And here we are. This is the first Olivia de Havilland Summer Under the Stars Day with her gone. It feels sadder than I expected. I actually watched one movie of hers a few weeks ago already, it was Anthony Adverse and I thought it was dreadful and was very disappointed THAT was the first movie with her I watched after her passing. So I’m happy that at least today I got to see some better things.
Princess O’Rourke (1943), dir. Norman Krasna
Princess O’Rourke is good! It’s very cute! It’s a classic „Princess’s Day Out story”, with Olivia being the Princess who finds herself among „the commoners”. But as adorable as she is, I’ll admit I found myself a bit bored, which is not a good sign when a movie is just ninety minutes long.
Devotion (1946), dir. Curtis Bernhardt
Even though a Brontë sisters’ biopic starring Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino seems like something tailor-made for me, it turned out to be mostly a disappointment. I feel like the film tried really hard to portray their lives as more dramatic then they needed to be. I would have preferred if Devotion was made Andrea Arnold’s 2011 version of Wuthering Heights, because when it was all about the dresses flowing in the wind on the gloomy moors, it was perfect. I could watch a whole movie of just that.
My Cousin Rachel (1952), dir. Henry Koster
My Cousin Rachel shares much of its aesthetic with Devotion but is, thankfully, a better movie. I like this story, but the thing I thought was the best was the casting – of Olivia, sure, but I also thought Richard Burton was an amazing choice.
Light in the Piazza (1962), dir. Guy Green
Light in the Piazza is an interesting one. The main theme of a woman (Olivia) hiding her daughter’s mental disability from the world and facing the consequences of it as the girl comes of age is something I want to reflect on more, I am not sure how I feel about the way the film handles it. What I do know is that Olivia is fantastic in her role, you can really see the years, decades at that point, of acting experience coming through. Plus, the costumes and Italian landscapes are very nice to look at.
(Also watched The Adventurers (see below) and Airport ’77 but the former drained all the energy out of me so I’m not even going to write a short note for either).
Swingin' at the Seance 