"It may be that Stanley Donen, the director, and the writing team (Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich, Dorothy Kingsley) simply botched the scene in the writing and directing. To my mind, it would have been improved if the actresses playing the kidnapped women had simply been directed to play the scene in a different way that didn't highlight their abject terror. "
Understood, and I completely agree. In my opinion, a similar situation exists in the film of MY FAIR LADY (and, I believe, also in the film of PYGMALION, though I haven't see that in a while and I'm not sure). The scene in question in MFL is the one where Eliza has come to live with Professor Higgins in order to be schooled by him, and she is trundled off to the washroom to be bathed by the servants. It's set up that Eliza is not used to taking baths, to put it mildly, so she recoils from bathing -- and when that happens, the servants FORCIBLY try to restrain her and remove her clothes while Audrey Hepburn as Liza literally begins screaming and crying in terror and embarrassment.
I always find that horribly sadistic little scene incredibly hard to watch, and I think it's one of the most glaring flaws in the film. For that matter, it was one of the biggest flaws of the overall excellent Lincoln Center Theater production that this scene, which was NOT in the script of the stage show, was added, although thankfully it was played in a way that wasn't so horribly off-putting. |
