Tennessee Williams once said that, "All work is autobiographical, if it's serious". When you know the background to "The Glass Menagerie", you can see that he bared his soul in this play.
Amanda Wingfield lives in a poor neighbourhood with her grownup children, restless son Tom and crippled, withdrawn daughter Laura. She desperately wants her daughter to meet a man who will marry and take care of her. She convinces Tom to bring home a friend that she hopes will become Laura's gentlemen caller. When Tom brings home Jim O'Conner, it is the catalyst for change and for the acceptance of painful truths.
I was moved by this film back in the 60s, long before I knew much about Tennessee Williams. It wasn't until I read Donald Spoto's biography of Tennessee that I realised that Amanda Wingfield was based on his mother, Edwina, and that Laura was based on his beautiful, fragile sister Rose. He's in the play too, he's Tom, his real name, and that character's yearning to break free reflected what he felt.
His sister Rose was not physically crippled, but had mental afflictions, the gentlemen callers had long stopped coming. Eventually his mother assented to Rose having a lobotomy. Back then, having a bad day could get you an ice pick through the eye socket quicker than blinking, and Rose never really recovered.
Although Tennessee is listed in the credits as co-author of the screenplay, apparently he was shown the script when he was in Rome. He objected to the happy ending and other changes but seems to have been persuaded that these were necessary for the audience of a Hollywood movie.
There have been many renditions of the play on stage and in film. Major stars have played Amanda: Shirley Booth, Joanne Woodward and Katherine Hepburn. A closer reading of the play is the 1966 CBS Playhouse version with Hal Holbrook brilliant as Tom.
However none of the productions I've seen have bettered Jane Wyman's sensitive performance in this 1950 film. Maybe Gertrude Lawrence was over the top as Amanda, but Jane Wyman must have got very close to the spirit of Tennessee's sister. I also think Kirk Douglas is the best Jim O'Conner. The way Kirk Douglas' charming, confident and challenging Jim draws out Jane Wyman's shy, ethereal, crippled Laura, who has retreated into a world of old records and glass figures, is heartrending.
I think the film, especially Jane Wyman's performance, must have inspired Max Steiner's score. He created that beautiful, high register, tinkling theme that suggests the glass figurines, but the whole score is complex and original.
The film has an upbeat epilogue and does not include most of Tom's closing monologue from the play with its sense of loss and guilt. Maybe the Hollywood guys choked, feeling that after we have become so affected by Jane Wyman's portrayal, the original ending where we know Laura will live alone was simply too crushing.
Amanda Wingfield lives in a poor neighbourhood with her grownup children, restless son Tom and crippled, withdrawn daughter Laura. She desperately wants her daughter to meet a man who will marry and take care of her. She convinces Tom to bring home a friend that she hopes will become Laura's gentlemen caller. When Tom brings home Jim O'Conner, it is the catalyst for change and for the acceptance of painful truths.
I was moved by this film back in the 60s, long before I knew much about Tennessee Williams. It wasn't until I read Donald Spoto's biography of Tennessee that I realised that Amanda Wingfield was based on his mother, Edwina, and that Laura was based on his beautiful, fragile sister Rose. He's in the play too, he's Tom, his real name, and that character's yearning to break free reflected what he felt.
His sister Rose was not physically crippled, but had mental afflictions, the gentlemen callers had long stopped coming. Eventually his mother assented to Rose having a lobotomy. Back then, having a bad day could get you an ice pick through the eye socket quicker than blinking, and Rose never really recovered.
Although Tennessee is listed in the credits as co-author of the screenplay, apparently he was shown the script when he was in Rome. He objected to the happy ending and other changes but seems to have been persuaded that these were necessary for the audience of a Hollywood movie.
There have been many renditions of the play on stage and in film. Major stars have played Amanda: Shirley Booth, Joanne Woodward and Katherine Hepburn. A closer reading of the play is the 1966 CBS Playhouse version with Hal Holbrook brilliant as Tom.
However none of the productions I've seen have bettered Jane Wyman's sensitive performance in this 1950 film. Maybe Gertrude Lawrence was over the top as Amanda, but Jane Wyman must have got very close to the spirit of Tennessee's sister. I also think Kirk Douglas is the best Jim O'Conner. The way Kirk Douglas' charming, confident and challenging Jim draws out Jane Wyman's shy, ethereal, crippled Laura, who has retreated into a world of old records and glass figures, is heartrending.
I think the film, especially Jane Wyman's performance, must have inspired Max Steiner's score. He created that beautiful, high register, tinkling theme that suggests the glass figurines, but the whole score is complex and original.
The film has an upbeat epilogue and does not include most of Tom's closing monologue from the play with its sense of loss and guilt. Maybe the Hollywood guys choked, feeling that after we have become so affected by Jane Wyman's portrayal, the original ending where we know Laura will live alone was simply too crushing.