The film helped Wood evolve into a serious actress, and it's a nice debut for the very photogenic Beatty, but there's something flat about what should be a tangibly passionate film.
Despite the pedigree of director Elia Kazan and playwright-turned-screenwriter William Inge, this tale of suppressed teenage sexuality and mental breakdown is simultaneously overcooked and boring.
The plodding pace is baffling, and it even lacks the steamy gusto of lower brow potboilers like "Peyton Place" or "A Summer Place."
It may be tempting to blame the conservative era in which it was made, but Kazan had made the hyper passionate tale of sex and madness "A Streetcar Named Desire" ten years before!
Despite the pedigree of director Elia Kazan and playwright-turned-screenwriter William Inge, this tale of suppressed teenage sexuality and mental breakdown is simultaneously overcooked and boring.
The plodding pace is baffling, and it even lacks the steamy gusto of lower brow potboilers like "Peyton Place" or "A Summer Place."
It may be tempting to blame the conservative era in which it was made, but Kazan had made the hyper passionate tale of sex and madness "A Streetcar Named Desire" ten years before!