Come Back, Little Sheba

Rating:
Summary: EMOTIONAL POWERHOUSE DRAMA....
Review: Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster are bound together by a mutual tragedy in a sad, childless marriage made worse by Lancaster's alcoholism. When they rent a room to a sexy college student (Terry Moore), everything begins to really unravel. Based on the William Inge play (which also starred Booth and won her a Tony), the film is downbeat but hypnotic thanks to the stars. Booth also won Best Actress for the film with her heartbreaking performance as the dowdy housewife struggling to cope with her husband's problems. The film depicts a somber intervention by AA for Lancaster's character and Booth calling for Sheba (their pet dog that was Booth's child substitute that has run away) as well as some other harrowing scenes that mark this film as serious drama. Booth later became part of TV history in the 60's as "Hazel" but it's her few ventures in films like this that need to be remembered too. She was no beauty but an exceptionally gifted actress who could tear your heart out with performances like the one in "Come Back Little Sheba". Lancaster is excellent as the husband who tries to love his unkempt wife but can't face the real issues. So glad to see this searing drama coming to DVD and will be happy to add it to my library.

Rating:
Summary: It's all about Shirley Booth.
Review: Shirley Booth's Lola Delaney is (possibly rivalled only by Charles Laughton's Quasimodo) the most pathetic character ever put on film. It is palpably hurtful to bear with her the many humiliations she undergoes during the course of the film. Caught in a sort of stand off relationship with her husband, she is lonely and emotionally wasting away, while seeming to deny this fact to herself. And when she cuts loose and tries to have a little fun, dancing or enjoying radio music meant to transport you out of your daily grind, she is merely the subject of laughter and rolling eyes. Her teary ruminations on the titular lost dog are, as I read it, symbolic of a larger aching need to find someone or something with which to exchange affection. I just saw Come Back again for the first time in 30 years, and I think it is as strong now as it must have been in 1952. The cinematography by the great James Wong Howe starts out bright and ordinary, felling like a 50s sitcom, but as layers of the dark heart of the drama are peeled away, the look becomes noirish and menacing --we know something is going to snap. You won't forget it.

Even in a time when films were less gimmicky than today, Come Back is really an anti-gimmick movie. It is just a glimpse into the life of a couple simmering under the surface with regret, old hurt and selfdoubt.

Rating:
Summary: When Movies were Movies
Review: This is a wonderful old movie. In those days, the subject of pregnancy before marriage was so taboo! She plays the part of a slovenly housewife to the hilt, Burt is her stuffy, overbearing husband, ashamed of her, but all they have been through together wins out in the end.