Was anybody else reminded in the early scenes of Montgomery Clift ...
...of a very young and roguishly conniving Warren Beatty?
shareAlso, Montgomery Clift seemed to have a lock on playing these tortured souls who become morally bankrupt (see "A Place in the Sun").
It's almost uncomfortable to watch, when he exudes that mentally unbalanced, "lost" look in his eyes.
(Maybe he was drawing on his own real life of inner demons, if you read about his closeted life.)
No, not Warren Beatty..... but there were a couple of scenes particulary in his left profile where a caught a resemblance to Tom Cruise!
"the best that you can do is fall in love"
Tom Cruise--that's the resemblance I saw too, especially in profile.
"Somewhere along the line, the world has lost all of its standards and all of its taste."
I also noted that sometimes Montgomery Clift would have that trademarked Tom Cruise smile/smirk with the mischievous glint in his eye, but google some of Warren Beatty's really young photos and see if that roguish Clift charm isn't also there.
I was thinking something like this but with more angular features:
http://www.realbollywood.com/news/2010/01/book-claims-warren-beatty-close-13000-lovers.html
Hi Moon and New York City,
It's so interesting that you mention Tom Cruise. He wanted to remake The Heiress several years ago and play Morris. He would have been excellent. He and his partner, Paula Wagner, screened the original and both realized it was such a classic, it simply couldn't be remade.
it simply couldn't be remade.
Unfortunately, that's not the case. They did remake it though I don't consider it anywhere near the realm that "The Heiress" dwells in.
The remake has the title of the novel, "Washington Square", and stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Ben Chaplin, Maggie Smith and Judith Ivey.
It did receive positive reviews, but it definitely doesn't have the brilliance of the original though I am a fan of the cast. It's definitely worth viewing, if only to compare the two treatments.
(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC share
Hi MystMoonstruck,
Washington Square isn't a remake of The Heiress. The Heiress was an adaptation of a Broadway play based on the Henry James novella. Washington Square, a film I saw at the time it was released, was a direct adaptation of the novella. I felt the director made a number of decisions that weakened it and simply didn't have the power of the original. In my opinion, Jennifer Jason-Leigh was miscast.
The play, The Heiress, has been revived on Broadway numerous times. The most powerful revival starred the great Cherry Jones.
Basically, they are the same story. I've seen both a number of times. Yes, they went the play route, but it's still a version of James's novel.
I think anyone watching "The Heiress" and "Washington Square" would view the latter as a remake with not that many changes.
(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC
Hi MystMoonstruck,
Sorry to disagree, but they are not the same story. The play, The Heiress, is high drama and shows Catherine going to great lengths to get revenge on her father and Morris. The novella does not have that dramatic turn. Catherine is disinherited by her father, lives on her mother's inheritance, creates a life for herself and sees Morris years later, but has moved on. Not so in The Heiress. The great line about being taught cruelty by masters is from the play, not the novella. Of the two works, I prefer The Heiress which had a another Broadway production a couple of years ago with Jessica Chastain and Dan Stevens of Downton Abbey as Morris.