Marjorie Morningstar

Starring:Gene Kelly, Natalie Wood, Claire Trevor, Everett Sloane, Martin Milner, Carolyn Jones, George Tobias, Martin Balsam, Jesse White, Edd Byrnes, Paul Picerni, Alan Reed, Ruta Lee, Ed Wynn, Howard Bert, Guy Raymond, Lana Wood, Beverly Aadland, Maida Severn, Harry Seymour
Director: Irving Rapper
Studio: Republic Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly make a cute (if not exactly convincing) couple in this Hollywood soap-opera version of Herman Wouk's coming-of-age romance. French/Russian Natalie Wood is decidedly non-ethnic as Marjorie Morgenstern, the starry-eyed Jewish college girl who falls in love with summer resort small-timer Gene Kelly (who never quite sells himself as a show-biz dreamer with limited talent). A stolid mix of modern, clear-eyed romance and old-fashioned melodrama, it nonetheless manages to slip in some frank (for 1958) discussions of sex and the single girl and sketch out an intriguing portrait of Jewish life in New York's upper crust between the romantic complications. Everett Sloane and Claire Trevor are excellent as Marjorie's success-obsessed parents, pre-Adam 12 Martin (Marty) Milner offers his boy-next-door charm as the former flunky turned Broadway success, and Ed Wynn is delightful as her eccentric uncle. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Don't read the book!.......2007-04-21

Yes, I'm a man and yes, I like this movie. It is strictly out of the 50's, however, but that is when I grew up and for that reason the film brings a bit of nostalgia with it. Another reason to watch this film is to see Natalie Wood's big brown eyes just one more time. No, she was never a great actress, although I think that she came close in Love with the Proper Stranger and in Splendor in the Grass, my favorite of her films. This being said, a few notes of caution are in order. I don't yet own the DVD of this title for one BIG reason: the transfer sounds like it is identical to the horrible laserdisc version, which I do own. On that transfer, the color is weak and distorted and the focus is not quite sharp. There are a few splices and one ridiculous jump-cut, as another reviewer pointed out. And to top it off, the movie opens with a trailer which cuts directly to the film, completely lopping off the Warner Bros. logo and the first notes of the main title. I keep hoping for a decent, legitimate transfer of this movie which is the only reason I am at this website. One final word: if you like the movie, don't EVER read the book! It a wonderful book with many "slice of life" truths and contains many poignant moments which the movie misses altogether, the "kiss under the lilacs" being just one example. Once you read the book, you will either throw out the film, or spend a lifetime regretting what should have been done with it! But then, there are those big brown eyes.......

Oldies are goldies.......2007-01-17

This is a movie that is romantic and sweet and never on television. It took me years to finally get a copy of a DVD...I sat one Sunday and enjoyed a movie I haven't seen in years. Definately a "Chick Flick" but we are worth it!

High-Grade Curd.......2005-10-02

Never read the book and, after seeing this, had a hard time imagining why anyone ever did. That said, this misbegotten saga of a Jewish teenager trying to crash show biz (think That Girl with bar mitzvahs) is a semi-forgotten Cheese Fest of the highest order, a real treat for bad-movie buffs who've grown weary of Jackie Susann and Ross Hunter movies. See Natalie Wood spew "You rotten tramp!" to two-timing Gene Kelly. See miscast Gene acting his toupee off during a hissy fit with some Broadway producers. And see wise-cracking Carolyn Jones waltz off with the whole show in the inexplicable role of Marjorie's slutty galpal, a knockout who's somehow unable to hook anyone better than Jesse White (The Maytag Repairman). Vintage Brie gone horribly, odiforously, delectably wrong!

Marjorie Morningstar (1958) .......2005-05-21

Sister #2: Our family had become regulars at the Admiral Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard where we saw "Marjorie Morningstar."

"Marjorie Morningstar," based on the magnificent Herman Wouk novel, had everything a young nine year old dreamer like myself loved: Natalie Wood as a young Jewish would-be actress in New York, Gene Kelly as Noel Airman, the talented and self-destructive music composer, and a catching, sentimental theme song, "A Very Precious Love."

I remember being particularly astonished at the scene where Natalie Wood (Marjorie) discovers Gene Kelly (Noel) has been with another woman and slaps his face saying, "Get out of my way, you rotten tramp!" I had begun a pre-adolescent crush on Gene Kelly a year earlier and, thanks to my mother's doing, had received his black and white, autographed picture in the mail.

So Bad It's Good.......2004-01-02

My wife and I laughed so hard we GUFFAWED at this sublime example of cheesy 1950s film-making at its cheesiest. Gene Kelly blowing his stack at a trio of Broadway producers is so off-the-wall and over-the-top it's worth the price of admission by itself; all that's missing is his stepping out of character at the end of the scene and exclaiming "ACTING!" a la SNL's classic "Master Thespian" gag. We truly did not want this movie to end -- and never for a moment believed it was what Herman Wouk had in mind.

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