THE WHALES OF AUGEST
A film review by Manavendra K. Thakur
Copyright 1988 by Manavendra K. Thakur and THE TECH.
Reprinted with permission.
1987 90 mins. USA-Great Britain English Rated PG Mono Color 35mm/1.85
Cast: Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Vincent Price, Ann Sothern, Harry Carey, Jr., Frank Grimes, Frank Pitkin, Mike Bush, Margaret Ladd, Tisha Sterling, and Mary Steenburgen.
Credits: Directed by Lindsay Anderson. Produced by Carolyn Pfeiffer and Mike Kaplan. Written by David Berry, based on his play. Executive Producer: Shep Gordon. Director of Photography: Mike Fash, B.S.C. Production Designer: Jocelyn Herbert. Music by Alan Price. Editor: Nicolas Gaster. Art Directors: K.C. Fox and Bob Fox. Costume Designer: Rudy Dillon.
Studio: Alive Films/Circle Associates, Ltd./Nelson Entertainment
Distributor (USA): Alive Films
8271 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(213) 852-1100
When two screen legends like Lillian Gish and Bette Davis appear in a film together in a film like THE WHALES OF AUGUST, it is virtually impossible not to take notice. Between the two of them, they have made over 200 films over more than 100 years of combined acting experience. Ms. Gish, who is now 88 (according to her), started making films way back in 1912 when she and her sister Dorothy were introduced to D. W. Griffith, who hired them immediately. Ms. Davis (currently 79 years old) has had no less a legendary career, spanning more than 55 years in the film world. The problem when stars of this caliber collaborate together -- at any age or point in their respective careers -- is, of course, that respect and admiration can easily degenerate into heroine worship. While it is necessary to retain a healthy awareness and appreciation for the past, each individual performance and film should be evaluated on its own merits
Even accepting that premise, however, it is difficult to criticize THE WHALES OF AUGUST without appearing heartless or insensitive. Given all the odds and barriers against such a film being made in the first place, the fact that THE WHALES OF AUGUST was completed is a minor miracle in its own right. And yet, it has to be acknowledged that such a feat by itself isn't necessarily enough. This film is more of a coda or a recapitualization of the careers of Gish and Davis, rather than a crowning artistic triumph of the skills of two remarkable actresses. While it is a sheer joy to see Gish and Davis back on the screen, their return is less than satisfactory due to the failures of the narrative vehicle.
During the course of its 90 minutes, the film continuously develops its premise and introduces its characters, with dramatic conflict arising only in its final third. The script, adapted by David Berry from his own stage play, concerns Sarah (Ms. Gish) and Libby (Ms. Davis), two elderly sisters who have spent the past 60 summers together without fail in the same house on an island near the coast of Maine. Their favorite pasttime since childhood has been to watch for whales that appear each year late in the summer. Their husbands have both died, and their children have grown and established themselves elsewhere, leaving Sarah and Libby to themselves. Libby has become blind, and her health is rapidly failing, forcing her to rely on Sarah's attention.
Interestingly, the character of the two sisters parallels to a striking degree the respective personality of Ms. Gish and Ms. Davis. Just as Ms. Davis has fought tooth and nail much of her way through Hollywood and Ms. Gish has always been outwardly soothing and forgiving, so too is the appropriately named Libby Strong an acerbic, independent, and abrasive companion to the the kindly Sarah Webber, whose happy spirits are rarely perturbed.
After Sarah and Libby are first seen, the supporting characters are introduced and developed one by one. Vincent Price plays a Russian expatriate gentleman who is searching for a place to live since his landlady just recently died. Ann Sothern plays Tisha Doughty, a good friend of Sarah and Libby who used to watch for whales with them in their childhood. Harry Carey, Jr. plays an oafish and clumsy carpenter friend who just can't avoid making noise every time he moves a limb. With a plethora of scenes to describe their day to day activities -- fishing, conversing, and taking afternoon tea seem to be few delights left to them -- the filmmakers's introduction of the supporting cast into the flow of the film creates an intelligent and three-dimensional depiction of the relatively isolated lives Sarah and Libby lead together on the island.
Ms. Gish and Ms. Davis both shine in their roles during these parts, and although Ms. Gish has considerably more screentime than Ms. Davis, their contrasting personalities complement each other quite well. Their chemistry with the other actors is somewhat staid at a few points in the film, but it is always believable and in several moments, quite touching. When Sarah cautiously leans over to pick up an item that has fallen on the floor, it is almost heartbreaking to realize just how old and frail she really is and the toll caring for her sister must have taken. Similarly, when Libby is first seen, she almost looks like a ghost with her long flowing white hair and dark blank eyes. But instead of appearing frightening or startling, Ms. Davis makes Libby endearing and strangely sympathetic, even as she macabrely brushes her cheek with a lock of her long-deceased husband's hair.
However, instead of simply letting this sensitive portrayal speak for itself, the filmmakers decide to uproot the most fascinating aspects of their character study. They make the all-too-typical mistake of trying to inject drama and plot into the course of events. Libby keeps insisting to Sarah that their lives are over, although ironically, the very vehemence with which she makes this proclamation belies her fatalism and shows the life remaining behind those unseeing eyes. Sarah, to the other hand, must decide whether she will reaffirm her commitment to care for her sister or whether she will leave Libby in the unwilling care of her rich daughter. This conflict is, however, a wholly transparent one because both the filmmakers and the audience know that Sarah realizes what the only acceptable choice is. Thus, efforts to create suspense and drama simply unravel and fall flat.
The failure of the filmmakers' approach is all the more striking since they completely separate the essential question facing Sarah and Libby from the other characters. It is Libby, and not Sarah or any other character, who allows the conflict to be smoothly resolved. (The only event of substance influenced by a member of the supporting cast comes when Tisha assumes that Sarah wants to sell her house and asks a real estate agent to appraise the house.) This virtual irrelevance of the supporting characters to the drama reduces the conflict to a hackneyed, obligatory, and insulting level -- especially considering how roundly all of the characters are portrayed. Director Lindsay Anderson and David Berry would have accomplished a great deal more if they had submerged the film's conflict into the character portrayal rather than bringing it to the forefront so clumsily.
On a technical level, the film has a few minor errors. For instance, the lighting scheme during a nighttime scene is inconsistent from one shot to the next, and in at least two instances, the technical trickery used to overcome visual defects is apparent. The first comes immediately after Sarah puts down a photograph viewer -- her head seems to lose its posture in slow motion as the camera cuts away. The second comes in the form of what appears to be a few missing frames (in the photographic negative, not the positive print) during a shot of Sarah lighting a candle for a dinner party. The seam is slight, but it is quite noticeable. These are, however, relatively minor errors, and the joy of seeing Ms. Gish and Ms. Davis back at work overcomes blemishes like these that do appear.
More worthy of comment is the filmic style of the director. Mr. Anderson is aware that the emphasis of this film is properly on the actors, and he accordingly tones down the cinematic devices. The result is quite conventional but surprisingly effective. Particularly representative of this is the film's pre-credit sequence in black and white. It depicts Sarah, Libby, and Tisha in their childhood waiting and watching for whales on the same island. The film then dissolves from a black and white image of a bell-ringing buoy in the harbor to a full-color image of the same bell more than half a century later. This is a rather obvious technique, but it manages to convey at once both the passage of time as well as the stability and calm of the island's unchanging features. The rest of the film is photographed in the same restrained yet skillful style. (Even when the camera follows at the heels of Sarah as she walks across her front porch, it does so only briefly.) Mr. Anderson deserves credit for maintaining his sensitivity here, something that could have easily been overlooked by another director. Also noteworthy in the face of the creeping influence of video is his use of the entire 1.85 frame to full effect, especially during the conversations in Sarah's living room.
What Mr. Anderson deserves the most credit for, however, is for reuniting audiences with Ms. Gish and Ms. Davis. Directing is hardly ever an easy task, and Mr. Anderson's courage at agreeing to direct a film fraught with so many possibilities for mishap must be recognized. His film does offer many memorable pleasures, which fans of these two legendary stars will no doubt appreciate. Ms. Gish and Ms. Davis are two of the few remaining actors or actresses who warrant enough respect to enable audiences to indulge the glaring narrative faults of the film's script. Still, it is unfortunate that these two luminaries of the silver screen are forced to rely on their capital already deposited with audiences, rather than demonstrating their considerable talents to a new generation of viewers. It is only fair that Mr. Anderson and Mr. Berry bear the bulk of the responsibility for that failure as well as the lion's share of accolades for returning Ms. Gish and Ms. Davis to their fans.
Filmography of Lindsay Anderson:
THIS SPORTING LIFE 1963 134 mins. THE WHITE BUS THE SINGING LESSON IF... 1968 111 mins. O LUCKY MAN! 1971 174 mins. IN CELEBRATION 1975 131 mins. BRITANNIA HOSPITAL 1982 116 mins. THE WHALES OF AUGUST 1987 90 mins.
Lindsay Anderson was born in India and educated at Oxford. He advocated radical departures from traditional British filmmaking attitudes as co-editor of the influential film magazine SEQUENCE. Although he started making films completely by accident, his documentaries and shorts have won awards and critical acclaim, and his film IF... won the Palm D'Or at Cannes. His previous films have dealt with violent upheavals and drastic changes, in almost complete opposition to the stately and restrained style of THE WHALES OF AUGUST. He greatly admires John Ford, saying that "In Ford there are tensions between tradition and independence which I recognize in myself."
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews