The film belongs to Shirley Booth , desesperately trying to save a family unit ; the first scene is revealing : she buys her children's gifts for their father's birthday ,it seems that they would never have thought of that ; she feels that time is passing her by ,and she wants to recapture a family atmosphere and thinks that she can catch something with this pathetic fishing-rod;she does not realize it's too late ("you never loved me like a woman ",says her husband ) and that to come back to that house in New Paris where they used to be happy ,at least in her mind (the final visit will make lose her illusions, but inspire something vital in her when she returns on the railroad track platform)is pointless .
The fickle husband too is aging ;his scene with one of his sons speaks volumes : when he was young -he's hardly twenty- years lasted so long ,now time moves too fast ;for the daddy (Anthony Quinn) ,it's rather a jet plane ;with middle-age lust ,the elopement with a young girl after 25 years of an apparently happy and stable marriage seems a way out ( the scene in the car in which he hams it up provides ,IMHO, the movie with its low point ).
Recalling sometimes Arthur Miller's "death of a salesman" -but not as powerful a material- , the movie should be seen for Booth's sensational portrayal.
The fickle husband too is aging ;his scene with one of his sons speaks volumes : when he was young -he's hardly twenty- years lasted so long ,now time moves too fast ;for the daddy (Anthony Quinn) ,it's rather a jet plane ;with middle-age lust ,the elopement with a young girl after 25 years of an apparently happy and stable marriage seems a way out ( the scene in the car in which he hams it up provides ,IMHO, the movie with its low point ).
Recalling sometimes Arthur Miller's "death of a salesman" -but not as powerful a material- , the movie should be seen for Booth's sensational portrayal.