{"id":2925,"date":"2007-04-04T22:18:31","date_gmt":"2007-04-05T05:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2925"},"modified":"2021-07-27T14:08:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T21:08:16","slug":"goddess-the-1958","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2925","title":{"rendered":"Goddess, The (1958)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m <em>going<\/em> to Hollywood someday &#8212; I am, I am!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Poster-300x238.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"238\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-30934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Poster-300x238.jpg 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Poster-128x101.jpg 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Poster.jpg 730w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn aspiring actress (Kim Stanley) struggles to find love and happiness.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Actors and Actresses<\/li>\n<li>Aspiring Stars<\/li>\n<li>Character Studies<\/li>\n<li>Hollywood<\/li>\n<li>John Cromwell Films<\/li>\n<li>Kim Stanley Films<\/li>\n<li>Lloyd Bridges Films<\/li>\n<li>Mental Breakdown<\/li>\n<li>Social Climbers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nIn his review of <em>The Goddess<\/em>, Peary primarily focuses on how &#8220;unrelentingly downbeat&#8221; it is, noting that Paddy Chayefsky (who wrote the &#8220;grim&#8221; script) &#8220;seems to be enjoying the character&#8217;s suffering.&#8221; Apparently Chayefsky &#8212; despite a complete lack of experience &#8212; insisted on editing the film himself, which likely accounts for the utter lack of humorous scenes (which were all, according to Kim Stanley, edited out; see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/15894\/the-goddess#articles-reviews?articleId=153100\">TCM&#8217;s article<\/a>). <\/p>\n<p><em>The Goddess<\/em> is primarily notable for Stanley&#8217;s &#8220;powerhouse performance&#8221; &#8212; indeed, it&#8217;s remarkably easy to forget that Stanley is a bit too old to play the teenage protagonist, or that she isn&#8217;t quite sexy enough to pass for a Hollywood bombshell; looking into Stanley&#8217;s face, we see all the bitterness of Emily Ann\/Rita&#8217;s unhappy, lonely childhood continuing to express itself. Unfortunately, Emily Ann\/Rita (the character changes her name, as so many do, once she arrives in Hollywood) is never fully fleshed out &#8212; we&#8217;re given many powerful vignettes from her life, rather than any cohesion or depth. <\/p>\n<p>At one point, for instance, the script shifts suddenly from Rita accepting God in front of her religious mother (nicely played by Betty Lou Holland), to Rita throwing her mother out of the house with no obvious explanation. These frequent lapses in logic hurt would could have been a devastating character study, but instead remains an interesting &#8212; yet flawed &#8212; performance piece for Stanley. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Although many have speculated that Chayefsky modeled his script after the rise and imminent fall of Marilyn Monroe, Chayefsky flatly denied this association. Nonetheless, parallels continue to be made by many &#8212; including Peary. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kim Stanley&#8217;s powerhouse performance as Emily Ann\/Rita<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley-1024x575.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-46933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley-1024x575.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley-768x431.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley-1536x863.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Stanley.png 1697w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Betty Lou Holland as Stanley&#8217;s mother, Laureen<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland-1024x573.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-46932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland-768x429.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland-1536x859.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Holland.png 1701w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Lloyd Bridges as Stanley&#8217;s ex-boxer husband<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges-1024x567.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"354\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-46931\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges-1024x567.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges-300x166.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges-128x71.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges-768x425.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges-1536x850.png 1536w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/04\/Goddess-Bridges.png 1725w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply to watch Stanley&#8217;s incredible performance (which Peary nominates for an Alternate Oscar). <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0051667\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/15894\/the-goddess#articles-reviews?articleId=153100\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m going to Hollywood someday &#8212; I am, I am!&#8221; Synopsis: An aspiring actress (Kim Stanley) struggles to find love and happiness. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Actors and Actresses Aspiring Stars Character Studies Hollywood John Cromwell Films Kim Stanley Films Lloyd Bridges Films Mental Breakdown Social Climbers Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: In his review of The Goddess, Peary primarily focuses on how &#8220;unrelentingly downbeat&#8221; it is, noting that Paddy Chayefsky (who wrote the &#8220;grim&#8221; script) &#8220;seems to be enjoying&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2925\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2925"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74505,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2925\/revisions\/74505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}