Anne or Kathy?
Which one did you think was better suited for Philip?
shareFor the bulk of the movie, I catch myself rooting for Anne. Kathy is so sheltered and concerned with appearances, and it seems hard for me to see her with Phil, who is passionate and empowered by his experiences to try and challenge the status quo of anti-Semitism. Anne's enthusiasm and spirit seem to be a good match for Phil.
By the end, however, I have to go with Kathy. In spite of her naive nature, she and Phil are completely captivated with each other from the start. Once Dave helps open her eyes to the ways of anti-Semitic America, and she offers her cottage to his family, I think she is on her way to becoming Phil's emotional soulmate. She is willing to help raise his son, and she seems ready to break with her past.
I saw this movie tonight for the first time in over thirty years. When I last saw it, it was on WOR, channel 9 in NY, which was infamous for taking classic movies and cutting them to pieces so they would fit in a 90 minute time frame with enough time for all the commercials they interrupted the movie with. I remember Celeste Holm, as Ann, making a passionate proposal to Gregory Peck, the scene ended, and that was the end of Celeste. Surely, I reasoned, there had to be some resolution that WOR had cut out. Tonight I realised it was Elia Kazan who was to blame. Ann was a good person and she was left standing there with her heart and soul bared, and not a scintilla of a reaction from her beloved, and not an appearance or a reference to her thereafter. Dramatically, that was as crude as Mark Twain's satire Puddnhead Wilson in which Twain, when he got tired of a character, started the next chapter with something like "Ann fell down the well and was drowned". Ann, and the viewer, deserved better.
sharemheckman, great post.
shareI can see both sides of the Anne/Kathy argument, and I can see the validity of the argument that Kathy was best for Phil in the end...The trouble is that for too much of the film, I don't like Kathy. The moment in her part that REALLY bothers me is when, during her climactic argument with Phil, she admits that she's glad she's not Jewish, then goes on to say that being glad you're not Jewish is like being glad you're "rich instead of poor, healthy instead of sick, young instead of old..." I suppose that what she's really doing is comparing the way Jews are TREATED to being poor, sick, old, etc. -- she's not comparing JEWS THEMSELVES to these "negative" conditions...Still, that speech almost sickens me. *I* would have preferred it if Phil had gone with Anne, especially after she gave that heartfelt speech about married people needing to have the same moral values. Probably Moss Hart (the screenwriter) thought that by the end (the conversation with Dave), Kathy was starting to develop the same values as Phil -- but, as another poster suggested, this occurs much too late in the film for us actually to SEE any change in Kathy's behavior.
shareYou are far more generous evaluating Kathy's rich instead of poor speech.
It never occurred to me she was referring to the treatment of classes of people and even now that you have suggested it I cannot agree.
She is clearly saying: being rich is good, poor is bad; being healthy is good, sick is bad; being Christian is good, Jewish bad.
I do not believe she was so easily rehabilitated or rehabilitable.
The film had to end in some way. Although unbelievable, I believe it would have been difficult from the narrative point of view to have given an ending that would have pleased the movie going public.
mheackman-1, agreed and well-stated. Watched this movie for the lst time and I was also dismayed at the abruptness of the ending w/o resolution or further exploration of the relationship between Anne and Philip after her proposal. Once Philip realized the pretentious and self-serving fraud that Kathy was, he would have grown to appreciate the honesty, forthrightness and better compatibility relationship-wise that Anne offered, as well as provide a working relationship career-wise in the same field of endeavor and, finally, offering the consideration and love for his son and mother, privately. Anne's character was growing throughout this film while being a friend, confidant and supporter not only for Philip but also for Dave, Philip's friend, while dealing with the racially sensitive subject of anti-Semitism. The ending for this film was disappointing to say the least, for Anne should have been the chosen one for companionship in the end.
Good to see that Celeste Holm won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in addition to being outrageously attractive back in the day.
Taped this film and will watch it again, soon.