I don't get it. What do the ten star enthusiasts see in this that I can't? It seems to me a mediocre-to-poor effort. Richard Burton is unconvincing as a preacher on the edge of madness. I don't understand why he's so bothered about losing his job if he's as stressed as he claims to be. I also don't get his bizarre change into solicitous nursemaid when Nonno turns up. Ava Gardner's sudden switch from thigh-slappin' good time girl to needy widow is equally bizarre. Deborah Kerr manages to keep it together, but her sermon on the nature of man and god comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. And what has the first half of the film (bus trip for middle-aged baptist ladies) got to do with the second half (dying old man and uptight grand-daughter)? My theory is that people sing the praises of stuff like this because it is old. Well, know this - just because it's old doesn't make it good!
Review of The Night of the Iguana
