HENRY KING

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BB

USA, 1959.  Jerry Wald Productions.  Screenplay by Sy Bartlett, based on the book by Sheilah Graham, Gerold Frank.  Cinematography by Leon Shamroy.  Produced by Jerry Wald.  Music by Franz Waxman.  Production Design by Maurice Ransford, Lyle R. Wheeler.  Costume Design by Bill Thomas.  Film Editing by William Reynolds.

Deborah Kerr fans are advised that they might not enjoy this terrible biopic about the relationship between self-destructive writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and celebrity columnist Sheilah Grahame. Grahame is at first sceptical of getting involved with the famous scribe (played with wooden precision by Gregory Peck), but eventually she succumbs and marries him, only to be subjected to his violent drinking bouts and hateful behaviour.

To add natural effect, the studio wisely films it in GLORIOUS Cinemascope and bright, splashy Technicolour to emphasize the nastiness of the story.  Days Of Wine And Roses came out only three years later to give a much more credible view of alcoholism.