Indiscretion of an American Wife

source: Indiscretion of an American Wife

I've just caught this on Talking Pictures TV. I only tuned in because Montgomery Clift was in it. By the end I was pleading with Jennifer Jones to get on the train and stay there. The whole thing drags along at a snail's pace (snails probably move faster). As I watched, my mind just kept wandering due to its self absorbed and phoney plot. I kept waiting for something to happen and when it did, it just came across as looking ridiculous and over the top. There's a scene with a pregnant woman with some children which is completely irrelevant and serves no purpose, although the child actors were engaging, which is more than can be said for the key players. Clift's face throughout failed to alter, I can only describe the expression as requiring laxatives. I've never been so pleased for someone to get on a train. Overplayed, overacted and thank goodness just over.

Between his two classic works The Bicycle Thief and Umberto D. Vittorio DeSica and GWTW producer David Selznick got together to make this turgid melodrama that chugs along sluggishly the entire ride. Neo-Realist Master De Sica working with big Hollywood stars made for an unorthodox pairing and the results are disastrous. American Mary Forbes (Jennifer Jones) has a brief passionate affair with young handsome Giovanni Darvi (Montgomery Clift) while visiting Italy. She attempts to break it off but he remains persistent and she weakens amid the chaotic atmosphere of the Rome train station where they have come to exchange bittersweet goodbyes. This truncated 63 minute version of a longer film is all the proof one needs to see what an abysmal undertaking it is. De Sica who had the magic touch of perfectly casting leads with amateur actors errs in a big way by miscasting an American Method as a Latin charmer. The introspective Monty Clift is downright embarrassing as he exhibits little passion and a bad accent that makes you want to cringe. Vapid beauty Jennifer Jones is also a bad coupling as she roams the station key lit with a pained expression, incapable of stretching beyond screen queen. The cinematography is uninspired and the setting itself utilized poorly as De Sica has the same extras scurrying about like ants racing for trains from beginning to end. And with nearly a third of the film excised the editing suffers immeasurably. Even the one shot match cuts are uneven as it jumps from the expressive Clift to the blank beauty of Jones. The laughable climax of this steam less melodrama adds insult to injury as the lovers are treated like recalcitrant teens. However, it matters little since Stazione Termini never gets on track from the outset.

At 63 minutes long, the American release of this Italian filmed drama seems eternal in trying to get and keep one's attention. Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift are cast as an American wife on a holiday and her Italian lover who are at a Rome train station wrapping up their affair. Jones previously tried to leave a "Dear John" letter for the emotional Clift who won't let her go, and when her nephew (a young Richard Beymer) shows up to say goodbye, it is apparent that there is a possibility of a scandal brewing. There seems to be footage missing that explains what lead to the romance and why it is so hard for the two to say goodbye. Jones plays a married wife and mother who seems to have no reason for infidelity, and while her attraction to Clift is clear, this absence of details is hard to make the viewer be really interested. There are some nice twists and turns in the story which do briefly increase interest, and the scene where Jones helps a sick pregnant woman with three children is very touching. The city of Rome itself seems to be a character, overcrowded with people in Jones and Clift's way in their desire for privacy. The scene in the police station (afer the two are caught trespassing on a train) is fraught with tension as the time clicks towards the departure of Jones' train, but the ultimate farewell of the two is less than dramatically intriguing.

Whoever wrote that this movie has an Adam and Eve biblical subtext is delirious and are on to something that IS NOT THERE, except in their own mind perhaps. The only reason I continued to watch this film is to make sure it was as bad as I thought it was from the beginning. Jennifer Jones seems to emit no other expressions except pursing her face as if she's about to give birth - it gets old fast and so does her lack of ability to act. Montgomery Clift has his moments, but fails to convince me he has any remote Italian bone in his body, except his attempt to speak Italian isn't a half-bad effort. Montgomery Clift's character is more like a "wife beater"-wearing overbearing American. And Jennifer Jones is air-headed, fake and pretentious. The lack of development and believable character portrayal makes any personal investment in these characters impossible. You really end up wanting this movie to be over and done with, wishing the two lovers never got involved in the first place. You find it hard to believe either would be attracted to the other. Clift's character slaps Jennnifer Jones', and then somehow she's supposed to be excited to see him when he comes back for her? In such a short time she's gone from one extreme to another in her desires for him. This makes absolutely no sense to me, since all she seems to do is try to get away from him and make excuses to get out of his sight in the from the beginning. Everything not adding up and the poor level of over and under acting makes this movie utterly ridiculous. There is nothing romantic about this movie. Its nauseating. The trains are nice though.

An American housewife alone on vacation in Italy meets her lover for one last time in a Rome train station. Lovely black and white and a couple of minutes over an hour long. Not bad, but not very good either. The lead cast members are Jennifer Jones, Montgomery Clift and Richard Beymer.

Often dismissed as a failure in the film history books, this is actually an outstanding gem which deserves to be seen. I have not seen the Criterion disc, but I have seen the film twice. In a theater, it was re-released in the uncut version as STATZIONE TERMINI some time in the 1980's. I also saw the much shorter INDISCRETION OF AN American WIFE, which is also very good. The film works due to the outstanding performances of Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift, and also due to the outstanding location filming. Produced by Jones' husband, the camera adores her. She looks radiant (she was about 34 at the time), and the camera seems to be on her in nearly every frame of the film. Well worth checking out in any version!

Like fine wine, "Stazione Termini" seems to grow better and better with age. Generally "written off" as a lesser De Sica work, this film offers two beautiful performances by Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift. The two, with different types of acting training, sensitively mesh their discrete styles through deeply felt emotions. Highly gifted, vulnerable, and insecure, these top performers reach for the bottom of their feelings in bringing to life two desperate, lonely lovers. It's been said these thespians enjoyed a close off-screen relationship due to the leading lady's deep infatuation with her co-star, and that she was distraught when he, due to personal circumstances, was unable to mutually respond. That's not at all surprising, for it's all there in their work in this drama. A deft melding of romance and neo-realism, which marks the distinctive De Sica style, "Stazione" now seems just the right length for its content. It almost seems to unfold in "quasi-real time," with shots of clocks ticking away before the train leaves at the story's finale to emphasize the time element. What emerges here is a kind of slice-of-life vignette: two people in love, who must part due to one partner's domestic responsibility. We are allowed to briefly share their intimate, final moments together before their inevitable parting. Zavattini's script (along with Truman Capote and Ben Hecht's dialogue) nicely capture these fleeting minutes, while the score lushly points up the pathos of a tragic unfoldment. De Sica's unique direction (with Selznick's uncredited contribution) rounds out a small gem of a film whose vintage grows increasingly more sweet and more special with age.

Coming after "ladri di biciclette"(1946)"miracolo a Milano"(1950) and the absorbing and rather unrecognized "Umberto D"(probably De Sica's masterpiece,1952),"Stazione Termini" cannot be put on a par with these former works.It is an interesting effort though. Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones are par excellence the romantic couple ,but in an Italian environment,they look like extra-terrestrials.Do not get me wrong,I do enjoy these two actors' talent ,but I wonder why De Sica ,one of the neorealism high priests, has chosen Hollywood stars whereas ,for instance,he refused to engage Cary Grant for the "ladri di biciclette" lead,and he used rather obscure actors for "Umberto D".Besides,I wonder whether both Jones and Clift are dubbed (or not?) in Italian.I wonder too whether this actress was not influenced by Ingrid Bergman's coming to Italy.When she buys chocolate for the children and when she wants to help the poor family,Jones' character makes me think of Bergman's in Rossellini's "Europa 51" (1951) for a very short while The plot is banal and the railway station becomes the star of the film.De Sica completely succeeds in showing the life of this hive,with its travelers,its priests,its soldiers,its poor families packed into 3rd class waiting rooms,its trains heading for darkness .The lovers' faces are nicely filmed as if they were the only lights of this obscure world.

The concept of "Stazione Termini" has always been highly appealing to me. In the mode of "Brief Encounter," which director David Lean brought successfully to the screen earlier, "Stazione" potentially offers the same rewards. The combination of director Vittorio De Sica and writer Cesare Zavattini was natural. Likewise, the pairing of Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones was intriguing. Yet, the efforts of all these great talents failed to produce the monumental work expected. What went wrong? The contribution of David O. Selznick, while thoroughly professional as always, may have strangely thrown off the delicate balance. This was very much an Italian work. The American actors were portraying characters who were essentially visitors to a foreign land--guests and tourists operating within the cultural discretion of their Roman hosts. Where these characters failed to completely understand and operate with respect to the Italian sensibility and heritage, so Mr. Selznick may likewise have inadvertently intruded upon the proceedings by introducing his own distinctive American values and approaches to filmmaking. In short, Selnick and De Sica did not mix well here. To this viewer, the production would have been much more viable had Selnick remained more in the background, allowing the proven creativity of the De Sica team to work its own magic. Likewise, a more distinctive score could have made a considerable difference. While the music was most appropriate, it did not make a truly "classic" statement. Finally, the unfortunate editing paired the film down to so short a duration that the drama simply lacked the time to make a moving impression. "Stazione" seems as much a mood as character piece, and De Sica required footage to accomplish this. Despite these shortcomings, "Stazione Termini" contains beautifully modulated performances by Clift and Jones, as the sad lovers who must part and go their separate ways. De Sica's direction is sensitive and compassionate, and the film remains a poignant moment in the lives of two lonely people clinging to one final opportunity to express forbidden love.