From the 1950s: The Mating Season

1951 Romance Comedy
From Paramount
Directed by Mitchell Leisen

Starring
Gene Tierney
John Lund
Miriam Hopkins
Thelma Ritter
Jan Sterling
Larry Keating
James Lorimer
Cora Witherspoon
Ellen Corby
Billie Bird

Despite her fourth-place billing, the fabulous Thelma Ritter is the true star of this little domestic comedy.  The opening scene features her as does the final one.  In between she allows a few other actors to have their turns up at bat.

I have adored this woman since I first noticed movies.  I considered, as I recently said, Pickup on South Street (1953) to be her best film but The Mating Season is a close second.  Maybe another way to look at it is Pickup is her best (and a most unusual) dramatic performance and Mating is her best comedy turn.

And then, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's acknowledge once again that this is a movie that stars one of my favorite actresses and one of Hollywood's most delicious confections, the luminous Gene Tierney.   When we first see her, she is in a convertible with its back half hanging over a cliff.  As John Lund rushes toward the car to save her and she turns to look at him, I thought my heart would stop.  What an incredibly beautiful woman and always displaying the class she was obviously born with.  Settling into this film was simply no problem at all.

That opening scene has Ritter dealing with a bank foreclosure on her New Jersey hamburger joint.  Poor though she is, she bucks up and hitchhikes to Ohio where she plans to live with her blue-collar son (John Lund).  She arrives on his wedding day.

Tierney, though apparently not exactly rich, does come from a privileged background as her late father was an ambassador to some foreign country.  The couple hardly knows one another when they marry but they do have a connection... she's just turned down a proposal from his boss (James Lorimer).

When Lund picks up Ritter at a bus station, it is apparent both are a little uncomfortable about her meeting Tierney's family and friends, which includes her uppity mother (Miriam Hopkins) but Lund is a little more concerned.  He has not fully communicated to Tierney that his station is below hers although he has tried.  And when he does finally make some headway, she tells him she doesn't care.  While I've been brought up in embassies with little princes, little dukes and little diplomats, she says, none of that matters as she's about to marry.  Lund's not so convinced.

He asks his mother over coffee at the bus depot to buy herself some new clothes, fix her hair and come to the wedding.  She, 
however, chickens out and misses it.  She then decides to face the music and meet her new daughter-in-law.  Ritter arrives at the apartment just as Tierney is frazzled from trying to put together a meal for the party they're throwing that afternoon.  She's also upset the maid they've hired for the occasion has yet to show up.

Knock-knock.  It's Ritter as Tierney opens the door and although she had every intention of saying who she is, Tierney thinks she's the new maid and Ritter can hardly get in a word.  Soon she's putting on an apron and helping to save the day, not wanting to embarrass her new daughter-in-law.

Lund throughout the party doesn't know his mother is in the kitchen and it's funny watching her several times trying to get his attention on the sly.  Of course he does find out and he wants to tell the truth but is still not certain how his new wife will react.

More fun comes as Ritter is unleashed on those in her son's orbit.  She takes Hopkins to task but Hopkins fights back thinking that she's dealing with a nervy maid.  Ritter also takes on those at her son's business and works her wiles so that her son's project is accepted and he will make enough money to not keep up such silly pretenses.

When Tierney finds out the truth (a delightful scene), she calls her new husband a snob but decides to leave him when she realizes he tried to fool her when he obviously doesn't trust her.

Of course it all works out by the finale (you thought it wouldn't?) because that's how it happened in 50s comedies.  Lund's boss's father (Larry Keating) is smitten with Ritter and it looks like she can pack away all those house dresses for good.

Leisen was one of those Paramount directors who could be counted on to deliver the goods.  He was primarily a director of dramas but The Mating Season, coming toward the end of his movie directing career, is considered one of his best.

Charles Brackett is the producer and he is also one of the film's three scripters.  He had worked at Paramount for years and along with his partner Billy Wilder, they turned out such dramatic hits as Ninotchka, Ball of Fire, The Lost Weekend and their last collaboration, Sunset Blvd.  They always fought like mad but just before The Mating Season, they broke up for good.

Both Ritter and Tierney were loaned to Paramount from 20th Century Fox.  Ritter had just made All About Eve (1950) and this film was her first big role.  Plain and outspoken with her tortured grammar, it is a character with a relish that commands one's attention.  Frankly, it had already become her stock-in-trade but she was not given to having parts quite this weighty.  She is also the character who demonstrates the film's gentle warmth and genuine pathos.  Of course, it came with one of her six Oscar nominations.

Gowned with impeccable taste by her husband Oleg Cassini, Tierney is a delight.  Some thought she was temperamentally unsuited to comedies and although I don't particularly agree with that, I did prefer her in dramas.  While she made 14 films in the 50s, that decade didn't hold a candle to her wonderful work in the 1940s.  Her part here could have been played by any number of actresses but still her grace and elegance always complemented any film project she undertook.

The actress said Paramount contractee John Lund was one of her favorite male costars.  She said he had grace and elegance.  While I always liked him well enough, he needed someone to light a fire under him.  He was a tad boring in many of his roles.  However, I thought this was one of his best roles.  Maybe it was Tierney who lit that fire.  He was actually only nine years younger than Ritter.

I must say, too, that I thought Miriam Hopkins was good as Tierney's flighty, haughty and not so endearing mama.  Her scenes with Ritter had some real zip to them. I was never very fond of the actress.  I didn't think she had the looks for romantic leads and have always found it unbelievable that she was Margaret Mitchell's first choice to play Scarlett O'Hara.  She was usually a pain in Hollywood's side and made only three films in the 50s.

Jan Sterling, in an early role as Lund's coworker who wants to cozy up with him, and a number of superb character actors help to round out this talented cast.

I am not saying this is a great movie but it's an enjoyable one, entertaining (in a 50s way) from start to finish and was a hit. 

Next posting:
Half of one of Hollywood's
golden couples of the 50s