Angela Lansbury is great in this film!! She steals this film from the great team of Hepburn & Tracy. It's too bad she didn't get other great roles when she was young, she could have been as great and big as Bette Davis !
shareI don't agree she steals the whole film, but she certainly was wonderful. One of the living legends!
"Life is full of censorship. I can't spit in your eye." - Katharine Hepburn
This is an acting tour-de-force from the entire cast. Even the very small roles are carried off extremely well. It plays almost like an ensemble film. (remember Hepburn doesnt even appear until a half hour in). Not only is Angela Lansbury great but Menjou is extraordinary and Van Johnson is absolutely PERFECT in his role. And Tracy and Hepburn are, of course, fantastic as usual.
shareI wouldn't say she stole the film, the whole cast is excellent! What is so fascinating about Ms. Lansbury that her character was forty-five (!), when she was only twenty-two!
FYC: Three-time Academy Awards nominee Angela Lansbury for an Honorary Oscar
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I was really struck by the power of Angela Lansbury's performance in this film. She was awe-inspiring. I had never before seen her portray such a powerful and forceful presence.
There were a lot of fine performances in this, but I was also especially pleased by Van Johnson's. I thought he was terrific.
I don't agree that she steals the show. Ms. Lansbury is a great actress and always performs well, although I considered her performance in this film a bit too wooden - I think she overplayed a bit the scheming, overambitious shrew. Still, this role is reminiscent of her absolute brilliant performance 15 years later in The Manchurian Candidate, in which she without any question stole the show.
shareIt's a testament to what actors could do back then that she could pull off that role at 22. What young actress could do that today, playing against a legend like Spencer Tracey no doubt? If she overdid it a bit (and I'm not sure I agree, the part is written the way it's written) I still think you've gotta give props for the chutzpah it must have required.
shareShe is an excellent actor but to imply that she was romantically involved with TRacy a man twice her age sort of takes away some credibility.
shareShe DID have other great roles when she was young: her Nancy in Gaslight and Sibyl Vane in The Picture of Dorian Gray got her nominated for Academy Awards; she was also in National Velvet (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), and other hit movies in the 40s. It's a shame some people only know her from Murder, She Wrote...
shareShe is a lovely woman now, but back then she was a looker! It seems that it was always hardened a bit for the 'bad girl' roles she played; although those were undoubtedly the more interesting roles, her true physical beauty was never able to shine.
shareShe is bone-chilling. Very effective!
shareIt was her tough as nails news woman and politico role in this that suggested her to John Frankenheimer, the director, for the Biggest Baddest Mama of all times... the mother in Manchurian Candidate.
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