Anthony Quinn and Shirley Booth play a married couple who cling and claw like cats in a bathtub in this sudsy melodrama set in steamy New Orleans. Booth does most of the clinging as a neglected wife struggling to reassemble her battered marriage to Quinn who plays a faithless husband in love with tender young Valerie Allen, something Booth tries her best to ignore. Unfortunately, despite her efforts, her children are not spared the spousal turmoil. Matters are not helped when Earl Holliman, the eldest son, decides to leave his father's employment business and start his own. The youngest son Clint Kimbrough finds it all terribly upsetting. Meanwhile his sister Shirley MacLaine becomes deeply depressed after her father threatens her boyfriend in an effort to get him to marry her. Now MacLaine is left with no one. The fur really begins to fly when Quinn, tired of the tumult, decides to chuck the whole family and move to Florida with Allen. Tragedy ensues for the wicked duo. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
disliked it.
Hot Spell, the last feature film made by
Shirley Booth, reunites her with
Daniel Mann, the director who had helmed her Oscar-winning debut in Come Back, Little Sheba. Unfortunately, both star and director are this time working with a script that, while it offers some meaty moments, is in general poorly written. The basic situation cries out for
Tennessee Williams at his best, but
James Poe's screenplay is tired, clichéd, and unconvincingly melodramatic. Structurally, it also belies its stage origins, and there's an unacceptable level of predictability to its plot. Even these flaws would not prove fatal if the dialogue contained keen insight or was written with an ear for poetry; unfortunately, most of the dialogue is merely serviceable. The cast certainly tries hard, and most of the leads all have moments that are worth catching. But there's no chemistry between Booth and
Anthony Quinn, each of whom seems to be acting in a different style.
Shirley MacLaine still seems to be cutting her film acting teeth a little, but she does well on the whole, and
Eileen Heckart is dependable, if wasted. The direction is stilted and ponderous, making Hot Spell difficult to endure. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide