If you're up for a two-and-a-half hour disturbing, heavy domestic drama starring Rosalind Russell and Katina Paxinou, you're a better man than I. I fell asleep twice during Mourning Becomes Electra, the film that was supposed to win Roz her Best Actress Oscar; a surprising upset brought Loretta Young to the podium instead for her silly, likable role in The Farmer's Daughter. I don't usually like Roz, so it's understandable that I couldn't make it all the way through, but even if you appreciate her style of dramatics, you won't like this movie.
Eugene O'Neill wrote the original play, but he based it off the Greek tragedy Oresteia, so you should know what you're getting into. At the start of the story, Roz and her mother Katina are waiting for her father, Raymond Massey, and her brother, Michael Redgrave, to return home from the Civil War. Even though Kirk Douglas is courting Roz, she has feelings for Leo Genn-what will she do when she sees Leo kissing her mother?
I know, that plot synopsis sounds pretty disgusting and uncomfortable, but believe me, that's only the start of the gross-and I mean that in both definitions of the word-dysfunction of the film. Mourning Becomes Electra is hands-down the most disturbing old movie I've ever seen. I had to split it up over the course of three days, because I kept falling asleep or feeling nauseous. It doesn't matter that Rosalind Russell had to perform an extremely heavy, emotional role; she shouldn't have won the Oscar in 1948. No one should have been rewarded for being a part of this film. It's horrible.
Eugene O'Neill wrote the original play, but he based it off the Greek tragedy Oresteia, so you should know what you're getting into. At the start of the story, Roz and her mother Katina are waiting for her father, Raymond Massey, and her brother, Michael Redgrave, to return home from the Civil War. Even though Kirk Douglas is courting Roz, she has feelings for Leo Genn-what will she do when she sees Leo kissing her mother?
I know, that plot synopsis sounds pretty disgusting and uncomfortable, but believe me, that's only the start of the gross-and I mean that in both definitions of the word-dysfunction of the film. Mourning Becomes Electra is hands-down the most disturbing old movie I've ever seen. I had to split it up over the course of three days, because I kept falling asleep or feeling nauseous. It doesn't matter that Rosalind Russell had to perform an extremely heavy, emotional role; she shouldn't have won the Oscar in 1948. No one should have been rewarded for being a part of this film. It's horrible.