Picnic | William Holden, Kim Novak | A small town America classic

Picnic | William Holden, Kim Novak | picnic

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Picnic

	Picnic William Holden, Kim Novak Sony Pictures, 2000 average customer review:based on 117 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A small town America classic

William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, PICNIC (1955, Columbia), makes a tremendously powerful and poignant and even romantic movie when directed by the workaholic Broadway director, Joshua Logan. This was a heyday for Logan, who also made the masterpieces BUS STOP (1956) and SOUTH PACIFIC (1958) over a very short period.

Clearly filmed on location and richly evoking small-town middle America on Labor Day day and night, PICNIC involves a drifter named Hal Carter (William Holden) climbing out of a train boxcar to look up his own college roommate, Allen Benson (Cliff Robertson), who is in the grain business with his rich father. But Hal first gets involved with several members of the Owens family: lovely grandmother Helen (Verna Felton), hardworking mother Flo (Betty Field), oldest daughter Madge (Kim Novak), and younger daughter Millie (Susan Strasberg). On the sidelines, and almost stealing the movie, are Oscar-nominee Arthur O'Connell as a general store owner named Howard, who is engaged of sorts to Rosalind Russell, as a school teacher named Rosemary.

Daniel Taradash, who found a way to adapt FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) a couple of years earlier, did the superb script on PICNIC, which gives us complex characters and interesting conflicts. Watch how Madge, engaged to Allen, gravitates to Hal at the same time she is crowned queen of the town during the greatest Labor Day sequence ever put on film (the 1957 PEYTON PLACE is a close second). The romantic and Oscar-nominated "Moonglow" is from PICNIC. Note how Allen grows to despise Hal during the movie. Meanwhile, Millie is always in the shadow of Madge ("Madge is the pretty one, Madge is the pretty one.") I believe that Susan Strasberg was Anne in DIARY OF ANNE FRANK on Broadway around this time, and also Marilyn Monroe's friend. And watch how nuanced Russell and O'Connell are as, respectfully, a teacher who hates booze and just has to be married because she is terrified of dying a spinster, and a store owner who is frightened of marital commitment and loves his booze.

The credits on this movie are staggering. Besides director Logan and writer Taradash, the lush Labor Day sequence (note that name "Neewollah" for "Halloween" spelled backwards) was filmed in CinemaScope and Technicolor by James Wong Howe; Oscar nominee Morris Stoloff composed the beautiful score; and the editing won an Oscar, as did the art direction/set decoration by Broadway legend Jo Milzener. Holden and Novak dancing to "Moonglow" has to be one of the most romantic moments of 1950s cinema.

How does it end? Is there a wedding, and for whom? Does Madge choose Hal and freedom outside this town, or Allen and guaranteed wealth in this town as her mother hopes? And isn't Verna Felton's Helen just about the most likeable grandmother in maybe movie history? PICNIC is a wonderful and thoughtful human interest drama and a lovely valentine to small town America. (REVIEWED ON LETTERBOXED VIDEOCASSETTE.)

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picnic

the quality of the dvd was very good considering the age of the movie. to watch it again was great and we enjoyed it as much as the first time back in the fiftys. thank tou.

Fans of fifties' movies are still enamored of Kim Novak...

Kim Novak made a tremendous impression as the heroine of "Picnic". Looking cool, lush and marvelous in lilac as she walked through her films expressing polite interest and a terror of emotional reactions toward the situations which arose...

"Picnic" follows a brawny wanderer who causes sexual havoc one summer in a small American town...

Holden was the charming drifter who arrives, on one hot Labor Day, to a small Kansas town, to look up an old schoolmate, Alan (Robertson), who is the town rich-man's son and from whom he hopes to obtain work...Alan is kind at first--until Madge, Alan's fiancée falls for Hal...

"Picnic" was quite compulsive despite some overacting...

Betty Field was excellent as Madge's warm and protective mother who fears for her daughter's happiness if she passes up her rich fiancée... Madge's teenaged sister (Strasberg) longed for beauty and sympathy... Her good-hearted neighbor, Verna Felton, was gently compassionate...

Robertson was handsome but presumptuous and arrogant... O'Connell was delightful as the confused and unsure cigar-chomping salesman... Rosalind Russell was the easily frustrated and inconsistent spinster who loses her self-control while drunk and practically accosts Hal on the dance floor, destroying his shirt... When Hal rebuffs her, she storms off in anger; later she begs her shy boyfriend to marry her...

Beautifully photographed, "Picnic" will remain always a loved romantic film, largely for the high chemistry of its two stars, Holden and Novak...

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A Complete PICNIC? Well, maybe...

Since over 90 reviews have already been posted on this movie, I needn't bother adding any more comments about the film itself. However, I would like to say a few words about the DVD release by Columbia.

Several viewers have mentioned that their copy of PICNIC is a doubled-sided disc that includes the widescreen version of the film. If true, I'd be interested in finding out where they got it. The DVD that I just purchased (in December 2006) is a singled-sided disc that contains a full frame, pan & scan version ONLY.

There may in fact be two separate editions of PICNIC in circulation, but since they don't appear to have different stock/UPC numbers, anyone looking for the widescreen version should be aware that they've got a pretty good chance of being disappointed when ordering the DVD sight unseen.

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