John Ericson may have had Marlon Brando's looks but none of his talent so his debut performance as a young soldier returning from WW2 with an Italian bride proved not to be the launch-pad for superstardom that it might have been and "Teresa" remains one of the least, and certainly one of the least known, of Fred Zinnemann's films. If it isn't exactly a bad movie it's certainly an unexciting one. The inexperience of both leads shows, (Pier Angeli is Teresa, the young bride), and it's left to the supporting cast, (Patricia Collinge as the clinging mother, Peggy Ann Garner as the sister, Ralph Meeker and Bill Mauldin as soldiers), to try to carry the film. Had it been shorter, tighter and concentrated more on life in post-war New York it might have worked but Zinnemann gives us a very long introductory section in war-torn Italy. These scenes are fine in themselves but they belong in a different picture. For Zinnemann completists only.Tuesday 4 August 2020
TERESA no stars
John Ericson may have had Marlon Brando's looks but none of his talent so his debut performance as a young soldier returning from WW2 with an Italian bride proved not to be the launch-pad for superstardom that it might have been and "Teresa" remains one of the least, and certainly one of the least known, of Fred Zinnemann's films. If it isn't exactly a bad movie it's certainly an unexciting one. The inexperience of both leads shows, (Pier Angeli is Teresa, the young bride), and it's left to the supporting cast, (Patricia Collinge as the clinging mother, Peggy Ann Garner as the sister, Ralph Meeker and Bill Mauldin as soldiers), to try to carry the film. Had it been shorter, tighter and concentrated more on life in post-war New York it might have worked but Zinnemann gives us a very long introductory section in war-torn Italy. These scenes are fine in themselves but they belong in a different picture. For Zinnemann completists only.
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