Autumn Leaves (1956)

Please don't spend money on this.

Fantastic!

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Joan Crawford plays a lonely typist who works out of her LA bungalow. After she encounters Cliff Robertson as a younger man, and the two fall in love, she notices signs of mental instability in Robertson's character. The film hints at the answer to the question it raises over the reasons that underlie the younger-man-older-woman romance. Robertson had been previously married to the character played by Vera Miles's. Later the film introduces Robertson's father, played by Lorne Greene. It's within the triangular relationship between Robertson, his father Lorne Greene, and his ex-wife Vera Miles that the film reveals, a storyline that takes the viewer into a pretty interesting gutter. This is heightened by the absence of Robertson's mother, Greene's ex-wife, who died but left behind an inheritance. When Crawford's character is added into the mix in one of her more neurotic roles (even the psychiatrist in the film notices her neuroses) and Robert Aldrich directing, this film achieves some epic moments.

Director Robert Aldrich's Sharp Approach to this Heavy Tale of Mental Breakdown and Family Secrets gives Joan Crawford one of Her better 1950's Films and brings along Cliff Robertson in a Breakout Role.Like most of the Director's Movies this is a Different Take and His Style Lends a Matter of Uncertainty and Unsettling to this Already Uncomfortable Story. He includes His Trademark Bizarre Angles and Varies the Contrast Considerably as the Thing Cracks Open and Robertson Cracks Decisively.It Tackles Themes that Fifties Audiences were not at all Wanting, Like Sexual Deviance and Psychological Dementia brought on by that most Nuclear of Familial Anchors, the Father. Here the Father Knew Best on how to Subvert His Son's Marriage and at the same time Fracture His Psyche and Steal His Inheritance. Not the most Reassuring, Safe, Unit for the Docile Decade.Joan Crawford, for once, in this Stage of Her Career goes to Great Lengths to make it Clear that there is a Huge Age Difference in Her Romantic Entanglements and that makes this Work just Fine. Robertson Plays the Child-Like Burt, very well as He Searches for a Mother Figure and a Warm Refuge.This is Offbeat and Never goes Over the Top. It Remains Believable Today, in Spite of the Psychiatry Cure All. It has a Wrap Up that may be a bit too Hollywood but it is Only one of the Few Flaws in this Otherwise Different Kind of Film for the Decade and Aldrich, Crawford, and Robertson all Deliver Fine Work.

This film starts out extremely interestingly as we get to know sex-starved "spinster" Millicent Wetherby, a sensitive writer who never had a real relationship because she spent her good years attending to a sickly father.The movie creates genuine interest and suspense as we try to figure out what motivates Burt (a 33-year-old Cliff Robertson) to pursue Milly, played by Joan Crawford when she was 52.The film takes a garish turn when we realize that Burt has been driven mad by his philandering wife (a slimy Vera Miles) and lascivious father (Lorne Greene), and the film's best moment pits Millicent against this incestuous pair: "Your filthy souls are too evil for hell itself!" Crawford, wearing a strikingly unflattering bob, is nevertheless the heart of this film. She plays prim and prissy well and comes up with a number of memorable zingers, i.e., "The only trouble with the future is it comes so much sooner than it used to"..."There's something unladylike about a black eye on a woman." Though an asylum psychiatrist does a creditable job of normalizing the option of mental-health treatment, I found Burt's symptoms to be overdone and over-the-top.Crawford's unwavering sympathy for her mate strained credulity at times. For example, when he smashes a leaden typewriter onto her hand she doesn't seem to mind at all! The final scene, in which Burt gains his "walking papers," is interesting, although a bit facile. Can six months in an asylum cure pathological lying? The happy ending would have us believe as much.

Joan Crawford aged like fine wine, and even at 51 she is quite believable as the romantic lead here. She plays Millicent Wetherby, a lonely 40ish woman who has sacrificed her youth taking care of her invalid father. Now he is gone and she feels like life has passed her by until Burt Hanson (Cliff Robertson in only his second film appearance) interrupts her chicken salad one night at a diner. He practically pries open her life, and they begin dating even though he is over ten years younger than she. She tries to be practical, but he sweeps her off her feet and the two elope to Mexico. Then she starts to notice little things...he has told her he was from Racine, now he says he is from Chicago. Burt meets Joan's employer and talks about all of the battles he saw in the military when he has told her previously that he was a supply clerk and never saw action during his time in the service, but the final straw is when an ex-wife she didn't even know about shows up at her door.This is a hard film to characterize. It's definitely not a soaper, but it has aspects of that. It has romance, dealing with mental illness, and even elements of a thriller to it. It deals with the self-doubt we all have about the choices we have made in life. No high-camp Johnny Guitar is this film. Although, don't get me wrong, I love Joan in her campy 50's films too.Cliff Robertson is almost at the bottom of the bill on this one, even though he really is the male lead. This is only his second film, yet he pulls off the part of the child-like Burt like a pro. It's also good to see Ruth Donnelly as Milly's ever-supportive older neighbor twenty years after she was a contract player over at Warner Brothers. I highly recommend this film for anyone who even remotely enjoys Joan Crawford's films. You don't have to be a big fan to appreciate this one.