The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
Country: US
Technical: bw/Cinemascope 91m
Director: Nunnally Johnson
Cast: Joanne Woodward, Lee J. Cobb, David Wayne
Synopsis:
A housewife presents a psychiatrist with a rare multiple personality disorder, the downtrodden wallflower blacking out to become the sexually voracious floozy. Then, late in the day, a third personality emerges: the bewildered child patient.
Review:
Narrated by Alistair Cooke, and following a case history format, this worthy but stolid enterprise has a chilliness common to many Fox films of the period. This is partly due to Zanuck's misguided policy of shooting everything in 'scope, causing the camera to sit back and observe many scenes from a distance, only occasionally cutting in for a shot-reverse shot setup; mainly, though, it is Johnson's reverence for his material that kills it. Woodward's Oscar-winning performance was remarkable for the seamlessness of her switching between characters, but would no doubt be catnip to today's technicians. The manner in which her transformations are signposted by the music track now seems particularly arch and unnecessary.
Country: US
Technical: bw/Cinemascope 91m
Director: Nunnally Johnson
Cast: Joanne Woodward, Lee J. Cobb, David Wayne
Synopsis:
A housewife presents a psychiatrist with a rare multiple personality disorder, the downtrodden wallflower blacking out to become the sexually voracious floozy. Then, late in the day, a third personality emerges: the bewildered child patient.
Review:
Narrated by Alistair Cooke, and following a case history format, this worthy but stolid enterprise has a chilliness common to many Fox films of the period. This is partly due to Zanuck's misguided policy of shooting everything in 'scope, causing the camera to sit back and observe many scenes from a distance, only occasionally cutting in for a shot-reverse shot setup; mainly, though, it is Johnson's reverence for his material that kills it. Woodward's Oscar-winning performance was remarkable for the seamlessness of her switching between characters, but would no doubt be catnip to today's technicians. The manner in which her transformations are signposted by the music track now seems particularly arch and unnecessary.
Country: US
Technical: bw/Cinemascope 91m
Director: Nunnally Johnson
Cast: Joanne Woodward, Lee J. Cobb, David Wayne
Synopsis:
A housewife presents a psychiatrist with a rare multiple personality disorder, the downtrodden wallflower blacking out to become the sexually voracious floozy. Then, late in the day, a third personality emerges: the bewildered child patient.
Review:
Narrated by Alistair Cooke, and following a case history format, this worthy but stolid enterprise has a chilliness common to many Fox films of the period. This is partly due to Zanuck's misguided policy of shooting everything in 'scope, causing the camera to sit back and observe many scenes from a distance, only occasionally cutting in for a shot-reverse shot setup; mainly, though, it is Johnson's reverence for his material that kills it. Woodward's Oscar-winning performance was remarkable for the seamlessness of her switching between characters, but would no doubt be catnip to today's technicians. The manner in which her transformations are signposted by the music track now seems particularly arch and unnecessary.