Word: morels
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...film opens halfway through the story: Paul Morel is in his early twenties. Within the first ten minutes one grasps all of the important relationships of the drama: the abandonment of Walter Morel by his wife and sons, who detest him because of his weakness and cruelty; Paul's desperate attachment to his mother, and his frustrated love for Miriam. The film then concentrates on the final failure of Miriam to break through Mrs. Morel's hold on her son, Paul's unsuccessful affair with Clara Dawes and his final liberation through his mother's death...
Sons and Lovers (20th Century-Fox) effectively translates a fine novel into film. The acting, in particular, is exceptional. Wendy Hiller is repellently pitiable as the carnivorous mother who entraps D. H. Lawrence's hero. Dean Stockwell fits exactly the author's descriptions of Paul Morel, the almost girlish young artist who calls his mother "pigeon" and dotes on her doting. Heather Sears and Mary Ure are appealing as the young women with whom, and by means of whom, Paul tries to break free; their characterizations are deep enough to show that each girl is in a trap...
Lawrence regarded the coal miner Morel with a somewhat priggish distaste, and the attitude marred his novel. Howard's Morel has a clumsy kindness and a drunkard's fitful dignity. He is no mere brute, although he has been brutalized by the pits in which he has grubbed since he was twelve. There is still no understanding between father and son, but Howard makes it clear, as Lawrence did not fully do, that this is part of the younger Morel's great loss...
...been filled with flying coal carts. Much of the dialogue is Lawrence's, and it is a reminder of what a remarkable dialogue writer he was. Says a rasp-tongued widow: "I like a man about the house, if he's only something to snap at." Morel evokes enormous sympathy when he says quietly to his wife: "Always taking the curl out of me, aren...
...cost to the patience of viewers, but this production, in only 103 minutes, includes everything important in Lawrence's 500-page novel. The most serious objection to the film is that it is inconclusive. But so is the novel: Lawrence chose to shut off his narrative after Mrs. Morel dies, but before Paul learns whether he has really been set free. If the ending lacks force, it is because it owes more to life than...