Picnic

Rating:
Summary: Pretty colors and nice visuals
Review: Small town soap operas aren't really my cup of tea as a rule but this is definitely a superior offering.

Although William Holden is too old for the role he's playing he injects his usual quota of sheer brilliance into the picture. Kim Novak is photogenic and ... well ... photogenic. The rest of the cast were all reliable and competent players who had been around for some time. Particularly noteworthy , however , is a very young Susan Strasberg who plays Novak's sister. She successfully creates one of the most interesting characterizations in the whole show as the intellectual tom boy who's violently jealous of her sibling's physical beauty. This "Boy Named Sue" turns in a great little performance displaying an extraordinary level of skill and versatility which belies her tender years.

Director Joshua Logan got the best out of an adequate script although he seems to have insisted on a rather theatrical and slightly over the top style of delivery from one or two of his cast members - particularly Ros Russell. Once again Holden cuts straight throw all the superflous instructions and stays totally loyal to his own intense and restrained style of purpose built camera acting. That's what made him such an outstanding film talent. He knew what suited HIM and he stuck to his guns.

Ms Russell does "Pour it On" pretty thick in some parts but when the scene calls for a "Big Performance" she's right there with the goods. One of the best moments in the movie is when she confronts Holden in a drunken rage and let's him know that SHE knows what HE'S up to i.e. that he's a drifting gigolo "On the Make". We all expect Holden to slap her across the face . Instead ,he totally breaks down. As it turns out, her assessment of him was all wrong . He's just an "Average Joe" who's down on his luck and is desperately trying to "Make a Go" of his life.

As for the rest of the movie ... well ... there's some pretty colors and nice visuals and the memorable theme tune is very evocative of the era."Picnic" was a major box office hit and it provides a pleasant viewing experience for those who enjoy this type of picture. Nothing earth shattering but quite enjoyable .

Rating:
Summary: One of the best films of 1955!!!
Review: Wonderful. Not because of the fun it was watching it. Or the romance on screen. But because of it's supporting of the fabulous 50's era. Classic movie making at its best!

Rating:
Summary: Steamy Pulitzer Prize Play comes to WideScreen DVD !!
Review: Columbia Pictures brings William Inges steamy romantic 1955 Pulitzer Prize Winning Play to the big screen starring Academy Award Winner William Holden and Kim Novak.

This Cinemascope Technicolor classic love triangle is intense and the on screen chemistry between Holden & Novak seems genuine.

This DVD provides us with a Standard (4:3 tv) Format Side A and an Anamorphic WideScreen (automatically adjusts to your tv size including 16:9 HDTV) on Side B.

Summary: An ALL-STAR cast; William Holden, Kim Novak, Cliff Robertson, Susan Strasburg (very young & from the play), & Rosalind Russell brings this steamy September "PICNIC" to life.
(also a very young Nick Adams makes an appearance). A drifter (Holden) arrives by freight train in a small Kansas town seeking his wealthy college buddy (Robertson). Holdens rugged good looks & mannerisms drives all the towns women wild. He even steals his buddys girl (Novak) the newly elected PICNIC carnival queen. In a very short time he brings out all those hidden romantic fantasies & is driven out of town. Not before he captures the heart of Novak. This is a very classic 1950's Hollywood romance story. The song "Theme from PICNIC" is also a classic tune. Stronge performances by Holden, Novak, Russell (spinster school teacher) & Strasburg (Novaks young sister).

Special Features include: Photo Montage (outstanding 6 minute black/white slide show montage with background music), Vintage Advertising, Talent Files & Trailers.

This is a fine film the cast is outstanding. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: "I gotta get somewhere in this world. I just gotta..."
Review: Hal Carter is a middle-aged drifter jumping freight trains through middle America. He hops off in a small Kansas town and looks up his old college buddy, Alan Benson.Hal finds out that Hal's father owns the grainery; the richest business in town. Alan also controls Madge Owens, a buxom 20-year-old who finds Hal attractive. Hal is invited to the local Labor Day picnic. Bread-belt Americans lunch and frolic. Two babies sit in a hamster. One laughs. One crys. Suddenly, both start to cry. You watch. You laugh. It's real. Hal meets the family group, including the spinster school-teacher. A bottle gets passed around, and the schoolmarm wises up to Hal. She identifies his failed careers; she attacks his dis-jointed life-style. Stunned and hurt, Hal retreats to the nearby town river, ready to jump another freight car; ready to escape again. But pretty young Madge hasn't quite seen enough of the dashing stranger from out of town....Joshua Logan began acting on Broadway in the 1930's, advancing to directing through the 40's and 50's with real success.In 1955, Columbia Pictures tapped him to direct William Inge's hit New York play, "Picnic". The film would gross over 6 million dollars,a big pay-day for those times. Logan's "Picnic" is a tantilizing, warm visit to 1950's America, blessed with style and class.Award winning William Holden heads the cast, aided by a young Cliff Robertson, Arthur O'Connell, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell, and a teen-age Susan Strasberg. Future star Nick Adams has a small role. Shot on location in glorious Technicolor, "Picnic" offers no fancy special-effects, no nude scenes and no CGI. It delivers character development, genuine sentiment and excellent direction. Joshua Logan would go on to direct "South Pacific", "Sayonara"and under-rated "Camelot". This beautiful new DVD is nearly flawless. Some pixelation in the river-bank sequence is evident. Some critics say William Holden was too old for the lead in "Picnic", but at age 37, he was just hitting his prime. Some say "Picnic" is too old-fashioned. But don't they know. Classics never do go out of style....

Rating:
Summary: Sexiest Scene Ever Put On Film
Review: This movie is certainly one of the best of it's time. Still great viewing today. But what makes this film one of the best ever put on film is the scene where Kim Novak comes down the stairs to the song "Moonglow" to dance with Bill Holden...What a great scene. No nudity. No bad language. In fact no talking at all. This is a must see for anyone who enjoys a truly great and sensuous movie.

Rating:
Summary: Overly serious pseudo-cinemaphiles like me . . .
Review: aren't supposed to like an overheated melodrama like "Picnic," but I am a passionate fan even though it's SO over the top, SO Fifties, but nonetheless so outstanding, immensely entertaining, cathartic and totally guilt-free. The screenplay preserves the hothouse atmosphere of William Inge's original stage play while opening it up, letting us see the city park that hosts a Labor Day celebration. The acting and plot mix intense and absorbing use of realism, symbolism, and just plain over-the-top acting, as various characters deal with their own demons at crucial points in their life. The Freudian subtexts at work here may be all too apparent to today's audience but are no less valid anyway.

"Picnic" was nominated for many Oscars, and two were awarded: one to James Wong Howe's cinematography (oh, those blazing, symbolic sunsets for those who will not go gently into that good night!); the other for the music, which mixes the theme tune with that old standard "Moonglow."

Time: 1955. Place: small Midwestern grain-processing city similar to Hutchinson, Kansas. Opening: studly vagrant (William Holden, end of his young-man roles) drops into town via freight train. Poor side of tracks: Lower middle-class mother; nubile, nineteenish, dime-store employee and town beauty Madge (Kim Novak), who is envied by brainy but plain younger sister (Paula Strasberg). Our beauty, however, is not too happily betrothed by unwritten rule to town grain scion's son.

Holden's role in the plot is the classic "new kid in town" theme. Arrogant by nature, and with an eye for Madge (which is not rebuffed, or so we think), he violates every socially acceptable notion of age, social class, and small-town propriety. Sparks fly; usually nasty ones, except for the ones between Holden and Novak, in which case you can guess . . .

Superb acting, better than we have a right to expect. Stage director Josh Logan ("South Pacific" "Mister Roberts") wisely played to each character's strength: nubile Novak's vulnerability, little sister Paula Strasberg's emotive ability (her father was Lee Strasberg, who invented Method Acting); Holden's blustery kick-...bravado, and Robertson's slow understanding that his privilege doesn't necessarily extend to things erotic. The movie also boasts an excellent supporting cast including the overlooked and underappreciated Arthur O'Connell as the old-maid schoolteacher's reluctant swain. Look for all-around buddy and fellow schoolteacher played by chunky, loveable Reta Shaw, whose name may be known by few but whose presence is felt in many a movie.

And that menopausal schoolmarm Rosalind Russell: Roz is just amazing in a performance that mixes everyday behavior, venom, confusion, sweet pardon and existential bewilderment as she rages, rages against change of life and her unmarried status--and that without resorting to any of the standard "PMS" stereotypes. As excellent as her earlier career-girl roles ("His Girl Friday") were, "Picnic" showed the industry that la Russell had what it took for complex adult drama.

If you can take 1950s melodrama for what it is, "Picnic" is one of the best. Some really intense acting takes place from an ensemble that would never be assembled again--effective juggling of complex, symbolic subplots--and a genuine if overstated portrayal of Fifties themes. To plagiarize Roz Russell from her later flick "Mame": "Picnic" is a banquet: Don't starve yourself.

Rating:
Summary: The best acting you'll ever see.
Review: Everything was done right in this classic motion picture. The wonderful script, superb actors, brilliant music score and a wonderful story and a director who really knew how to get the most out of his cast.This motion picture is the likes of what will never come out of Hollywood again. Kim Novak was not only beautiful but could melt any man with here beautiful eyes. The most famous scene where she is dancing at the Labor Day picnic and the seductive theme music playing in the background still is the most sexual scene ever film while still wearing clothes. This kind of acting will never be seen again nor is there talent today in Hollywood to recreate this.The surround channels are bright, brilliant but suttle enough to give you that engulfing sound that just makes you curl-up in your chair a little tighter. This is one of the only movies that makes you feel the pasion as if you were right in the movie yourself.This movie has been brilliantly restored and unlike the review, i give the picture and sound a 5. A must for any collector and a national treasure.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT CHARACTER STUDY! WONDERFUL FILM!
Review: More character study then narrative, the whole film is set during a picnic that takes place the day after a drifter comes to town ready to begin again (but with some some problems on starting at the bottom).
Although some people criticize the cast, all I can say is that I find Holden and Novak's performance trully magnetic. It's true that Holden was old, but it doesn't change the fact that he was great (and to be honest, I find it difficult to imagine a younger actor in such a dense role). Rosalind Russell's top performance is also something to be seen (on the subplot) as a woman who's so desperate to grab her last chance to get married that she ruins it (or not?).
The scene where the two leads dance by the river lit with chinese ballons is beautifully staged, shot, photographed and editted. An absolute must in the 50's Cinema.
The DVD comes with two sides: one for widescreen, the other for standard version. Compare the two and you'll see the superiority of widescreen over standard. Standard is horribly crippled.
The sound is full mono (I which it was recorded in stereo...) and the jazzy soundtrack is peerless.
Obviously, most of the issues are much dated by now (virginity, drinking, ageing, marrying, not marrying, etc.), but it was made in the fifties - what did you expect. And yet, I see it very darring in many ways.

Great performances.
Worth watching. Worth buying.

Rating:
Summary: It must have been moonglow...
Review: This intense drama unfolds over one Labor Day weekend in a sleepy Oklahoma town. Aging loser William Holden shows up to beg former pal Cliff Robertson for a job, and ends up proposing to Robertson's girlfriend (Novak)and hopping a freight out of town. Spunky old maid school teacher Rosalind Russel is pure dynamite here.

Kim Novak is just right as the unsatisfied young woman who wants to be needed, not just gawked at. She finds what she's looking for in the arms of the swaggering, jobless Holden. Their electrifying dance at the picnic is worth the price of the video. When Kim pulls away from her mother grasp in the last moments, you ache for both mother and daughter, knowing what troubles inevidibly lie ahead.

My favorite character is the kindly old neighbor lady, Mrs. Potts, played by Verna Felton. She observes the dramatic events in her neighbors' lives and shares her experience, wisdom, and hugs with everyone. She is the one stable force in the little group. Felton's performance always brings a tear to my eye.

Rating:
Summary: As Subtle as a Buffalo Stampede
Review: A small-town household of women become fascinated by a drifter's hormones--and on the stage William Inge's subtle and intimate tale of sexual frustration, lost opportunties, and the mythical promise of youth proved popular with both audiences and critics alike. On the other hand, Joshua Logan's screen version has brassy good looks--and is about as subtle and intimate as a buffalo stampede down Main Street at high noon.

Director Logan made his name as a theatrical director by staging big budget productions with plenty of stage picture, so it should come as no surprise that his handling of this material is both stagey and way too literal. Both Novak and Holden are too old for their roles, but more to the point they are both wildly miscast. Novak's stunning beauty and cool self-assurance is completely at odds with the role of Madge, an unsure small-town pretty girl; Holden, although he had his share of virile charm, lacks the mix of innocence and raw sexuality the role requires. As a couple, they seem to belong to an entirely different movie.

On the plus side, PICNIC offers an interesting if occasionally problematic score that features the memorable "Moonglow;" some very nice if largely inappropriate cinematography; and a truly fine supporting cast, with Arthur O'Connell and Rosalind Russell standouts in the cast. But not even Russell's brilliant turn as the determinedly over-compensating spinster school teacher can ignite this film, which for all its good looks never comes to life. Worth seeing once, but you're better off catching a stage revival at a good rep company.