APPENDIX 1: SHORT SYNOPSES OF FILMS
These short synopses are intended primarily as a convenience for
the reader. Since in my text I make some fairly sweeping
generalisations about typical themes at different historical
moments, though I only give detailed analyses of a relatively
small number of films, this appendix also offers a means of
checking my propositions against titles which have not been
subject to analysis. I have not been able to view some of the
films synopsised here, and in these cases have had recourse to
the synopsis available in Halliwell's Film Guide. Wherever this
is the source I have given the synopsis in quotation marks,
referencing Halliwell. I do not always concur with his readings,
nevertheless he offers sufficient information for the purposes
outlined above.
The format used in this appendix will be as follows:
Film Title
Director, Production Company, Country, Year.
Actors
Synopsis
All About Eve
Joseph Mankiewicz, 20th Century Fox, US 1950.
Bette Davis; Celeste Holm; Ann Baxter; George Sanders; Thelma
Ritter; Gary Merrill; Marilyn Monroe.
Witty story of intrigue and power struggles in the world of the
theatre. Eve (Baxter) inveigles her way into the life of Margot
Channing (Davis), a celebrated star who is pre-occupied with her
advancing age (she is 40), and usurps her position. In the end
she too is threatened by an admiring and manipulative acolyte.
All That Heaven Allows
Douglas Sirk, U I, US 1955
Rock Hudson; Jane Wyman; Agnes Moorhead.
A widow (Wyman), mother of two young adult children, becomes
involved with a local tree farmer (Hudson). Despite opposition
from both her peer group and her children, and after much heart
searching, she goes to join him in his Thoreau-esque life outside
the town.
The Belles of St. Trinians.
Frank Launder, London Films, UK 1954.