Ava Gardner is one of my newest obsessions. I have seen a few of her iconic films already but I am glad that today I have an excuse to watch more. Without further ado…
The Sun Also Rises (1952)
Hemingway adaptation about, surprise, surprise, a bunch of disillusioned people traveling around the world and drinking. These here do carry war trauma, though, especially the main character played by Tyrone Power. His suffering is very specific – he is impotent. But also madly in love with Ava Gardner who used to be his nurse.
The film begins in Paris and then all the characters go to Spain together. And there is a LOT of bullfighting happening there. *vegan voice* I’m a vegan so I could really do without that whole thing, but I’ve read Ava’s biography (Love Is Nothing – a fantastic book, I highly recommend it) and I know she was kind of obsessed with this „sport”, even dated a bullfighter. So when I saw her fascinated by the cruel entertainment in the film, it was quite a mixture of movie reality and reality reality. Interesting yet uncomfortable.
I did not care much about the story and apart from Tyrone Power no one gets any depth or character development, but the music was incredibly beautiful and one could not deny the crew’s filmmaking skills.
The Angel Wore Red (1960)
Would you look at that: a Spanish Civil War film again. Like the very first film of my Summer Under the Stars, Blockade with Henry Fonda.
It is ultimately a tale of love and revolution. Dirk Bogarde plays a priest disillusioned with the Church which he feels is betraying the poor during the war. After resigning his priesthood he meets Ava Gardner – she’s a sex worker but he doesn’t mind. He’s seen as a revolutionary and becomes a wanted man and she helps him hide („a whore with a heart of gold”). They soon fall in love.
Oh, and Joseph Cotten is there. With an eyepatch.
This film is supposed to be set in the 1930s but at some points it looks very much like 50s. And that’s just the characters’ looks. According to some things I read, the story is historically inaccurate as well (I wouldn’t know). I guess that’s what you get when a bunch of Brits, Americans, and Italians (allegedly that includes the Mafia) set out to make a film about Spanish history – a film Spain doesn’t want so much they won’t let you film in their country.
This is a black-and-white films I cannot confirm if the Angel did in fact wear red.
The Night of the Iguana (1964)
An Ava Gardner classic that I have not seen until today. Now that I finally have I am angry at myself for having waited so long.
The film starts with Richard Burton as a very dramatic priest. He is giving a sermon and at one point begins to have, what seems like, a nervous breakdown. Next thing he’s no longer wearing priest robes and instead is a guide on trips in Mexico. And he’s taking care of a bus full of older ladies – and one teen. The teen, Sue Lyons, is trying to seduce Burton which her aunt, Grayson Hall, blames on him. Soon he brings the entire bus to a remote hotel ran by Ava Gardner and essentially traps the group there so that Grayson won’t report him and get him fired. Soon they are joined by Deborah Kerr and her grandfather who make their living scamming tourists around the world.
Yes – it IS amazing.
I guess we could start with the performances – the entire cast is perfect. Burton is absolutely wild in his role. Ava is playing a character different from the ones I’m used to from her, I guess this could be called her Virginia Woolf moment. She’s sassy, she’s sexy, she’s running around wearing TROUSERS… Deborah Kerr and Grayson Hall are also killing it.
I loved The Night of the Iguana because it’s just so wild and weird and everyone is such a unique character played so wonderfully. Of course, my problem was the Sue Lyons plot and creating a character of a literal child as some kind of irresistible seductress. Especially when you hear Grayson Hall or the young driver character who likes Sue say things that are supposed to sound silly to us, unfair to Burton – but really they’re kind of right. The other problem is the weirdly racist stuff. The film takes place in Mexico and Ava Gardner has two Mexican servants who, and I am not exaggerating, walk around topless and play maracas around her. Yup. Oh, and she sleeps with them when she wants to (kind of goals, kind of gross).
There are so many themes to explore with The Night of the Iguana I should really write a whole post about it. Maybe I’ll revisit it once the Summer Under the Stars madness is over.
Mayerling (1968)
Omar Sharif as the unhappily married crown prince of Austria and Catherine Deneuve as the young girl he falls for and starts an affair with. The story is full of politics, Omar is depressed and it all leads to tragedy.
Ava plays Omar’s mother, Empress Elizabeth. She is very regal but her appearances on the screen are pretty brief. I don’t know if she looks old enough to be Sharif’s parent but I guess it was expected of the royalty to have children young. Plus, maybe she’s just so beautiful that time doesn’t do her any harm.
There was a brief moment in my life when I was fascinated by the Mayerling tragedy, or Mayerling mystery as some might say. This version of the story is probably very close to what actually happened, but it really did not present it in a compelling way. As much as it might be terrible to say because people died, this is a very boring film.
Tam Lin (1970)
Twenty seconds into Tam Lin I was sold. I continue to be amazed and convinced that I was watching the greatest film of all time for like an hour more. But then the last fifty minutes happened and I realized that Tam Lin is half an hour too long. And it’s a shame because it could be a truly under appreciated cult classic.
According to Wikipedia, Tam Lin is a character from Scottish legend who gets the virginity of every maiden who passes through his forest (yikes!) – mostly Janets and Margarets (okay). Then they become pregnant by him. This is a bizarre story but I still wish we would get more of that folk tale in the film.
Not that what we do get is not bizarre. Tam Lin has the most incredible premise ever. Ava Gardner is a rich woman who keeps a mansion in English (Scottish?) countryside full of young people she just invites to come live with her. There is a scene of her running through the fields in a rainbow dress-caftan kind of thing and apparently putting the „kids” in couples? She also likes one of the guys a lot and has a sort of relationship with him. That is until he falls for a local girl and the trouble starts. In addition to British countryside loveliness, we also get late 60s psychedelia, funky music, drugs, and hippies. It’s amazing.
Also, I loved the theme song heard throughout the film because folk music is my weakness.
I actually loved Ava in this and I don’t know why this film is so unheard of. I had a psycho-biddy phase a few years back and I watched all the Baby Janes and Aunt Alices in the world. Why wasn’t Tam Lin included among those films?
Five films once again. I am tired. I need to take a little break.
BONUS: A few screen caps from Dead Mean Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) in which footage from Ava’s (among others’) films was used
Swingin' at the Seance 