Tea at Trianon: Picnic (1955)

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, September 4, 2023

Picnic (1955)

A classic end-of-the-summer film is Joshua Logan's 1955 Picnic, starring William Holden and Kim Novak. A Labor Day picnic in a Kansas town becomes the backdrop for an explosive situation as the feelings of resentment and desperation of the various characters come to a head. Playwright William Inge, an incredibly tormented man, brings to enfleshment the fears and struggles of ordinary people on the prairie. Adapted from Inge's play, Picnic gives a searing look at the little hypocrisies of life in the American Midwest, particularly in the dealings of parents with their children.

Picnic is composed of subtle, slowly building melodrama under a placid, restrained surface, which suddenly bursts into a conflagration. The pure and exquisite beauty of Madge (Novak) blossoms under the gaze of drifter Hal, portrayed by William Holden. Many think that Holden was too old for the part, but he makes Hal look like he has led a rough life, which he has. He oozes sensuality as well as vulnerability, like a little boy who lost his mother, which makes him irresistible to so many lonely women.

One of the most striking scenes is when Madge's mother, brilliantly played by Betty Field, discreetly pushes her daughter to offer herself sexually to the wealthiest boy in town, to seal a possible engagement. One shares Madge's horror at her mother's hypocrisy. The chemistry between Novak and Holden becomes tangible during the "Moonglow" dance, when they seem transported into their own realm, to be cruelly brought back to earth by Rosalind Russell, in rare form as the frustrated spinster Miss Sidney. All the characters are believable and it is fascinating to watch their interaction during the wholesome Labor Day picnic; one never suspects what the night will bring. I highly recommend this film for the acting, score, screenplay and love story which any true romantic will enjoy.

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