GLASS MENAGERIE, THE/ 1950

US, 1950, 107 minutes, Black and white.
Jane Wyman, Kirk Douglas, Gertrude Laurence, Arthur Kennedy.
Directed by Irving Rapper.

The Glass Menagerie is the film version of one of Tennessee Williams' earliest plays, and also one of his gentlest plays. We are in part of the Williams' landscape of the mid-west and a Southern belle grown old and living in middle-class poverty, yet yearning for the old way of life.

Amanda Wingfield is a typical figure of American literature and films. Perhaps Tennessee Williams helped to make her so by this telling characterisation. She is vital and alive, yet she lives in the past; she wants her children to succeed whereas her own marriage failed; she is possessively loving, yet can drive her children to frustration and almost to hatred.

In Laura, Williams has created a delicate character and in Jim O' Connor, the boy next door who is something more because he feels for people and in the contemporary jargon nevertheless heals them, an American ideal. The part of Tom, the brother, is well-written when he is involved in the drama, less so when he 1s narrating a flashback.

The film has an excellent cast. Gertrude Lawrence, not long before her death, plays Amanda Wingfield marvellously. (For the film version, there is an artificial flashback which enables Amanda to look glamorous and for Gertrude Lawrence to dance a little; and Tom sings a snatch of "Someone to watch over me", Miss Lawrence's signature song which was the theme of the film version of her life, Star, with Julie Andrews.)

Jane Wyman catches the shy beauty of Laura beautifully. Jim is an early Kirk Douglas role which he carries off well. Arthur Kennedy, who appeared in many excellent roles, but never made top star billing, makes Tom very credible.

The Glass Menagerie is often a revelation for audiences who know Tennessee Williams for his explorations of the more sordid side of life.

1. Was the flashback structure of the film effective?

2. Why did Tom Wingfield tell the story? Was it really told from his point of view?

3. Who is the central character in the film? Why?

4. Was the St. Louis city environment well portrayed?

5. What kind of woman Was Amanda Wingfield? Why do you think her husband left her? Why do you think she married him in the first place?

6. How much did she live in the past? How bad was this for her and for the children? Did the fact that she was a Southern belle make the past important to her?

7. What did she want of her children? How well did she love them?

8. Why did she treat Tom like a child? Why couldn't she see how selfish she was when she accused him of selfishness?

9. Did you like Amanda Wingfield? Why?

10. Did you like Tom? What kind of man was he? Did he have much chance to be different from what he was? How well did he cope with his mother? Did he love her? Is what happened to Tom typical enough of what happens to many men like him?

11. Why was Laura so shy? Was it because of the defect and self-consciousness? Did her mother's fussing make her shy? What did the Poet Business College episode reveal about her?

12. Why did Laura cherish the glass menagerie and the records? How did they symbolise her?

13. What kind of man was Jim O' Connor? Did you like him? Was he typical of the keen young American man?

14. Why did Amanda go to such lengths for a gentleman caller - what did it reveal about her? What of Laura's reaction?

15. How well done was the sequence between Jim and Laura? How did he bring her out of herself? How did ordinary incidents have an effect on her? Why did she trust him? What was the effect of the dancing and going to the 'Paradise'?

16. Was the end of the visit realistic? Did Laura accept the reality of Jim's engagement? What had she learnt? How did she contrast with her mother here?

17. The glass animals were broken twice, once by Tom, and the outsider unicorn by Jim. Laura mended them the first time, but not the second. Was this symbolism too obvious? What did it mean?

18. Was Tom right to leave home?

19. Tennessee Williams' dialogue is often considered rich and poetic as well as realistic. Is this true of this film?

20. Was this film romantic or realistic?