Auntie Mame

If someone asked you to recommend a "feel-good" movie, I don't think you could do much better than to sit them down with "Auntie Mame."  I've seen this movie 6 or 7 times and it never fails to grab a fistful of my heartstrings and yank the hell out of them. 

 

"Auntie Mame" is based on a book which was adapted to the stage.  In the 70s, "Auntie Mame" would become a Broadway musical and then a musical film.  This first movie was nominated for 6 Academy Awards (it lost Best Picture to "Gigi").  Despite all this, I don't know many people familiar with this movie.  And that's a shame.

 

"Auntie Mame" is about a wealthy woman who spends her days nursing hangovers and her nights partying with bohemian types.  One day, she is charged with being the caretaker to her recently orphaned nephew, Patrick.  She exposes the boy to her world of weird (but nice) people until she is forced to send Patrick away to a snooty boarding school.  The Depression bankrupts Mame and she begins to lose her influence over Patrick.  She rebuilds her life and comes head-to-head with the conservative lifestyle that Patrick has been embracing.

 

"Auntie Mame" is ultimately an extremely humorous portrayal of the virtues of liberal privilege over conservative privilege.  Regardless of your political affiliations, you'd have to be a stick in the mud to not enjoy Mame's antics and rapid fire dialogue.  I watched it with my mom and she didn't even pick up on the political aspect even though they explicitly talk about it in the movie.  Mame and her friends are just good people and you want to see them get the better of the rude, mean people.  

 

Rosalind Russell is fantastic as Mame.  It's not a naturalistic performance by any stretch.  She's gloriously over the top and constantly mugging.  But it works so well to establish Mame as a larger than life character.  Everyone else is just good enough. But to be fair to the other actors, it's hard to steal any spotlight from Russell.

 

I love, love, love "Auntie Mame."  It is one of my favorite 50s movies.  The color photography is gorgeous.  The jokes still hold up 55 years later.  If your feeling like an escape from the "gritty realism" so prevalent in modern films, give in to Technicolor fantasy.  Check out "Auntie Mame."

 

9 out of 10