ROUGHLY SPEAKING
US, 1945, 117 minutes, Black and white.
Rosalind Russell, Jack Carson, Robert Hutton, Jean Sullivan, Alan Hale, Donald Woods, Andrea King, Ray Collins, Kathleen Lockhart.
Directed by Michael Curtiz.
Roughly Speaking does not quite sum up the plot or tone of this domestic comedy drama. It is based on a story by Louise Randall Pierson, based on her family experience. In fact, the film is an American saga tracing the experience of a family over several decades. It is the stuff popular in later television mini-series.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, between his Humphrey Bogart vehicle, Passage to Marseilles and Mildred Pierce. Curtiz had won an Oscar for Casablanca which summed up a career in silent and sound films with many adventure stories. He was to move into the area of musicals, comedies and action dramas in the '50s and into the '60s. The film is also a vehicle for Rosalind Russell who performs well as the matriarch of the family. She gets good support from Jack Carson as her second husband.
The film is not memorable but is engaging of its kind.
1. The popularity of American dram about families over the decades? A film of the 1940s? Now?
2. Warner Bros. production values: big budget, the length of the film, black and white photography, the star director, the cast? The recreation of period? The transition from World War One to World War Two? The screenplay encompassing the history of a family over the decades? The musical score by Max Steiner?
3. The title - and its relevance to the characters and events?
4. The focus on Louise Randall: Rosalind Russell's dominant style? Her background when young? her expectations, her marrying Rodney Crane? The background to the marriage, the early years, the many children born (and the comic touch presenting this)? Her managing the family? Rodney Crane's attitude - and the discovery that he was having an affair? His leaving her? The effect on her and the family? Her managing to cope? The encounter with Harold Pierson? The friendship, the courtship, the marriage? His support for the family? riding them through the financial difficulties? The Wall Street Crash and the Depression as a background to the family growing up? Louise being able to bring the family through crises?
5. The presentation of the two husbands? Rodney Crane, society background, his falling in love with Louise, the marriage, the birth of the children, family life, financial difficulties, growing older, the affair, the separation? The contrast with Harold Pierson as a genial man, devotion to Louise and the family, support? The common background of financial difficulties and the management of money and family affairs?
6. The range of supporting cast: the Crane family, the children and their growing up over the decades? Their support for their mother? Being influenced by their mother? The relationship with the two men?
7. The range of incidents highlighting family life? The emerging role of women in the 20th century? Louise as a resourceful woman? Her businesslike manner? Her dominance of her husbands and their reaction? Her ingenuity?
8. An interesting and enjoyable piece of Americana, 1940s style?
