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This Property Is Condemned (1966)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
2/15
2/15:
This Property Is Condemned is based on a typical Tennessee Williams' play and is as Southern Gothic as it gets.
It's the beautiful Natalie Wood, draped in Edith Head's wonderful costumes, who runs away with the film by giving the best
performance of her career. Not yet a major star, Robert Redford, who's also good as the laid-back Owen Legate, is
overtly upstaged by Natalie Wood.
Responsible for the film's ending, Kate Reid does better than Redford by sticking it out in Natalie Wood's presence. The
second of three roles during her entire movie career, Mary Badham, who's über famous for her Oscar-nominated role in
To Kill a Mockingbird, looks all grown up, plays the narrator, and can still act.
Natalie Wood's Alva Starr is right in the middle between Blanche DuBois and Scarlett O'Hara, leaning more toward the former. She
lives in a fantasy world and only sees the positive things. Legate is a practical corporate do-man from a railroad company
who takes things as they are. At first, he's struck by Alva's sexual beauty but can't stand her Southern airy behavior.
Eventually, he falls in love with Alva because of her radiance. When the couple is in New Orleans, they're engulfed
by location shots including Lafayette Cemetery Number 2 and City Park's bridge.
Finally, it's the mother, who's a survivalist and uses her daughters to run the whorehouse which brings on the ruin of
Alva's happiness and subsequently Willie's care. One of the best parts is how Starr Boarding House is set as the fixture of
the story.
All in all, This Property Is Condemned is better acted, less theatrical, and more believable than either
Baby Doll or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that features a powerful performance by Natalie Wood.