Lonelyhearts (1958)

When the young and impressionable Adam White (Montgomery Clift) finally gets his wish to work for the Chronicle newspaper, he is unaware of how much his experience with the jaded Bill Shrike (Robert Ryan) will change him. Having sat for weeks waiting for the opportunity to meet Shrike, befriending his friendly but alcoholic wife Florence (Myrna Loy) in the process, White is taken aback by Shrike’s overbearingly sardonic demeanor. He is further confused when Shrike assigns him the Miss Lonelyhearts advice column. Shrike has an ulterior motive for doing so caused by a major psychological burden that concerns in part Shrike’s unhappy wife who once cheated on him.

Initially Adam treats the letters as a joke, doggedly sticking to his task until the desperation in the letters start to affect him personally. Determined to rid Adam of any innocence on conscientiousness, to open his eyes to how the real world is, Shrike refuses Adam’s eventual request to be removed from the assignment.

Wanting to keep his job and to do right by the people writing the letters, Adam becomes more involved in his work which takes its toll on his relationship with girlfriend, Justy Sargeant (Dolores Heart). When Shrike suggests that Adam actually meet one of the letter writers so that he can see for himself that they’re mostly a bunch of fakes, Adam does so. He meets with Fay Doyle (Maureen Stapleton), whose husband she says is crippled and cannot love her in the physical sense. Giving her what he thinks she really needs, physical love, White goes into a tailspin when he realizes the truth about Fay. It causes him to reflect about his own personal life, the dark secrets he’s been keeping and most importantly whether Shrike is correct about people in general or not.

There is no doubt that Montgomery Clift was a gifted actor. He stands apart from the other characters in Lonelyhearts mostly in his stilted delivery of dialogue and the use of his large blue eyes and his small, almost fragile hands that add weight to his character who is very much a pacifist. Maureen Stapleton, a newcomer to the screen and who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress for this film was also noteworthy. Her act of putting on an act was eerily convincing.

My only problem with the film was the weight of the dialogue, mostly delivered by Robert Ryan who manages to be a real SOB in this film. As a hard-boiled editor, they have him speaking too poetically and it didn’t sync with the physicality of the character, or the background scenes. 

Oscar Trivia:

Myrna Loy never received a nomination for an Academy award. She did however received an Honorary Oscar for her entire portfolio of work.

Montgomery Clift received four Best Actor nominations for the Academy Award for his work in The Search, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity, and Judgement at Nuremberg.

Robert Ryan's breakthrough film role was in Crossfire and won Ryan his sole career Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.

Maureen Stapleton was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. She was nominated three more times (Airport and Interiors) for the same category before she won for her role in Reds.

The Boy with Green Hair (1948)

Peter Frye (Dean Stockwell) has problems. Besides being disillusioned about his parents still being alive and being passed from one relative to another, he now has to deal with an issue that isn’t so easy to hide-- green hair.
The movie opens with a completely shaven Peter refusing to speak to the authorities about where he has run away from. The police call in a Dr. Evans (Robert Ryan), a child psychologist whom Peter tells his story to. Peter recently moved in with an understanding retired actor named Gramps (Pat O'Brien). He starts attending a new school and living the life of a normal boy until his class gets involved with trying to help war orphans in Europe and Asia. Through this aid Peter realizes via another classmate, that he too is a war orphan. The realization about his parents, his work with the war orphans and constant chatter from adults about another possible war leave Peter troubled. To make matters worse, he awakens the next day with green hair, prompting him to run away after being taunted by the townspeople and his peers. While crying in the woods he is approached by the orphaned children whose pictures he saw on posters. They tell him that he has green hair for a good cause, that he can use it to make a difference and get a message out to the people that war is dangerous for children. Peter leaves with a new sense of determination and starts to deliver his message but the townspeople are not buying it and even Gramps encourages him to shave his head so that his hair might grow back normally. Peter eventually agrees but after the deed is done he runs away. After Peter tells his story to Dr. Evans he asks the doctor if he believes his story. Dr. Evans tells him he does not because Peter doesn’t even believe his own story. He advises him that if he is going to deliver an important message, he must believe in it and not give up so easily when he comes up against obstacles. Peter returns home determined that his hair will grow back green and that he will believe in the message he needs to deliver.

Pictures courtesy of LIFE magazine

I don’t know what prompted me to rent this film despite the fantastical aspect of a boy with green hair. Nothing in the description of the film gave me a clue that it was an anti-war parable. Though I admire director Joseph Losey’s approach to a plea for tolerance, like most people and maybe even more so for a generation entering the Cold War years, I could see the futility of trying to change the world by making individual stand out and deliver a message of peace. Sadly for Losey, he learned that as well, becoming one of the blacklisted directors of Hollywood in 1951 for his Leftist leanings, he was forced to flee to Europe. Though Losey resented his alienation from his country, he acknowledged its positive aspects. Rather than end up a jaded Hollywood director, he was an outsider just like Peter, a position that was to inspire, as well as frustrate, his work.

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