"Toys in the Attic" Review

 

by John Zenoni

When F. Murray Abraham presented the Academy Award to Geraldine Page for her poignant, heartfelt portrayal of Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful, he called her the "greatest actress in the English language." Abraham said those words before reading the name out loud, but the audience knew who he was talking about, and they rose as one to give this incredibly gifted woman a standing ovation. Because Geraldine Page was THAT damn good.

Yesterday was Page's birthday (November 22, 1924 - June 13, 1987), and it was comforting to see people post tributes to this awesomely talented woman. Comforting, that over 30 years after she died she has not been forgotten.

I paid tribute by watching Toys In The Attic, a 1963 film she made, based on the play by Lillian Hellman. In it she plays another Carrie, Carrie Berniers, but this Carrie is not to be confused with the sweet, kind Carrie Watts. This Carrie is a manipulative, cloying, and clawing troublemaker. A troublemaker, who when sister Anna (Wendy Hiller) exposes her secret, becomes dangerous.

James Poe's adaptation of Hellman's play is very well done, solid and gripping. Director George Roy Hill does what a good director should do when presented with an effective script and a talented cast: he allows the magic to happen with little interference.

And this IS an extremely talented cast. Besides Page and Hiller, you have Dean Martin as their wayward younger brother, Julian. Martin's formidable gifts as an actor have been overshadowed by his mugging with Jerry Lewis and his Rat Pack persona as The King of Cool. But he is very, very good here as the happy go lucky Julian whose attempts to help a former flame end in tragedy.

Yvette Mimieux plays Martin's child bride, Lily. I always thought of her as a pretty face of limited talent, but she's excellent here, playing a young woman who suspects that her new husband doesn't love her anymore.

And if that isn't enough you have Gene Tierney as Mimieux's mother, a genteel Southern Belle who is as wise as she is beautiful. Tierney is exceptional in her extended cameo, holding her own with acting giants Page and Hiller. This was supposed to be the beginning of her "comeback" after suffering from mental illness. Her return to performing didn't materialize (she only made two more films) but it's gratifying that we have this portrayal of a mature, graceful Tierney.

They're all exceptional and Geraldine Page is beyond exceptional: she's magnetic, an acting force that is both a tsunami and a magnitude 10 earthquake rolled into one. Her Carrie Berniers is awesome, a seemingly silly woman who let's the shame of her impure thoughts about her brother turn her into a scheming, vindictive demon. I'm watching the last scene again and I'm in awe of her. You Geraldine Page are a GOAT: Greatest Of All Time.

Available on YouTube, Toys In The Attic is a haunting movie about what happens when decent siblings are held in bondage by one indecent sister.