Beloved Infidel (1959)

Copyright 1959 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. U.S. release and New York opening (at the Paramount): 17 November 1959. U.K. release: January 1960. Australian release: 18 February 1960. Sydney opening at the Regent. 11,057 feet. 123 minutes.SYNOPSIS: "A soap opera about a Cinderella from London who came to Hollywood and took care of a noisy drunk." — Gregory Peck.NOTES: By late 1959 CinemaScope's box-office lure had so dramatically declined that Fox's publicity department offered a choice of advertising blocks — with or without the CinemaScope logo!COMMENT: Gregory Peck is certainly uncomfortable in the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald and doesn't sink himself into the character at all. It's just Gregory Peck reading lines — and reading them very badly. And Eddie Albert bears as much resemblance to Robert Benchley as I do to W.C. Fields. And there's a distasteful caricature of Alice Faye (played by Karin Booth) which is obviously so untrue (Faye must have been barely half the age at the time), it makes one suspicious of all the rest of the scenes in the film — though certainly the bit about Mankiewicz firing Fitz from "Three Comrades" is true enough, except for the fact that Herbert Rudley doesn't look a bit like Mankiewicz! Half-asleep direction by Henry King doesn't help this movie either!

It is rather strange that the story of the great American novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald (Gregory Peck), ends up being told, here, by the transplanted American gossip columnist, Sheilah Graham (Deborah Kerr). But, however melodramatic this picture may come off, we must remember that it is HER story--not his. His full life story is referred to, here, more in retrospect, but his struggle with alcohol is well documented.I find that great film scores often elevate a movie, and the score by Franz Waxman does wonders here. This was the era of great film scores, scores that often outlasted the overall effect of the movie. This is one of 3 movies in which Gregory Peck and Eddie Albert co-star, so this combination must have worked for both of them.

Based on a self-serving novel by one-time girl friend and groupie of F. Scott Fitzgerald, gossip columnist Sheila Graham wrote this trashy story. Gregory Peck carries on in shameless excess as a forceful be-drunk-or-be-damned alcoholic; in contradiction to the gentle and soft spoken real Scott Fitzgerald. Focusing on Fitzgerald's Hollywood writing era, late in his life, the much-honored author was, in fact, living a quiet life and effectively fighting his alcoholism at a time when AA was not yet well known. Fitzgerald was none-too-proud to be recycling his flapper stories in order to support both his wife (in a mental hospital) and his daughter (in college). Living in a small apartment and driving a second hand Chevrolet his life was 180 degrees different than as portrayed in this movie.Virtually every 20th Century-Fox movie made during Daryll F. Zanuck's leadership, as well as virtually every film directed by Henry King, was a work of excellence. Beloved Infidel was the exception.

Henry King is a master of making a storybook love movie;but when it comes to biography,(with the exception of "the song of Bernadette" which owed a lot to Jennifer Jones)his art becomes ineffective:in spite of two great actors,nothing works here.The scene on the beach where Kerr tells everything ,warts and all, turns up at the most awkward moment:why does she feel compelled to tell the whole truth when things are working so fine for her?Besides,Gregory Peck is much too famous and too "straight" to portray FSF successfully,we never forget he is Gregory Peck:he's so handsome it's impossible to believe he is an out-and-out alcoholic. Oddly,King's swansong the following year was a FS Fitzgerald adaptation, "tender is the night' but Jones had become too old for the part and it was a disappointment.