE GREENE (as Robertson's father) and VERA MILES (as a woman Crawford calls "a slut").
Summing up: A good Joan Crawford melodrama--but SUDDEN FEAR was better.
AUTUMN LEAVES is no exception. While it's by no means a disaster, it does strain credibility and proves to be a rather over-baked vehicle for an actress who was by now getting to suffer more and more in stylish women's films that suited her screen persona.
Here she is teamed with newcomer CLIFF ROBERTSON, new to films after a brief stint on stage in plays like "Picnic". He plays a young charmer she befriends at a diner (after a concert) and before you know it they're an item at the local beach-front. Hastily, impulsively swept off her feet by this twenty-year younger man, she allows herself to marry him but then discovers that he has a troubled past that makes him turn into a monster when he doesn't get his way.
It's the kind of role Crawford was born to play and she goes through all the motions beautifully under Robert Aldrich's direction. Women fans will especially enjoy the fantasy aspect of such a story and will probably pine away with wistful longing when they watch Robertson take Joan in his arms. Some unexpected turns by LORNE GREENE (as Robertson's father) and VERA MILES (as a woman Crawford calls "a slut").
Summing up: A good Joan Crawford melodrama--but SUDDEN FEAR was better.