The Member of the Wedding (film)

Last updated

The Member of the Wedding
The Member of the Wedding Poster.jpg
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Screenplay by
Based on The Member of the Wedding
by Carson McCullers
Produced by Stanley Kramer
Starring
Cinematography Hal Mohr
Edited by William A. Lyon
Music by Alex North
Production
company
Stanley Kramer Productions
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • December 25, 1952 (1952-12-25)
Running time
90 minutes (TCM print)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Member of the Wedding is a 1952 American film noir drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Ethel Waters, Julie Harris, and Brandon deWilde. The story, based on Carson McCullers' 1946 novel of the same name, is set in a small town in the Southern United States. Frankie Addams is an awkward, moody 12-year-old tomboy whose only friends are her young cousin John Henry and her black housekeeper Berenice. Co-starring as a drunken soldier who tries to take advantage of the vulnerable Frankie is former child actor Dick Moore, making his last film appearance.

Contents

Julie Harris was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. [1] Later versions of McCuller's play were done for television, with Claudia McNeil playing Berenice in 1958, then Pearl Bailey performing the part in 1982, and Alfre Woodard playing the character in 1996, with Anna Paquin cast as Frankie in the latter production.

Plot

Feeling rejected when her older brother goes off on his honeymoon without inviting her along, Frankie (Julie Harris) runs away from her middle-class Southern home. She endures several other adolescent traumas, not least of which is the sudden death of her bespectacled young cousin John Henry (Brandon deWilde). With the help of warm-hearted housekeeper Berenice Sadie Brown (Ethel Waters), Frankie eventually makes an awkward transition to young womanhood. [2]

Cast

Related Research Articles

The Sundowners is a 1960 Technicolor comedy-drama film that tells the story of a 1920s Australian outback family torn between the father's desires to continue his nomadic sheep-herding ways and the wife and son's desire to settle in one place. The Sundowners was produced and directed by Fred Zinnemann, adapted by Isobel Lennart from Jon Cleary's 1952 novel of the same name, with Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Peter Ustinov, Glynis Johns, Mervyn Johns, Dina Merrill, Michael Anderson Jr., and Chips Rafferty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Zinnemann</span> Austrian-American film director (1907–1997)

Alfred Zinnemann was an Austrian-American film director and producer. He won four Academy Awards for directing and producing films in various genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir and play adaptations. He began his career in Europe before emigrating to the US, where he specialized in shorts before making 25 feature films during his 50-year career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel Waters</span> American vocalist and actress (1896–1977)

Ethel Waters was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her notable recordings include "Dinah", "Stormy Weather", "Taking a Chance on Love", "Heat Wave", "Supper Time", "Am I Blue?", "Cabin in the Sky", "I'm Coming Virginia", and her version of "His Eye Is on the Sparrow". Waters was the second African American to be nominated for an Academy Award, the first African American to star on her own television show, and the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Harris</span> American actress (1925–2013)

Julia Ann Harris was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary roles, she earned numerous accolades including the record five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play, three Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, and a BAFTA Award. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, received the National Medal of Arts in 1994, the Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2005.

<i>The Member of the Wedding</i> Novel by Carson McCullers

The Member of the Wedding is a 1946 novel by Southern writer Carson McCullers. It took McCullers five years to complete, although she interrupted the work for a few months to write the novella The Ballad of the Sad Café.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon deWilde</span> American theater, film, television actor (1942–1972)

Andre Brandon deWilde was an American theater, film, and television actor. Born into a theatrical family in Brooklyn, he debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and became a national phenomenon by the time he completed his 492 performances for The Member of the Wedding. He won a Donaldson Award for his performance, becoming the youngest actor to win one, and starred in the subsequent film adaptation for which he won a Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juanita Moore</span> American film, TV, and stage actress (1915–2013)

Juanita Moore was an American film, television, and stage actress.

Beulah is an American sitcom that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC Television from 1950 to 1953. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African-American actress, for being ABC TV's first hit situation comedy, and the first hit TV sitcom without a laugh track. The show was controversial for its caricatures of African Americans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blossom Rock</span> American actress (1895–1978)

Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald, also known as Blossom Rock, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage, film and television. During her career she was also billed as Marie Blake or Blossom MacDonald. Her younger sister was screen actress and singer Jeanette MacDonald. Rock is best known for her role as "Grandmama" on the 1960s macabre/black comedy sitcom The Addams Family.

Edward Anhalt was an American screenwriter, producer, and documentary filmmaker. After working as a journalist and documentary filmmaker for Pathé and CBS-TV, he teamed with his wife Edna Anhalt, one of his five wives, during World War II to write pulp fiction.

<i>License to Wed</i> 2007 film by Ken Kwapis

License to Wed is a 2007 American romantic comedy film directed by Ken Kwapis. Starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore and John Krasinski, with Christine Taylor, Eric Christian Olsen and Josh Flitter in supporting roles, the film tells the story of a reverend who puts an engaged couple through a grueling marriage preparation course to see if they are meant to be married in his church. The film was released in theaters in the United States on July 3, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures, and received negative reviews from critics.

<i>Good-bye, My Lady</i> (film) 1956 film by William A. Wellman

Good-bye, My Lady is a 1956 American drama film adaptation of the novel Good-bye, My Lady (1954) by James H. Street. The book had been inspired by Street's original 1941 story which appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. Street was going to be the principal advisor on the film when he suddenly died of a heart attack. A boy learns what it means to be a man by befriending and training a stray Basenji dog and then is forced to surrender her to its rightful owner. Both readers of the story and film-goers found the boy's eventual loss of the dog unexpected.

<i>Screen Directors Playhouse</i> American radio and television anthology series

Screen Directors Playhouse is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, with original directors of the films sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations and taking a brief "curtain call" with the cast and host at the end of the program. During the 1955–56 season, the series was seen on television, focusing on original teleplays and several adaptations of famous short stories.

<i>So Big</i> (1924 film) 1924 film by Charles Brabin

So Big is a 1924 American silent film based on Edna Ferber's 1924 novel of the same name which won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1925. It was produced by independent producer Earl Hudson the film and distributed through Associated First National. Unseen for decades, it is considered to be a lost film. Only a trailer survives at the Library of Congress.

<i>Hit and Run</i> (1957 film) 1957 film by Hugo Haas

Hit and Run is a 1957 American drama film noir directed by Hugo Haas starring Cleo Moore, Hugo Haas, and Vince Edwards.

<i>All Fall Down, The Brandon deWilde Story</i> 2012 biography written by Patrisha McLean

All Fall Down, The Brandon deWilde Story is a 2012 biography written by Patrisha McLean and published by Faces, Incorporated. The book was released on June 19, 2012. It is McLean's first written, but second published, work. It is the only published biography of Brandon deWilde since his death in 1972.

Flora Spencer-Longhurst is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the CBBC series Leonardo (2011), and the FX series The Bastard Executioner (2015).

<i>Black Spurs</i> 1965 film by R. G. Springsteen

Black Spurs is a 1965 American Western film directed by R.G. Springsteen and written by Steve Fisher. The film stars: Rory Calhoun, Linda Darnell, Terry Moore, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney Jr., James Best, Richard Arlen, Bruce Cabot and scenes with James Brown and DeForest Kelley. The film was released on June 25, 1965, by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Dance Hall</i> (1941 film) 1941 film by Irving Pichel

Dance Hall is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Irving Pichel and written by Stanley Rauh and Ethel Hill. The film stars Carole Landis, Cesar Romero, William "Bill" Henry, June Storey, J. Edward Bromberg and Charles Halton. It is based on the novel The Giant Swing by W. R. Burnett. The film was released on July 18, 1941, by 20th Century Fox.

<i>Shattered Idols</i> 1922 film

Shattered Idols is a 1922 American drama film directed by Edward Sloman and written by William V. Mong. It is based on the 1912 novel The Daughter of Brahma by I. A. R. Wylie. The film stars Marguerite De La Motte, William V. Mong, James W. Morrison, Frankie Lee, Ethel Grey Terry, and Alfred Allen. The film was released on February 6, 1922, by Associated First National Pictures.

References

  1. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/83261/The-Member-of-the-Wedding/articles.html%5B‍%5D
  2. "The Member of the Wedding (1952) - Fred Zinnemann | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie".