Toys In The Attic (1963)

Directed by George Roy Hill, screenwriter James Poe (CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF) adapts Lillian Hellman’s Broadway hit to the screen with decent results. A failure (Dean Martin) returns to his Southern roots, along with his simple minded child bride (Yvette Mimieux) to visit his spinster sisters (Geraldine Page, Wendy Hiller), only this time he’s rich. The sisters reaction to his wealth is radically different with Page downright resenting it. Page’s unnatural obsession with her brother and animosity toward his wife unwittingly brings a tragic and bitter denouement. Hellman is flirting with Tennessee Williams territory here but she lacks the poetry of Williams’ dialogue so much of the seams show. Page (who plays roles like this to the manor born) and Hiller are excellent as are Gene Tierney as Mimieux’s mother and Frank Silvera as her black chauffeur lover. Dean Martin’s performance is problematic. He’s actually very good, connecting all the dots as an actor and showing some insight into his character yet his performance still doesn’t work. It’s not authentic (Southern Italy perhaps but not the Old South) and admirable as he tries, this is a part that screams out for a Paul Newman. There’s a fine score contributed by George Duning. With Nan Martin and Larry Gates.