Maddy Loves Her Classic Films and is celebrating Deborah Kerr on the occasion of her birthdate, September 30th, with a blogathon. Click HERE for the tributes to the actress whose name rhymes with star.
There is joy in watching experts in their field. Skill and talent can be inspirational. There is an added emotion when observing the art of acting when it holds up a mirror to humanity.
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in 1957 was the first teaming of two actors of vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, whose experience and talent combined beautifully. Their later big-screen collaborations would include a sophisticated marital comedy The Grass is Greener and a story of migrant workers in Australia, The Sundowners.
The final pairing of Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum would be Reunion at Fairborough, a 1985 TV movie originally airing on the American cable channel, HBO. Albert Ruben, whose television scripts include westerns, crime pictures and soap operas, and an Edgar win for 1980s City in Fear wrote this telefilm. Herbert Wise was the director. His long career included Emmy nominations for I, Claudius and Skokie. The music by composer Nigel Hess underscores the emotions with a feel not unlike the scores in films of the 1940s. Reunion at Fairborough was filmed on location in England.
When we meet Carl Hostrup (Robert Mitchum) he appears to be a prosperous, if solitary man. It is when he returns to his apartment and contemplates suicide that we understand the depths of his despair. Fortunately, he changes his mind and is brought out of his depths by a phone call.
Dr. Nathan Barsky (Barry Morse), formerly Sgt. Barsky is arranging a reunion of the bomber squadron of which they both were members. It is in two weeks time at the village where they had been stationed, Fairborough. Barsky assumes "Hoss" Hostrup will attend and tasks him with finding that "tough little guy" Jiggs Quealy (Red Buttons). Carl needs to be doing something and when he discovers Quealy is a rummy who makes a little money by sweeping out a flophouse, he takes him on as a project. Jiggs is dried out and cleaned up and taken to the reunion.
Carl thinks often of the old days and the memories are in black and white. At home in Chicago, they are memories of planes and scared, yet brave young men. As the train takes him and Jiggs through the countryside Carl's memories are of a young woman and lost love.
The first day in Fairborough is a scene we have become familiar with through newscasts of similar events with bands playing and children waving flags. Banners proclaim "welcome" while a local reminds younger people of the old saying about the Yanks. "over-sexed, overpaid, and over here."
The first day also sees Jiggs fall off the wagon while Carl goes looking for that lost love Sally (Deborah Kerr). At Sally's home, he meets her granddaughter Sheila (Judi Trott) who offers to drive him to the shop where Sally works. Sally's immediate reaction upon seeing Carl is "My God!" causing Sheila to ask "Is he the one?" When Sally nods, Sheila shocks Carl with "Hello, Grandad."
Carl did not know of the existence of his daughter with Sally who died, along with her husband, in an accident at age 23. At this stage of her life Sally is not of a mind to apologize for the decision she made all those years ago to keep Carl in the dark. Carl would like to blame her, but he can not honestly say if his younger self would have walked away or reached out for happiness.
Reunion at Fairborough takes its time allowing us to experience the festivities and reflections. Dr. Barsky is a guide through the physical location of the airbase. It is a battered memorial to the physical and spiritual journey taken by himself and so many others. Barry Morse is wonderful in the role.
Sally and Carl reconnect, rehash the past and prevaricate about the future, particularly if they have a future at all. Carl tries to bridge the generation gap and family gap with his granddaughter. An activist against a local American missile facility, she and Carl are at odds about his defensiveness about her perceived hate for Americans. Sometimes they listen to each other and sometimes they just shout at each other.
Jiggs takes a clear-eyed look at himself for the first time while in the company of the companions of earlier days. He vows to turn over a new leaf, to be a better man. We can but hope that the experience of these days will carry him far.
Sheila comes to love her grandfather, as he quickly came to love her. She reminds him of how much there is to live for and inspires a soaring act of defiance to the passage of time. Carl begins to hope that Sally will someday be his.
Deborah Kerr is marvelous in this role. Always a beautiful woman, she is 64 at the making of this film and the picture of the prettiness so well-remembered by Carl and his friends. She is feisty and vulnerable, full of longing and love. Her chemistry with Robert Mitchum, five years older than his co-star, has lost none of that sparkle and deep camaraderie audiences first saw 28 years earlier. Simply dancing to Moonlight Serenade, they are electric.
Reunion at Fairborough is a moving story and a fitting coda to the joint careers of two beloved stars.
There is joy in watching experts in their field. Skill and talent can be inspirational. There is an added emotion when observing the art of acting when it holds up a mirror to humanity.
Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr at Mascot Airport, 1959
Have they finished The Sundowners or are they about to begin it?
Have they finished The Sundowners or are they about to begin it?
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison in 1957 was the first teaming of two actors of vastly different backgrounds and temperaments, whose experience and talent combined beautifully. Their later big-screen collaborations would include a sophisticated marital comedy The Grass is Greener and a story of migrant workers in Australia, The Sundowners.
Robert Mitchum as Carl Hostrup and Deborah Kerr as Sally Wells Grant
Reunion at Fairborough
In World War II,
America's Eighth Air Force attacked
Hitler's Germany from bases in Britain.
To the gallant men and women
of the Eighth,
and to the generous Britons who
opened their hearts and homes to them,
this picture is gratefully dedicated.
When we meet Carl Hostrup (Robert Mitchum) he appears to be a prosperous, if solitary man. It is when he returns to his apartment and contemplates suicide that we understand the depths of his despair. Fortunately, he changes his mind and is brought out of his depths by a phone call.
Robert Mitchum, Red Buttons
Dr. Nathan Barsky (Barry Morse), formerly Sgt. Barsky is arranging a reunion of the bomber squadron of which they both were members. It is in two weeks time at the village where they had been stationed, Fairborough. Barsky assumes "Hoss" Hostrup will attend and tasks him with finding that "tough little guy" Jiggs Quealy (Red Buttons). Carl needs to be doing something and when he discovers Quealy is a rummy who makes a little money by sweeping out a flophouse, he takes him on as a project. Jiggs is dried out and cleaned up and taken to the reunion.
Carl thinks often of the old days and the memories are in black and white. At home in Chicago, they are memories of planes and scared, yet brave young men. As the train takes him and Jiggs through the countryside Carl's memories are of a young woman and lost love.
The first day in Fairborough is a scene we have become familiar with through newscasts of similar events with bands playing and children waving flags. Banners proclaim "welcome" while a local reminds younger people of the old saying about the Yanks. "over-sexed, overpaid, and over here."
Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum
The first day also sees Jiggs fall off the wagon while Carl goes looking for that lost love Sally (Deborah Kerr). At Sally's home, he meets her granddaughter Sheila (Judi Trott) who offers to drive him to the shop where Sally works. Sally's immediate reaction upon seeing Carl is "My God!" causing Sheila to ask "Is he the one?" When Sally nods, Sheila shocks Carl with "Hello, Grandad."
Carl did not know of the existence of his daughter with Sally who died, along with her husband, in an accident at age 23. At this stage of her life Sally is not of a mind to apologize for the decision she made all those years ago to keep Carl in the dark. Carl would like to blame her, but he can not honestly say if his younger self would have walked away or reached out for happiness.
Red Buttons, Barry Morse, Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr
Reunion at Fairborough takes its time allowing us to experience the festivities and reflections. Dr. Barsky is a guide through the physical location of the airbase. It is a battered memorial to the physical and spiritual journey taken by himself and so many others. Barry Morse is wonderful in the role.
Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, Judi Trott
Jiggs takes a clear-eyed look at himself for the first time while in the company of the companions of earlier days. He vows to turn over a new leaf, to be a better man. We can but hope that the experience of these days will carry him far.
Sheila comes to love her grandfather, as he quickly came to love her. She reminds him of how much there is to live for and inspires a soaring act of defiance to the passage of time. Carl begins to hope that Sally will someday be his.
Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum
Deborah Kerr is marvelous in this role. Always a beautiful woman, she is 64 at the making of this film and the picture of the prettiness so well-remembered by Carl and his friends. She is feisty and vulnerable, full of longing and love. Her chemistry with Robert Mitchum, five years older than his co-star, has lost none of that sparkle and deep camaraderie audiences first saw 28 years earlier. Simply dancing to Moonlight Serenade, they are electric.
Reunion at Fairborough is a moving story and a fitting coda to the joint careers of two beloved stars.
