The Sound and the Fury

"The Sound and the Fury" from 1959 is based on the novel by William Faulkner, and from what I understand, it's pretty loosely based.

I can't speak for the book, but the film is certainly derivative, reminiscent in some of its themes of "A Streetcar Named Desire," and even "Gone with the Wind," as it deals with the idea of the old, gentile south versus the new south.

Yul Brynner is Jason Compson, head of the Compson family, and guardian of Quentin (Joanne Woodward), whose mother Caddy (Margaret Leighton) took off years earlier. As a result, Quentin is a troubled young woman, looking for love in all the wrong places and trying to break from her family. The rest of the family is your typical southern dysfunctional - Ben, the slow brother who doesn't talk, and Howard (John Beal), the alcoholic brother. I had a little trouble putting the family together - Ben, Howard, and Caddy are all siblings, and Quentin is Caddy's daughter; I guess Jason is a half-brother or stepbrother, evidently from Russia. Anyway, Jason is the brains of the outfit, determined to drag the family kicking and screaming into the 20th century and providing for them.

Caddy returns to the house with Jason's permission, and Quentin, who has needed a mother and waited her entire life for her mother to return, finds she's not much use. Caddy as played by prominent Broadway actress Leighton is Blanche Dubois, dragging herself home to Belle Reve. She is either a nymphomaniac or just promiscuous; my money's on the former.

The story seems to have been reduced to stereotypes and follows along with several films made at that time, including "The Long Hot Summer" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Except for his accent, Yul Brynner gives a solid performance - mysterious, magnetic, and a dominant presence, and Woodward is excellent as Quentin, a young woman trying to find herself. Ethel Waters gives a wonderful performance as the housekeeper, Dilsy, who has seen all the children grow up and is smarter than all of them.

Just okay.