Word: kazan
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...Restated by Archibald MacLeish and directed by Elia Kazan, the modern Job comes flashingly, if sometimes flatly, alive...
...Elia Kazan, Broadway and Hollywood director and producer...
...cheesecake, without studio supervised romances, even without a swimming pool. It could have happened only in a new Hollywood, which has found that kookiness can be more appealing than yesterday's gilded glamour. "It's this togetherness stuff, that's what it is," says Director Elia Kazan. "In the old days, with one or two exceptions, Hollywood girls couldn't be both sexy and funny. Nowadays they insist on being so-called complete women-healthy and natural. The new crop of actresses is dedicated to the proposition that the girl next door can also be sexy...
...observation is interesting but debatable. Shirley's rivals are far more varied than "Gadge" Kazan suggests. The newcomers-and there seem to be more interesting ones in Hollywood these days than in years-are not necessarily all girl-next-door types, not all funny, not all "complete women." Inevitably, certain new Hollywood clichés have developed. Where it was preferable for yesterday's star to have been discovered at a soda fountain, it is better for today's model to have been found at the Actors' Studio. Where yesterday's glamour girl was expected...
...Kazan's most important contribution to the film, apart from getting remarkable performances from his actors, was to turn Williams' sweaty study of degeneracy into a comedy. Always searching for humor among the dirt--Kazan has his principals--Carroll Baker, as Baby Doll, Karl Malden, as Meighan, and Eli Wallach, as Vacarro--explore the comic sides of their characters. His direction is brilliant and the three performers, who give unanimously superb performances, prove once and for all that Kazan's rather nervous brand of naturalistic acting is quite suitable for comedy. The director's interpretation unquestionably improves the script, even...