LoginI wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to have a decent reputation (it is included in the ‘The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made’ list selected by the New York Times, among other things), I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really struggled to care about the damned thing after all. Recently, I have been focusing on movies released in the 40’s and such quaint features were apparently quite popular back then. However, such films seems so outdated and this one was not an exception, I’m afraid. The other thing that bothered me was that William Holden (I have to admit that I didn’t recognize him while watching this flick) and Martha Scott were both just too old to play their respective characters. I have to admit that Holden was only 22 years old at the time but Martha Scott was almost 30 years old but the bottom line is that they both looked too old and the fact that they played their characters the most childish way possible probably didn’t help. Seriously, they sounded like they were 12 years old in the first scenes. And, yet, during the last act, they finally displayed a darker tone which was interesting and I especially enjoyed to hear the thoughts of the future newlyweds who were both suddenly getting some cold feet. After that, they made a huge switch in mood as it became suddenly some kind of surrealistic dream which was a massive contrast with the rest of the movie. In fact, in the original play, Emily actually died in childbirth which was obviously not the case in this adaptation. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really work for me, it was still a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
Our Town Reviews
An average movie
Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 31 August 2023 10:43
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Our Town review
Posted : 8 years, 10 months ago on 14 July 2015 01:20
I love the naiveté of this film because it touches everything (suicide, alcohol, gossio, stupidity of patriotism and war) with such lightness and tenderness. Scott is too old for her role, but guides Holden ok.
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Our Town
Posted : 9 years, 10 months ago on 30 June 2014 11:04
Thorton Wilder’s play is an indomitable classic, a work that twisted and contorted the very fabric of stage dramatics during its time. So why is the movie version so damn underwhelming? It’s never terrible, but it mostly stalls out at serviceable. Maybe because it decides on largely being a filmed document of the play rather a cinematic adaptation of it. Or maybe it’s just because certain conceits work better on stage than in film – the narrator is never fully integrated into the plot, nor is the minimalism of the production design. Think of it either way, the point is, Our Town doesn’t ever work as a film.
Our Town is a led by Martha Scott, in her film debut, and William Holden, in one of his earliest roles. Scott was inexplicably Oscar nominated for her turn here, which is never truly great nor terrible, just merely workman-like. That she bested, say, Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday for recognition is baffling. And Holden is awkward in these All-American boy-next-door parts, he soared once Billy Wilder got his hands on him. Everyone else does fine work, but I’ve seen all of them perform better in other films.
Artifice and sentimentality are the primary means of operation in Our Town. The main problem with this is simple: sentimentality in order to be effective must be earned, which Our Town never properly does. Artifice in a film, especially one from the studio era, is to be expected. Modern films don’t speak this romantic language as fluently. And Our Town’s insistence on giving the story a happy ending is baffling and confusing. The brilliance of the play was that the third act took such a sudden departure into the surreal and embraced darkness. The film only commits to this change halfway, which is a good enough summary for the film adaptation as a whole.
Our Town is a led by Martha Scott, in her film debut, and William Holden, in one of his earliest roles. Scott was inexplicably Oscar nominated for her turn here, which is never truly great nor terrible, just merely workman-like. That she bested, say, Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday for recognition is baffling. And Holden is awkward in these All-American boy-next-door parts, he soared once Billy Wilder got his hands on him. Everyone else does fine work, but I’ve seen all of them perform better in other films.
Artifice and sentimentality are the primary means of operation in Our Town. The main problem with this is simple: sentimentality in order to be effective must be earned, which Our Town never properly does. Artifice in a film, especially one from the studio era, is to be expected. Modern films don’t speak this romantic language as fluently. And Our Town’s insistence on giving the story a happy ending is baffling and confusing. The brilliance of the play was that the third act took such a sudden departure into the surreal and embraced darkness. The film only commits to this change halfway, which is a good enough summary for the film adaptation as a whole.
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