Jeanne Eagels (1957)

The story of legendary stage actress Jeanne Eagels (Kim Novak), one of the most acclaimed actresses of her era. Directed by George Sidney (BYE BYE BIRDIE), this film biography (most of it highly fictionalized) on the actress suffers from the usual clichés of the genre. Sweet young thing ignores the man who loves her for fame and fortune, marries the wrong man, becomes a drunk and dope addict, only in this case there’s no big comeback; at least the film kept that part correct. The success of films like this depends on the performance of the actor playing the film’s subject. In this case, while she has several impressive moments (her reaction to a character’s suicide, her stage breakdown), Kim Novak simply isn’t a strong enough actress to carry the burden of such a difficult character and it doesn’t help that the script is very weak. In one scene, she’s fine and then in the next scene, suddenly she’s a raging alcoholic without any background on how she got that way. Novak is unable to suggest what made Eagels such a great actress. Co-starring Jeff Chandler as a fictionalized lover, Agnes Moorehead, Virginia Grey (quite touching as a washed up actress), Murray Hamilton, Charles Drake, Larry Gates, Gene Lockhart and director Frank Borzage playing himself.