A decade or two of not having last seen this, I found it disappointing. Shirley Booth, of course, is brilliant. Hers is one of the great screen performances. (And what a shame she made so few movies!) Rating this it based solely on her performance, I'd give it a 10. But the rest is not so hot.
Burt Lancaster does a creditable acting job but he just isn't believable as the beaten-down husband of a woman Booth's age. His presence may have helped sell some tickets but this is miscasting of a serious sort. (Lancaster is an actor I like very much, from his early films in the 1940s through, especially, to his later roles in "Atlantic City" and "Conversation Piece." Even in those, though, when he was around the age he was playing in this movie, he seems wrong for the temperament of Doc -- even though he plays a frustrated older man in each.)
One of the major flaws of "Come Back Little Sheba" is the focus on Terry Moore and her romances. Her acting is all right for what it is but the balance of this delicate story is tipped and the movie at times seems like one of the many forties romantic comedies tracing the dating lives of high school or college girls.)
The way I see it, the Shirley Booth character is a little bit of Blanche DuBois and a little bit of Amanda Wingfield. Doc is little like Tom Wingfield (Amanda's song.) And Moore and her boyfriends, neither of whom is particularly likable, are all like the gentleman caller. Hollywood was full of movies about characters like the gentleman caller and the Moore character. Sometimes these movies work. In this case, they all but sink a small, delicate story whose highlight is the heartbreakingly lovely performance of a character actress who was also a major Broadway star.
Burt Lancaster does a creditable acting job but he just isn't believable as the beaten-down husband of a woman Booth's age. His presence may have helped sell some tickets but this is miscasting of a serious sort. (Lancaster is an actor I like very much, from his early films in the 1940s through, especially, to his later roles in "Atlantic City" and "Conversation Piece." Even in those, though, when he was around the age he was playing in this movie, he seems wrong for the temperament of Doc -- even though he plays a frustrated older man in each.)
One of the major flaws of "Come Back Little Sheba" is the focus on Terry Moore and her romances. Her acting is all right for what it is but the balance of this delicate story is tipped and the movie at times seems like one of the many forties romantic comedies tracing the dating lives of high school or college girls.)
The way I see it, the Shirley Booth character is a little bit of Blanche DuBois and a little bit of Amanda Wingfield. Doc is little like Tom Wingfield (Amanda's song.) And Moore and her boyfriends, neither of whom is particularly likable, are all like the gentleman caller. Hollywood was full of movies about characters like the gentleman caller and the Moore character. Sometimes these movies work. In this case, they all but sink a small, delicate story whose highlight is the heartbreakingly lovely performance of a character actress who was also a major Broadway star.