{"id":43843,"date":"2019-06-03T11:24:22","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T18:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43843"},"modified":"2021-01-23T00:45:12","modified_gmt":"2021-01-23T07:45:12","slug":"member-of-the-wedding-the-1952","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43843","title":{"rendered":"Member of the Wedding, The (1952)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong> &#8220;We go around trying first one thing, then another. Yet we&#8217;re still caught, just the same.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-43845\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Poster.jpg 659w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA housekeeper (Ethel Waters) cares for a sickly young boy (Brandon de Wilde) and his 12-year-old cousin Frankie (Julie Harris), who wants nothing more than to join in the excitement and romance of her brother&#8217;s (Arthur Franz) marriage to his fiancee (Nancy Gates).\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>African-Americans<\/li>\n<li>Coming of Age<\/li>\n<li>Deep South<\/li>\n<li>Fred Zinnemann Films<\/li>\n<li>Julie Harris Films<\/li>\n<li>Play Adaptation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nCarson McCullers adapted <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Member_of_the_Wedding\">her own 1946 novel<\/a> into a Broadway play, which was then turned into this screen adaptation, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring much of the original cast. It&#8217;s notable both for the poignant screenplay &#8212; Frankie&#8217;s high-pitch coming-of-age angst is beautifully captured &#8212; and for 26-year-old Harris&#8217;s performance as a gangly 12 year old, which some considered a challenging translation to the scrutiny of the camera (though I think she remains sufficiently believable). However, what struck me most upon recent viewing is the richness of Waters&#8217; role and performance; as noted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/83261\/the-member-of-the-wedding#articles-reviews?articleId=133219\">TCM&#8217;s excerpt<\/a> from Donald Bogle&#8217;s book <em>Blacks in American Film &#038; Television: An Illustrated Encyclopedia<\/em>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230; there is more here of black lives in disarray and in control than in most films of the period: it&#8217;s hard to think of any other movie of that time in which black actors had a chance to relate so tenderly and sensitively with one another.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>While &#8220;some viewers may be put off by the fact that [Waters&#8217;] character Berenice expends most of her energies and wisdom on two white children&#8221;, she is a rich and full character in her own right, given a complicated past and a challenging current context &#8212; as well as the movie&#8217;s final image and words.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ethel Waters as Bernice<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Waters.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Waters.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"494\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-43846\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Waters.png 494w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Waters-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Waters-300x219.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Julie Harris as Frankie<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Harris.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Harris.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"494\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-43848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Harris.png 494w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Harris-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Harris-300x219.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine direction and cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"494\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-43847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Cinematography.png 494w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Cinematography-128x93.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Member-of-the-Wedding-Cinematography-300x219.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for the strong lead performances &#8212; especially Waters&#8217;. <\/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=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0044896\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1952\/12\/31\/archives\/the-screen-in-review-stanley-kramers-production-of-the-member-of.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/83261\/the-member-of-the-wedding#articles-reviews?articleId=133219\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/71108\/member-of-the-wedding-limited-edition-the\/\">DVD Talk Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;We go around trying first one thing, then another. Yet we&#8217;re still caught, just the same.&#8221; Synopsis: A housekeeper (Ethel Waters) cares for a sickly young boy (Brandon de Wilde) and his 12-year-old cousin Frankie (Julie Harris), who wants nothing more than to join in the excitement and romance of her brother&#8217;s (Arthur Franz) marriage to his fiancee (Nancy Gates). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: African-Americans Coming of Age Deep South Fred Zinnemann Films Julie Harris Films Play Adaptation Review:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=43843\"> 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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43843","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=43843"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65298,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43843\/revisions\/65298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}