Auntie Mame

Rating:
Summary: "Really top drawer!"
Review: Just as she changes little Patrick's life forever, so too does Auntie Mame change the life of just about everyone who comes across her in this movie version. This is one of the funniest and most enjoyable movies of the Fifties, and its anti-conformist attitude was (surprisingly, given the era) so popular that this was the top money-making film the year it was released. very wisely, the film's prodcuers asked Rosalind Russell to re-create her Broadway success by starring in the title role. Although it's undeniable that much of the surprise was taken out of Russell's work here after so many performances onstage (she seems a bit overrehearsed for someone supposed to be so spontaneous--especially during the scenes where she's asking for poignancy), she's undeniably very funny--especially in the foxhunt scene (a real classic).

Some of the supporting roles don't hold up so well over the years (especially the Japanese houseboy, Ito, who is asked to perform a caricature that makes most audiences extremely uncomfortable today). But the screenwriters, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, have a field day with the foil for Mame in Gloria Upson, the snobbish idiot debutante who threatens to steal for Patrick's affections in the film's last third or so. They wrote almost all of the very best lines in the movie for her, and the magificently funny actress who plays her, Joanna Barnes, is more than up to the challenge. With her cement jaw and thick Smithie accent, Barnes not only triumphs with Comden's and Green's best lines ("My, what a STUNNING apartment... books are awfully decorative, don't you think?") but even makes their throwaways hilarious (arguably my personal favorite: "WHAT'S wrong with Muriel Puce?!?"). She walks away with the film.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best comedies ever!
Review: One of the funniest, most enjoyable romps ever to be produced on film is this hysterical comedy based on the popular Broadway play. Rosalind Russell gives the signature performance of her career as the free-wheeling, liberally-minded society dame who takes in her recently orphaned nephew Patrick (Jan Handzlik) and finds herself mad about him from the start. She raises him in an openminded environment that includes all manner of friends and educational styles, and nearly sees it all destroyed when a teenage Patrick (Roger Smith) brings home an obnoxious bore of a white upper-middle-class suburban girl (Joanna Barnes). Nothing worse than conformity, of course, so naturally it's Auntie Mame to the rescue! On the surface it's a breezy comedy, but you don't have to look too deep to find the many ways in which Betty Comden and Adolph Green's witty screenplay rightly criticizes the American social structure of racism, segreation and intolerance that reigned supreme in the 1950s (even Mame's saving the fox from the hounds during a hunt in Georgia is a sharp political statement of its own). Still, audiences didn't mind its calling them to task, making it the top moneymaker at the box office for 1958 (something rare for a movie that would be labelled as "a woman's picture"). Peggy Cass (like Russell recreating her Tony award-winning stage role) has a hysterical supporting turn as Miss Gooch, the geeky, raspy-voiced secretary who is assigned to help Mame write her memoirs. Remade in 1974 as an abysmal musical with a near-comatose Lucille Ball.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, great transfer, too bad there's no DVD extras
Review: I just finished Richard Tyler Jordan's delightful, illuminating and photo-filled new (2004) paperback original, BUT DARLING, I'M YOUR AUNTIE MAME: THE AMAZING HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAVORITE MADCAP AUNT and I learned so much about how the Auntie Mame character was created by Patrick Dennis (a.k.a. Edward Tanner) and how she evolved from the novel to a Broadway play, smash hit movie with Rosalind Russell, Tony Award-winning Broadway musical starring Angela Lansbury and finally a movie musical starring Lucille Ball. That book sent me back to the original motion picture and what a joy it is to see in widescreen and with such a crisp picture quality. My only complaint is that Warner Brothers was pretty skimpy on the extras--besides a trailer, the only other extra is the ability to play the entiure movie without dialogue and sound effects, but just listen to the music. Um, yeah....that will be something everyone will want to do. A commentary track by MAME historian Richard Tyler Jordan or Patrick Dennis biographer (UNCLE MAME) Eric Myers would have been great fun!

Rating:
Summary: Boring !!!
Review: Rosalind Russell, is overly acting and her timing is off in this movie if you want a good movie with her in try 'The Women'. The 1974 version of mame with Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur is wonderful.Lucille Balls comic talents shine in that movie.Thats alot more than I can say for Rosalind Russell! boring performance!!

Rating:
Summary: THIS FILM IS A BANQUET
Review: "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are stah-ving to death!" shrieks Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell). Well, this film is a banquet that is always to be savored to the fullest. Patrick Dennis' story of his grande dame auntie who taught him to live life to the fullest is brought to the screen here with fun and glamour and wit. This extremely entertaining film was nominated for six 1958 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Mame is brought to life by the one and only Rosalind Russell, who is absolutely brilliant as the colorful, wise and warm Mame Dennis, who takes her orphaned nephew under her wing, and exposes him to the joys of life: "I'm going to open doors for you, Patrick. Doors you never even dreamed existed!" Russell was very deservedly nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress, and won a Golden Globe Award for the role. The cast list of characters is also memorable: Coral Browne as Mame's flamboyant actress friend Vera Charles, Forrest Tucker as Mame's southern husband Beauregard Burnside, Fred Clark as Patrick's uptight trustee, and most memorable next to Russell, Oscar-nominee Peggy Cass as Mame's delightfully dim sceretary, Agnes Gooch. The actors are only one reason to see the film, however: the Oscar-nominated sets and costumes are fabulous to watch, and the script is bursting alive with hilarious one-liners and bouncy scenes. This glorious triumph is one of the best films ever made, one that I would certainly take to a desert island. It was also recently put on the American Film Institute's list as one of the Funniest Movies Ever Made. With the gilded cast, sensational script, and eye candy all the way around, "Auntie Mame" is a magical film for the whole family.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest comedies of all time!!!!
Review: I have watched "Auntie Mame" approximately 50 times. Many of you will think "Wow, get a life!" but watching this film fills me with such happiness that I can't help but return to it, time and time again. Rosalind Russell was born to play the charming, intellegent and exciting Mame Dennis and the supporting cast could hardly be improved upon. The late Peggy Cass' Agnes Gooch is a triumph. What an incredible combination of slapstick humor and intellegent wit and reparte make up this film. Mame is, I'm sure, everyone's dream relative. Her take on life is so complete and utterly captivating that after watching this film one feels that the whole world is ones for the taking. Her lack of pretense, ignorance and prejudice is a refreshing and disarming change from a world so often plagued by all the aforementioned. If you've never seen this film, please do yourself a huge favor and watch it. You, like I and others I know, will immediately fall under it's spell and will, no doubt, find yourself exclaiming "Live, Live, Live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Without question, one of the greatest lines in all of motion picture history. The best thing about it, is that it's a true a statement as they come.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite DVDs
Review: I bought this as soon as it came out on DVD. I just got around to reviewing it.

The sound is not as great as I'd like but it is a must have.
Image quality is stunning. This movie makes me wish I had a huge tv and not just a 36".

This is one of the best written films. You will watch again and again. My fiancee doesn't normally watc older films. He has seen this one over and over. He will start reading or playing on the pc and always sets it aside to watch one more time with me. You can't help yourself. That is the best praise I can think of.

Buy this dvd. I can't think of anyone who would dislike it. Seriously. It was a hit play and a hit movie.

If you like old movies and this one try "the Women" on DVD. Not as broad of an appeal. But the same quick wit and same sort of humour. And Rosalind Russell, Norma Shearer, and Joan Crawford too.

Rating:
Summary: Life is a banquet........
Review: And most poor fans of Lucille Ball will be starving to death. I still have this and it's counterpart on tape. May buy it on disc soon, as it is one of my favorites (Rosalind Russell Rules). But who was the nutcase who included the trailer for the musical from 1974, without releasing a DVD of the musical? Oh well, I guess we buy this one now, and will get the musical next year. Wait, it IS next year. Come on Warner release the other one too.:-)

Rating:
Summary: Mame was better
Review: The Lucille Ball version was sooooo much better. If you want to see a good version of this movie, get "Mame" with Lucille Ball, not "Auntie Mame!"

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable Rosalind Makes a Mahvelous Mame!!!
Review: My absolute favorite film of all time - and finally in DVD format!!! Could life get any better?!
It's a great joy to at last be able to view Auntie Mame's trailers, and the picture quality provided by DVD is a great improvement over VHS. But enough of the technical stuff - let's get on to the film!
I don't know quite where to start in singing the praises of Auntie Mame - the humor, the message, the music, the costumes (oh, God - such wonderful costumes - Orry Kelly's best), everything - timeless in its charm. Rosalind Russell is just amazing - her portrayal of this legendary character is perfection itself. And her supporting actors are just marvelous, as well - Coral Browne as Vera Charles is tremendous. And whoever says that the role of Ito is an embarrassment takes life too seriously. The film flows beautifully, and makes one wonder, "why does this ever have to end?" One can easily see that the film is based on Patrick Dennis' stage play, complete with fade-outs, but that doesn't take anything away from it. Rather, I feel it adds to the charm.
If you haven't seen Auntie Mame, please do so. If you haven't seen it in awhile, have another look. And if you've just seen it recently, isn't it worth another viewing? This film is just that good - timeless humor and touching soul. My only question is...why on earth did they have to go and create that monstrosity with Lucille Ball? It brings down the integrity of this film, a real crime.
Please consider purchasing this DVD, even if you already have the film on VHS. The special features are really great, and the picture quality is improved immensely. Also, if you haven't read the book, definitely give it a chance. I think it's even better than the film - there's so much to it that just couldn't fit into the film.