Come Back Little Sheba (1977)

Set in the late 1940s in a small mid-western college town, a recovering alcoholic (Laurence Olivier) and his slovenly wife (Joanne Woodward) have a tenuous marriage at best. But the presence of a pretty young boarder (Carrie Fisher) only serves to remind the husband of how his forced marriage (she was pregnant) ruined his chances. Based on the 1950 Tony award winning William Inge play, it's one of those rare plays that reads better than it plays. Somehow its dialog has an ease and naturalness on the page that often seems awkward and slightly artificial when spoken. So it requires just the right actors to inhabit the central characters, Lola and Doc, and get us to view them as people and not mouthpieces reciting the author's words. This production directed by Silvio Narizzano (GEORGY GIRL) gets it half right. While Woodward seems to have a fundamental grasp of her character and slips into Lola easily, Olivier is just all wrong. He may be one of the great actors of the 20th century but his work here is just surface, there's nothing underneath. Reputedly, Olivier stepped into the role after Robert Mitchum bolted the production, now that's a Doc I'd want to see. With Nicholas Campbell and Patience Collier.