PICNIC
(Columbia) A Cert. A SUMMER romance is what William Inge ¢alled his play Picnic, but as you might expect of the author of Come Back, Little Sheba, it’s something more than a "romantic" story as generally understood. Superficially about a holiday outing and its aftermath, the more interesting intention of this study of American small-town life is to tell the story of a pretty girl called Madge and of the values that struggle to possess her. Is she to marry Alan, son of a wealthy capitalist, who apparently adores her? Her mother, who foresees a short season for a pretty face and doesn’t let Madge forget it, thinks she should and explains why in one of the film’s most significant scenes-a plea for "successful" marriage on the one hand, and on the other all the misery of a girl tired of being merely pretty. Does she love Alan? she wonders. She’s even less sure after an encounter that night with Hal, an old college friend of Alan (and a bit of a vagabond with a bit of a past), who has just climbed off a freight train. Better to marry for love? But then is Hal’s violent physical attraction love? Whatever it is, Kim Novak as Madge and William Holden as Hal play some electrifying scenes. Mr. Holden we rather take for granted; Miss Novak, who impressed me in a _ sophisticated role in Pushover, gets wonderfully (and surprisingly) well inside self-conscious early womanhood. Lighting the central situation from other angles are Madge’s younger, plainer, but more intelligent sister (very well played by Susan Strasberg), and a middle-aged spinster who lives with them. In the play a character who stirs our compassion, the spinster is overplayed so outrageously by Rosalind Russell that her impact is most often broadly comic. Could this be the fault of Joshua Logan, who directs Picnic after a long spell in the theatre? Anyway, this defect mars the film. Tailored for a wider audience than the play, the script also cuts or amends important lines and includes new scenes which, very good in their way, nevertheless obscure the significance of the essential story. What's left is still very interesting-but just slightly disappointing if you know the play. People inter4
ested in the theatre, by the way, will want to know "that Jo Mielziner had a hand in the fine settings.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19561012.2.27.1.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 897, 12 October 1956, Page 15
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394PICNIC New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 897, 12 October 1956, Page 15
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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