HOT SPELL

US, 1958, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Shirley Booth, Anthony Quinn, Shirley Mac Laine, Earl Holliman, Eileen Heckhart.
Directed by Daniel Mann,

Hot Spell is a domestic drama based on a play. On the whole it is quite effective, although some of the incidents towards the end are somewhat melodramatic. Shirley Booth portrays a rather typical middle-aged wife who quietly but persistently runs her family's life for them. Everything blows up in her face and she realises how lonely she is and how unrealistic she has been. She experiences some of the tragedies of growing middle-aged without quite realising it.

Dialogue is good, coming from the play, and Shirley Booth's performance is excellent. It is a sobering drama, especially for girls who over-romanticise life.

1. Was it obvious that this film was based on a play? Why?

2. How did the drama and the sense of heat contribute to the mood?

3. What did you learn about the whole family as Mother went from one to the other arranging their gifts for their father's birthday?

4. What kind of a woman Was Alma? Was she too interfering? Did she mean well? What effect did she have on her husband and her family? How bad was it - telling her son his speech, "I'm a momma; that's what mommas are for," 'You're lucky to have a mother" and yet she makes them feel awful. 45 candles on the cake?

5. Alma seems the patient mother, ignoring insults, but also the truth. Is she typical of wives of her age? Is it too late to change?

6. Was Jack a reasonable husband when we meet him or had Alma's kind of concern got the better of him? Why didn't we see him for a while? Were we meant to judge him by his family?

7. How did 'New Paris' play such an important role in Alma's life? What did it symbolise for her? What did it symbolise for the audience?

8. Comment on the sequences where Jack humiliated his children.
- Buddy accused of trying to be smarter than he was;
- Virginia and her boy-friend;
- Billy at the pool room and made out to be a child.

9. Why did the birthday party fail? Why couldn't Alma keep anyone around her? She is left alone to do the dishes - eating the cake all alone.


10. Were you glad she had a friend in Wan? The smoking and drinking were meant to be humorous, but what else did they reveal about Alma's attitudes?

11. Jack wanted a lot out of life. He was getting old - "and for what?" Was he right in believing that a man's first obligation is to himself? To be happy as best he could?

12. How effective was the scene where Jack leaves her? Did she really know it would come, to this? What did they have in common? She loved him as if he were twenty. She slaps him and is sorry.

13. Comment on the truth in Alma's speech about how tired she is - it takes a lot out of you, fooling yourself. She says it would have been worse without the children. Her sympathy for him as he leaves, "Now go and take good care of yourself."

14. Was Jack’s death too contrived (even though his liberation had turned him into a 20 year old and a careless driver)?

15. Comment on the reaction to his death.

16. How was the New Paris dream shattered?

17. At the end we realise that all the children have grown up. Has Alma?

18. Did you find this a sad film? Was it realistic? What message did it contain?