All three of my children are now legal adults, so I will never know, personally, the pain of losing one in childhood, not that losing one as an adult would be any less painful. However, less than two weeks ago, my niece lost her only child, a toddler, to a senseless accident, and though I didn’t know the child personally, I feel some of the pain from that loss. On top of that, my grandmother also died this last week. It’s not the same, I know, but it still hurts when a family member is grieving from such a great loss. It’s one of life’s cruel coincidences, then, that so soon after the tragedy—the funerals hasn’t even been had yet, as of this writing— I get assigned The Country Girl by the randomizer I use to select which films to watch for this blog. I knew nothing about this movie going into it, and a scene early on floored me in part because of my recent losses.
We don’t know how we will handle the loss of a loved one until it happens to us. You can have a full understanding of the stages of grief, and that won’t stop you from falling into them the same way a person does who has never heard of them. What a film like The Country Girl does so well is it strings us along thinking we know what is actually going on, and then it surprises us with an ending that makes us question the whole movie. It invites us to start the film over again with the foreknowledge we just discovered and reexamine everything. That is the sign of a truly brilliant script, credited to director George Seaton, but a good deal of that credit also belongs to playwright Clifford Odets, who penned the original Broadway play in 1950.
The film opens with auditions for a new stage play destined for Broadway, The Land Around Us. Director Bernie Dodd (William Holden) watches a musical number performed by fading star Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby) and is determined to cast him in the leading role despite the strong protests from the show’s producer, Philip Cook (Anthony Ross). Bernie persists and goes to meet Frank at his modest apartment, where he also meets his wife, Georgie (Grace Kelly), a woman from the country who has stuck by her husband through the tough times of late.
Initially, Frank makes it appear like Georgie is the reason behind his declining career, an impression that leads Bernie into blaming her and trying to separate the two during rehearsals after Frank threatens to fall off the wagon. The truth is much more complicated, though. Frank is actually a demanding alcoholic who is completely dependent on his wife. His alcoholism is further fueled by the senseless death of their only child when he was distracted posing for publicity stills. This tragedy haunts him, and at one point, he attempted suicide. But the real reason for Frank’s career decline is his own insecurities, which only further aided his alcoholism. When Bernie learns the truth, and that everything he thought was true about Georgie was really about Frank, himself, he also admits to Georgie that he has a strong attraction to her. She admits that she wants Frank back on his feet so that she can stop being his foundation and escape, but also discovers that when that opportunity arrives, she cannot do it. She is married to him and loves him, weaknesses and all.
At first, I was confused as to why the film is titled The Country Girl when it appears to be about an aging actor dealing with loss. That ends up being one of the areas where this film surprised me the most. Grace Kelly is playing support to Bing Crosby, but in reality, she is his anchor and the very thing that is holding him together, however tenuous that may be. She is a much better woman and wife than most would be in this situation, taking her vows of “in sickness and in health” seriously. Yet she is a woman with needs, and for just a moment, when Bernie kisses her, she is tempted to take the selfish route. She takes the harder route, though, knowing that Frank’s success may not last, and his insecurities are likely to creep back in again.
Grace Kelly won the Academy Award for her performance here, and it is easy to see why. She is the wife of an alcoholic stage actor and singer, and that has worn her down a bit. When we are first introduced to her, she is seen as dowdy, not making much of an effort to doll herself up. Bernie even makes a snide comment about it. In later scenes, as Frank is starting to make appearances on the stage, she has taken the effort to dress herself up, and the difference is night-and-day. And it’s not just her appearance, either. She carries herself differently. Bernie is particularly harsh to her, believing all that Frank has said about her. She knows that she is Frank’s foundation and that he is already starting to crumble again, thanks to some early screening bad press, and Bernie’s insistence on separating the two will only lead to a full-on relapse. She stands up for herself but also accepts the realities that she will have to go on to New York ahead of the troop rather than be constantly by her husband’s side, protecting him from a relapse.
For a good deal of the film, we are led to believe that Frank’s problems stem from the death of his son. That’s only part of his problems, though. Even the legitimacy of his suicide attempt is brought into question. What we ultimately are seeing is a fascinating look into the psyche of a man who has many struggles, not just with guilt and alcoholism. Bing Crosby is practically perfect, bringing these many facets to life. He’s also dead-on playing the showman on stage, not only when his character is nailing the performance but also when he is faltering, a victim of his own inner critic.
The one character I couldn’t get behind was Bernie, himself. Bernie is a typical Broadway director, abrasive and abusive. He comports himself as someone destined to have ulcers later in life, aided by his habit of chain smoking. His angry outbursts, especially towards Georgie, are overly harsh and judgmental, and show a chauvinistic side to him that is deeply unpleasant. At first, it feels like he is determined to drive a wedge between Frank and his wife, then later that is absolutely confirmed. He really steps over the line, though, when he suddenly grabs and kisses her passionately. That she responds for a moment in kind only makes the moment all the more unpleasant. When she makes the decision to stay by her husband you can see that she wants desperately to choose otherwise but is resolved to stick it out.
This is a harder movie than what I usually see from the 1950s. The Hays Code was losing a bit of its hold on Hollywood by this point but not to the point that its influence wasn’t being felt. Still, some of the moments, especially revolving around the suicide attempt, are dark and shocking, well played out by those involved. This is a well-made film based on an even better-written play. Over the next five decades, it has seen numerous revivals on Broadway, including the most recent one in the mid-2000s. It still holds up after all this time, and the same can be said for this film. Life isn’t always happy endings and that is reflected well in this one.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Motion Picture: William Perlberg
Best Director: George Seaton
Best Actor: Bing Crosby
Best Actress: Grace Kelly (won)
Best Screenplay: George Seaton (won)
Best Art Direction - Black-and-White: Hal Pereira, Roland Andersen, Samuel M. Comer, and Grace Gregory
Best Cinematography - Black-and-White: John F. Warren
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Release Date: December 11, 1954
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and William Holden
Directed By: George Seaton
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