I have no doubts that Mame Dennis' human counterpart must have been a larger-than-life character and Patrick Dennis must have held a huge admiration for this Renaissance woman who could touch anyone with her carefree attitude towards life. Rosalind Russell, who's only other major success in the Fifties (up until then) was a supporting role in PICNIC, single-handedly takes full charge of her comic timing to create a fully-formed person as Mame Dennis and in doing so has created a legacy that will be remembered a hundred years from now.
The story of AUNTIE MAME is well-known for both movie goers and for theatre goers who saw not only Roz but Angela Lansbury as well. Mame Dennis is an eccentric character of a woman who is raising a young boy, Patrick, and exposing him to a flurry of her own misadventures, including the loss of her fortune in the stock market crash. Mame, however, perseveres through her own joie-de-vivre and despite working menial jobs and a bit part in a play starring her friend Vera Ralston. She meets and marries Beauregard Jackson Burnside despite the machinations of his family (and especially Sally Cato), travels the world, becomes a widow, and in later years, has to confront that Patrick, now a grown man, is embarrassed by her very personality and is about to marry into conformity.
Morton daCosta has created an ageless movie with a dazzling set direction that reflects the passing of time and the evolution of Mame's persona. Clearly not one to value tradition, we see her home slowly go from a product of its time to an avant-guard, ultra sleek place, to a shrine of Eastern civilization. Mame herself evolves despite playing the flake: if anything, she is not a twit but someone who is aware of herself and what life is all about, and there is a touching scene near the end in which she is in full, golden regalia, looking like a Hindu goddess, in which we see the real woman inside pouring light onto the set as she prepares for her next journey. Who else could have done such a thing with this character? She, like this film, is perfect.
The story of AUNTIE MAME is well-known for both movie goers and for theatre goers who saw not only Roz but Angela Lansbury as well. Mame Dennis is an eccentric character of a woman who is raising a young boy, Patrick, and exposing him to a flurry of her own misadventures, including the loss of her fortune in the stock market crash. Mame, however, perseveres through her own joie-de-vivre and despite working menial jobs and a bit part in a play starring her friend Vera Ralston. She meets and marries Beauregard Jackson Burnside despite the machinations of his family (and especially Sally Cato), travels the world, becomes a widow, and in later years, has to confront that Patrick, now a grown man, is embarrassed by her very personality and is about to marry into conformity.
Morton daCosta has created an ageless movie with a dazzling set direction that reflects the passing of time and the evolution of Mame's persona. Clearly not one to value tradition, we see her home slowly go from a product of its time to an avant-guard, ultra sleek place, to a shrine of Eastern civilization. Mame herself evolves despite playing the flake: if anything, she is not a twit but someone who is aware of herself and what life is all about, and there is a touching scene near the end in which she is in full, golden regalia, looking like a Hindu goddess, in which we see the real woman inside pouring light onto the set as she prepares for her next journey. Who else could have done such a thing with this character? She, like this film, is perfect.