Based on the famous 1955 novel by Herman Wouk, this occasionally stirring 1958 melodrama is worth viewing for the engrossing performances of its central players alone. Marjorie Morgenstern (Natalie Wood) is the 18-year-old daughter of a prosperous Jewish family living in Manhattan's Upper West Side whose intelligence and worldly desires keep her from settling down with the affluent boy her parents have arranged for her to marry. Instead, Marjorie has an affair with older composer Noel Airman (Gene Kelly) during her stint as a dramatic counselor at a summer camp. Their love is as rocky as it is fiery, with the requisite push/pull dynamic occurring like clockwork between the aimless Noel, who sees himself as a failure for being unable to stage his pet musical, and the determined Marjorie, who is attempting to recognize her own worth as an actress while simultaneously trying to rehabilitate her damaged lover and navigate the turgid waters of sex and domesticity in the modern age. Although the narrative doesn't offer much in the way of surprise, Wood and Kelly are both captivating, with Wood bringing warmth to a character that can come across as the archetype of the blessed chaste virgin, and Kelly shining in a number of scenes that show him as a pitiful lost soul underneath all of the superficial charm. And Max Steiner's lush theme music has the power to move the viewer even when the film itself does not. A strong optional purchase. (J. Cruz)
Marjorie Morningstar
Kino Lorber, 128 min., not rated, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95 Volume 32, Issue 4
Marjorie Morningstar
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