"Pentimento" is also the book that revealed the legendary quote from Tallullah Bankhead : "Cocaine's not addictive! I should know, I've been doing it for years!" I certainly hope that Ms. Hellman didn't make THAT up.
@@dontbefatuousjeffrey2494 Bankhead once did a play with Montgomery Clift. During that time, a reporter asked her if the rumors about Clift (that he was gay) were true. Her reply: "Gee, I dunno. He never tried to suck MY d***!"
In her book " I remember nothing" Nora Ephron talks at length about meeting Lillian and being just in awe of who she was as a person but later discovering that her whole story of heroism was really just a farce but ultimately feeling a sense of genuine sadness for this older woman who was grasping at the straws to cling to this hero narrative she created. I highly recommend it
The part where you say that Jane Fonda did not disappear into the role and what she brought to it were the characteristics specific to Jane Fonda as a performer, this is what I think of Susan Sarandon‘s Oscar winning performance in Dead Man Walking. After watching it, I saw a TV interview with Sister Helen Prejean, and Sarandon did not attempt in any way shape or form to be anything like Prejean. Prejean is spunky and feisty, Sarandon made the character much more soft and genteel. I don’t think her performance would have been as moving if she had tried to do an imitation of Prejean, and I think it’s the same with Jane Fonda in this movie.
Agree about Jane Fonda not disappearing into the role. I find that's the case with most of her work as an actress. I believe they used to refer to these types of actors as "personality actors" who tend to present themselves similarly from one acting role to another. Cary Grant is another example.
@@1trschaefer78 Agree except, somewhat, in her comedy roles like "9 to 5" - just an insecure housewife making her way, but finding it. I felt I was watching Judy, not Jane, in that one
Absolutely agree and it's about time someone else said it. On another note with Sarandon, I felt the exact same way with her "portrayal" of Bette Davis in the Feud series. Like, when and where did she become Bette instead of playing herself? So disappointed 😞
On the other hand, I hate the trend nowadays of having to make the actor/actress look like the actual person they’re portraying through prosthetics. The prosthetics always look laughably fake and they don’t move, so the actors can’t express any emotion with their faces. Such nuances of expression are available through film and why anyone would want to forego that is beyond me.
I think one of her biggest mistakes was just marketing her work as non-fiction, I don’t need a story to be 100% true to speak to some universal truth or artistic message. Anyone who has taken a creative writing class knows that they encourage you to draw on memory and you can write a story “inspired by true events” but not necessarily exactly what happened. I’m sure plenty of other authors and public figures have told similar aggrandizing lies and their image would fall apart like a house of cards upon further scrutiny.
I agree with you. Majority of movies about real stories or biopics specify that there can be parts based on fictional events or characters. And you're also right about stars and their 'come up' stories. For instance, I read that Clint Eastwood real story isn't the one he told about being a struggling kid from the depression era, etc., in order to match his all American & cow boy film characters. I wonder if they realize that everything will come to light one day lol.
She told lies about herself her whole life. It was part of how writers in that era tended to create larger than life public personalities. They were generally protected from the consequences of their lying by the power of the entertainment industry and the mainstream media. They were also often protected by the threat of legal action for libel. But by the time Julia was made, that protection system was breaking down. Celebrities couldn't get away with what they used to get away with.
Oh so in writing class, they encourage you to lie - to lie about real world events and people?? Ok - nice. nothing gets people more interested and makes more money than written mendacity. Guess that is the American Way these days.
@@josephinekassongo4368 So you are ok with lies about real events and real people? How the heck do you formulate an accurate and true opinion so that you can calculate truth about an event or person? You say they..... "specify that there can be parts based on fictional even or characters." Ok, then what is the point of viewing the movie -- to go see an untruth so that the movie can make money off your nonchalance about truth? Instead of saying "based on" the qualifying statement should be " hey fools -we made some of this up just to get you interested and to take your money. ENJOY!" Sounds like the FOX network to me and how 65% of America appears to be ok with Orange Stalin overthrowing our government - all rendering truth absurd in modern times.
My personal opinion is that Hellman didn’t simply misremember a story she’d been told about someone else. I believe that since the lawyer she and Muriel had both known died in 1951, Hellman would have had no way to know at the time of Pentimento that the woman whose story she inserted herself into was actually still alive. It’s interesting to me how her recollection of “Julia’s” life is almost 100% accurate except for the glaringly obvious difference about Muriel being alive and her Julia being deceased yet all of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies only come into play when they’re related to her involvement in the story. I think that’s because she did take Muriel’s story, probably not even thinking a woman who had lived such a full and dramatic life could’ve still been alive, and inserted herself into it to portray herself as the ultimate anti-fascist as a way to reiterate that she wasn’t black-listed for being a communist, but for refusing to be complicit in fascism. I think she felt she could get away with it because the lawyer who first told her about Muriel had passed away and she assumed no one would be around to contradict her.
I think this must have something to do with it. I think there’s also some real possibility of people “colonizing” stories they hear - where you relate to it or to the person telling it so well that you forget where the story ends as separate from yourself. There’s a This American Life cartoon animated by Bob Staake where a guy is telling how he and his wife were at dinner with friends and he starts telling a story of when he waved at Jackie Kennedy and his wife tells him, you weren’t there. She told him after it happened and he basically adopted the story as his own. This happened to me and my husband. One time he told a friend right in front of me that he knew someone whose mom decorated Christmas trees professionally and one of her clients was a NBA player in Arizona. Only it was my friend’s mom. It’s truly bizarre! How did he start to believe this was his experience? I think your explanation makes utter sense, and with actual fascists like Cohn and McCarthy running congress at the time Hellman was facing blacklisting, there’s an element of serious unsafety and trauma around the situation. The more important truth might not be the actual facts but the larger moral issue, that fascism is is a true danger and, like she says in the video, too many of us shrug at it. Hellman, for all her faults, was correct in that assertion.
Why don’t you kids go find something else to criticize like your own lack of contributing anything of value to the world. How about making a film beyond comic books? Go to Palestine see for yourself what is happening to Palestinians. Go to Viet Nam and find out what happened there. You might learn something. As for Joseph McCarthy do some research into the lives his lies ruined as America’s premier communist with hunter. It’s easy to put this crap up for public consumption about people long dead and can’t answer this kind of shite. Hey why don’t you this kind of deep dive into Trump Maga and the current state of the GOP party.
@@barbiedesoto7054 Thanks for the phrase "colonizing stories they hear." BION, my mother does this to me all the time. I had no idea what to make of it. It is bizarre. But when someone is in a position to make $$$$$$$millions from it, and it involves Stolen Valor, it is wrong, even if it is unconscious.
@@marlene56-143totally! I didn’t mean to say it wasn’t wrong. More like trying to understand it. And I think “her” version of the story is right in what it was trying to do to warn about fascism. I find that our brains do funny things, and it’s all about self preservation, and a lot of what we rationalize is exactly because it benefits us - obviously- in some way, often in terms of power or material gain.
me too, I gasped. I don't know how I missed the controversy because I was fascinated with Hellman and I was very young, it would have been in the papers.
I remember finding out about this probably 25 or so yrs ago & being shocked & in disbelief. So back then I read what I could find about it. I thought surely she didn't do this! But as I read more & more, I realized, yup - I guess she did. It's very sad in It's way. It took me quite sometime before I could enjoy the movie once again. It's a really good movie. So now I do enjoy the film, but I know longer trust Lilian Hellman's "truths". A shame, really.
For those intrigued by Muriel Gardiner, there is a book she authored - “Code Name Mary: Memoirs Of An American Woman In The Austrian Underground”. It was written after Gardiner had been alerted to the Hellman book. Another excellent book about Muriel Gardiner’s heroic life is “Muriel’s War: An American Heiress In The Nazi Resistance”, written by Sheila Isenberg. Both are satisfying rabbit holes.
There were other Austrian resistances-- 1936 to 39, some Austrians joined Ernst Thaelmann Batallion of Intl Brigades for Spanish Republic in Spanish Civil War. There was a 1945 little known battle between Austrian resistance, US army, etc. vs. Nazi SS units who wanted to massacre Allied VIP pows and Austrian resistors. All these have websites.
It's not Austria. It's Austria-Hungary. The eugenicists were a minority and eager to join the nazis and kill or enslave the Slavs. Today, Austrian neo-nauts are the wealthiest and biggest supporters of Holocaust denial. I take the word of the Resistance over LH. Long li/o/ve fake news. Am I writing poorly?
You know what I would love? A video about all these "women films" from the 70s, that feminist wave that took over Hollywood from mid to late 70s and then disappeared without a trace. Sally Field, Jill Clayburgh, Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn and Jane Fonda herself, they all thrived in those short years and there's a great case in that! 🤗
I am absolutely blown away by your very truthful, albeit incisive take on Hellman's both, writer and woman. While still living in Cuba, I went to see a play by Lillian Hellmann, The Little Foxes. I was 17 going on 40, and one thing that struck me as very unusual was, why would they produce a play by a Jewish American writer? Considering that, Fidel Castro, was always venomous against Israel. I went to the national library to see what I could find regarding Hellmann, and there it was clear as a bell. Lillian Hellmann was another in the long list of limousine and fur communists. It wasn't until I came to the US that I came across this movie, which I will admit, I enjoyed immensely. The whole trajectory of the train travel to Moscow via Berlin, the 50K in the fur hat, the stop at the border, etc. I was on the edge of the seat grasping the arms of the chair as if it was me. You see, I attempted an escape from Cuba where I was nearly killed. Only by the Grace of God me and my 3 other companions were not captured. I had to wait for another 15 months before I finally got out. We all did, eventually. The more I learned about this woman, the more I despised her and her hypocrisy. So very typical of every communist whose lives were never affected by it. She did possess a great talent, her stories are entertaining and well crafted. However, as distant from reality as Andromeda is from the Milky Way. I Thank you for bringing us this little window into the reality of she was and what she stood for.
I hear you. But remember that most Republicans - if they could - would have you deported in a New York minute, after forcing you to forfeit any property (like Castro did). All the while, bellowing about 'freedumb'.
I don’t care if it’s true or not. I don’t care that the movie was lacking, but every time I watch this film I’m enthralled by the performances of Fonda and Redgrave.
The academy award was invented by Jews in the 20's and I forgot what a nut VR was. In the 30's, my dad loved Greta Garbo when he was young. I loved VR. (Blowup) So these pink ladies get the last laugh?
I'm with you. Whether LIllian Hellman lied about this being autobiographical or not doesn't matter to me. All artists are crazy but, they do bring visions of our own inner worlds which we wouldn't have had otherwise. I'm still grateful for "Julia"
It’s so cool that Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave shared screen space. And Meryl Streep was in it? JACKPOT! P.S. In a tribute to Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep did say that after seeing her, the former told everyone who would hear that there’s a promising new talent.
Streep utterly shines in her one scene, creating a rich portrait of a snobbish socialite with a few lines of dialogue. The way she congratulates Lillian for being "so slim" is a wonderful combination of admiration and envy.
My favourite behind the scenes story of this movie is that Jane and Meryl did their first scene together and afterward Jane said something to the effect of “that was great, but it would be even better if you stepped forward into your light - because then you might be in the movie.” Lol.
It gets better, then, in Jane’s acceptance speech she said that in all her decades of acting only one person asked her how does she do it, and guess who that person was? Meryl, of course! And then she joked that all of Meryl’s success is because of her, lol.
@@EvaSofie I know exactly which moment you’re referring to - it was Jane’s acceptance speech for an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, and Meryl had introduced her. It was extremely wholesome, but also a cool insight into these huge names as artists who just love to sit and chat and explore creatively together like theatre geeks.
A pentimento (plural pentimenti), in painting, is "the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over".[1] Alass the title gave it away...
This was great! I first watched 'Julia' when I was 14 lol and I kinda used to love it then. I knew Hellman was in the film, but for some reason, it always stroke me as a work of fiction and not really a non-fictional story. I'm glad Fonda didn't really tried to do Hellman in the movie, that helps elevating it more into a work of fiction rather than being based on a real story. I remember hearing Fonda also never did much research for this role because she had just come out of shooting something else and literally had no time to do so.
Mary McCarthy is a savage! I just happen to be reading her most famous novel, 1963’s The Group. It’s so good, I re-read it often. It was my grandmother’s copy, so it’s very precious to me. And it’s just really fascinating- read it!
I read the memoir "Maybe" by Lillian Hellman before reading her other memoirs, & it's all about truth vs memory in dealing w/a woman who comes in and out of her life at odd moments and always has a different story, or she finds out from a third source that the events described didn't happen. It made me have a more ambiguous take on the other non-fiction. I think she remembers her feelings honestly, but specifics can be lost in the ether.
@@bkrewind I think you left your best line about Lilian to the comments of the video that seems to seek to cancel her. Probably a bit late "to be honest".
@@disconouvo3037 what was the best line? Also, Lillian is a writer. Great writers have great imaginations. Writers are also known for thier embellishments. Combine those 2 elements and...
This description sounds like consequences of dissociation and derealization, if it's not able to be controlled. Those are almost always symptoms that correlate with someone on the Dissociative spectrum. I have no idea why Lillian lied about the story that takes place in "Julia." The possibilities seem endless; money/knowing this lie could sell, a desire for fame, a desire to be thought of better than she thought of herself, narcissism, etc. If she truly had an inability to remember events and if she actually struggled with (and that's a big "IF") the truly crippling effects of Complex Trauma, that are derealization and dissociation, and maybe lying to herself to the point where even she believed the lies she was telling, and internalized them as part of her narrative, then I can see how that might lead her on a trajectory that ends with Julia, and inserting herself into another's narrative. It's also fascinating how she almost got away with it.
@@disconouvo3037 it’s incredibly ironic that the people that complain about cancel culture are unable to understand when someone is just being criticized and their actions reviewed. no one is trying to “cancel” Lilian
I'm 65 and had never heard of this scandal. Just listening to Lillian Hellman say on television that she had changed all the names in the Julia story to "protect" people sounded so unbelievable to me. These people would have been praised to high heaven for their anti-Nazi activities. No, Lillian Hellman obviously recognized a good story when she heard it somewhere and immediately worked herself into it. It was just one chapter in a collection of stories, who would ever know? When the story became the focus of so much attention, she just dug herself deeper and deeper into a quagmire of lies.
I agree completely, she simply heard this story however she did and reenigeered it into a fictionalized version of her life. Honestly watching the film of Julia, I never assumed it was accurate to reality, but it was an interesting story.
I'm a little ashamed to admit I knew absolutely nothing about this film, but this story was fascinating. Thank you for continuing to educate me and others on film history and its intricacies.
Don't feel bad. When I first saw the film, I had no idea of the controversy surrounding it. Even after I found out, I still love the film; Fred Zinnemann knows how to make a great movie.
Watch the movie, it's far more interesting than the controversy around the writing of the book. Hellman was and still is, a Goddess to American literature.
WHEN THIS FILM CAME OUT I KNEW nothing about it, I just loved it, I went with my mother to see a horror dirge, she wanted to see this instead; she fell asleep and I was fascinated!
@@maureenleigh4724 while I was enjoying the film when I first watched it, I think the real clinch for me was when Maximilian Schell walked onto the screen. His mysterious character, and yet his gentleness was just so impressive. Heck, he would convince me to purchase him a roll with an egg, and a glass of milk. Jason Robards yelling at Jane was a highlight for me as well (Jane annoys me).
I think I saw Julia the first time in the 90s. My father warned me about the Pentimento scandal, which had already come to light. I remember that I didn't care too much because the only thing I saw was a well-told story and two very good actresses. And also Jason Robards who is always excellent. Very very very good video, as always! The work that seems to be behind these videos is incredible. Hours and hours of reading reviews and articles and watching movies. I can't imagine how you do them. Congratulations!
Despite it all being a lie, I adore this movie so much I don’t even care about Hellmann’s legacy, I just always feel transported by the beauty of the screenplay, Zinnemann’s directing, the magnificent performances by Fonda, Redgrave, Robards and Schell and the always nostalgic score by Georges Delerue. Great video as always, though.
I feel that way too! This was my favorite movie in my teens, and made an indelible impression on me about the profound courage of fighting for principles that women are capable of which nothing else showed me then. I idolized Fonda (growing up in left-leaning L.A. with a single, working Mom z’l’), and was captivated by Redgrave (who was my favorite actress in the world after I saw & loved “Camelot” at 8 yrs old)! I read Pentimento after seeing the movie and loved the story too. For me, seeing it as fiction takes nothing away from how powerful, tragic, beautiful, and (for me), inspiring a piece of work it is!
@@boointhelotus5332 I loved it too, also during my teen years - loved the depiction of the writer's life, the political activism, and the relationships
That's nice, but the story and the movie insulted real people, both the victims of the Holocaust and Muriel Gardiner. It's using a real tragedy to build yourself a pedestal. The movie is perhaps one more lovely film that is secretly creepy, and Hellmann is the one to blame here. All the people you mentioned worked hard on this and it's a pity that their efforts were obscured by this controversy.
To me it is a perfect period piece, I knew nothing of all the bru ha around it until now... Really, for me, it's a story that gets a point across about friendship, loyalty, courage and women, written by a woman which at that time(1970's) was very important to women. If it is true... Then what courage to publish!! 😒😏
Julia is an excellent excellent film. And it's so disheartening that it's seldom mentioned in the pantheon of great Jane Fonda films. It's either Klute Barbarella or Grace and frankie. This is a magnificent period peace and it came right off the cusp of the Hanoi Jane era. A testament to Fonda's acting ability and skill of reemerging and staying relevant
When I think of Jane Fonda films, I think of 'The China Syndrome' rather than any of those. I honestly wish she had won her Second Academy Award for that instead of 'Coming Home'.
I hated Klute, and I frankly didn't, and still don't understand how she won for that film. The scenes where she is talking to the psychologist or therapist are the most annoying of all; bitch, bitch, bitch, hand gestures galore, crappy method acting. I think she would've done better if she literally chewed up the set, snarling and drooling. Now Monster In-Law; dreadful film, but her acting in it was perfect and hilarious. I love Julia, but not because of Jane Fonda.
Julia is an interesting character and the film is enjoyable independent of its possibly dubious origins. I am glad to see that Muriel Gardner got some recognition for her efforts. A possible complication her is that between the British Official Secrets Act and sexism, the heroic acts of a number of women who were agents or in the Resistance are not well known. There is, for example the American Virginia Hall, among the first British spies sent into France. She had, oddly enough, lost a leg.
Recently saw the movie "A Call to Spy" which starred Sarah Megan Thomas as Virginia Hall. It was quite fascinating telling the story of three women involved in the underground in France during WWII.
I saw Julia when it first came out & watched Vanessa Redgrave’s acceptance speech that year. I watched Dick Cavett on a regular basis…geez am I old…I remember all of this unfolding, it did take awhile. I never did watch Julia again & I agree The Turning Point was a better movie. Thanks for the video, it is/was an interesting story.
I liked Turning Point, but had a hard time noticing that Anne Bancroft didn't dance altho I know she is not a dancer, but it cast a damper on the film in my opinion.
I first read Julia, excerpted from "Pentimento," in Esquire Magazine in 1975. I thought it was one of the most powerful stories I had ever read. I couldn't wait to read "Pentimento" when it came out awhile later. I liked the movie, but thought Jane and Vanessa were about 12 years too old for the parts. I also had a hard time putting aside their smug, real-life political activism and accepting them as the characters. But, both did a competent job and the performances have held up. At the time the movie came out, I thought it was missing something. It had nowhere near the power that Hellman's writing had. I still think Hellman's memoirs, true or not, are some of the best I have ever read. I also agree that "The Turning Point" was a better movie.
I, too, was a regular Dick Cavett watcher, going back to That Was The Week That Was. Just because someone watched the program that was replaced by Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and every Gemini launch doesn’t make me old, it merely means that I had allergies and watched TV instead of going outside.
Outstanding! I remember the Cavett interview and read coverage of Hellman's response to McCarthy, and the issue being taken up by others in the press & journals.
Interesting. I hadn't thought much about for many years but I remember thinking it implausible when I saw it in 77. What tipped the scales for me was that every time she (Hellman) verged on a catastrophic mishap, there was someone from the resistance there to rescue the situation. I wondered why, if they had all these lookouts and protectors, they needed her to carry out such a mission. Thanks for all the background.
Yes I wondered that too. But as I recall that was added in the movie (as most movies alter stories from fiction & nonfiction to make them work on the screen). I don’t think all those helpers appeared in the Julia story as Hellman wrote it in Pentimento.
Would you do a Louise Brooks video? I'd be super interested to hear your take on her sadly very brief but hugely influential career, her fall from grace to becoming an escort and her eventual career revival as a critic and a wonderful film writer. She's so great and I think not many people who aren't into classic movies know about her. Thanks for another great video!
What a great video! So interesting, and so well done. I could watch or listen to this kind of video for hours, and nice thing is you learn something. Just love it.
One more thing. Unlike The Turning Point, which depicted women rivals, Julia showed two women in loyal friendship -- something very rare, as many men writers, and many women too, believe women are treacherous to each other, "catty," etc. My own experience has been that my friendships, women and men, have been the most precious and wondrous thing that ever happened in my life. Without that web of friends, I would have been lost. I loved how "Julia" made much of a long-time friendship between two women.
Thanks SO MUCH for this! I've known for years about some of these facts and events, but now thanks to your compelling video, I feel like I have as much of the whole story as I can get. Once again, great and FASCINATING work here.
Lillian Hellmann is a fascinating character herself. She couldn't have written a better one. Would you consider doing videos on Patricia Neal winning for "Hud" or Julie Christie for "Darling", wins from the 60s that have been a little forgotten?
A Julie Christie Oscar video would be super interesting - especially in the context of the Academy obsession with British cinema in the mid-60's and why that happened
I love Patricia Neal - an underrated film with her in her later years is an Altman film called "Cookie's Fortune." Great cast and setting, but who would expect anything else from Altman? I watched an interview with Patricia Neal one time and she kept talking about all the roles she was offered and how she had to turn them all down because that poor woman was literally pregnant all the time (I think she said had been pregnant 13 times total, and Loretta Lynn 9 times in an NPR interview, counting miscarriages that they shared about), a symptom I believe of her extremely controlling and abusive husband, Roald Dahl.
I remember seeing it when I was 13 years old and was blown away by the performances. It didn’t win a lot of Oscars but the competition was fierce that year (Annie Hall, Star Wars,Sat. Night Fever, Goodbye Girl, Equus, Turning Point, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Looking For Mr. Goodbar, The Spy Who Loved me etc.) - back when people actually saw the films that were nominated for Oscars.....
Thank you @BeKindRewind for always uploading the most informative and interesting videos for those of us interested in film and acting. Would you possibly consider doing write-ups/videos on some of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age -- Jean Arthur, Rosalind Russell, or Doris Day? Specifically when it comes to Arthur, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts given her personal life and how shy she was for the cameras, yet her screen persona never suggested that. Thanks again for sharing all your work!
oh what an interesting video! I saw Julia during the lockdowns and I thought it was fine, carried by stellar performances by Fonda and Redgrave (still weirded out that supporting actor went to their co-star, almost forgettable performance) BUT I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT THE STORY BEHIND JULIA! I really just wanted to see it bc I've seen that Redgrave won an Oscar for it, but omg this is horrendous to know the author lied about so much. Now it makes sense why my Holocaust and German film professor never had this film in her roster about of films to watch and write an essay on. But now I can't wait to email her and ask her what she's read on the film, on the cultural and collective memory of the film and its depiction of the Holocaust
I think this is an excellent point. Yes, lots of writers of literary nonfiction have, cough, honesty issues. But given that Holocaust denialism is such a scourge, I think there is an additional burden not to play with the truth like Hellman did.
Please get back to us with your professor's assessment of this movie and book. And don't be too quick to accept the "story behind Julia" on face value based on this video alone. :)
This was FASCINATING! What a sh¡tty thing to do, though. I had to laugh when Mary McCarthy listed John Steinbeck among the overrated, because I only recently learned the story of how he had stolen a lot of material for “The Grapes of Wrath” from journalist and author Sanora Baab in much the same way that Hellman stole ideas for “Pentimento” from Muriel Gardiner: through a common acquaintance. Baab’s notes about conditions in California’s migrant camps in the 1930’s were shared with Steinbeck by her supervisor at the Farm Security Administration, without her permission, of course. Baab incorporated her notes into a novel that was enthusiastically accepted for publication, then quashed when “Grapes”, which was published first, became a bestseller (Baab’s novel would eventually be published in 2004 as “Whose Names Are Unknown”). Steinbeck’s act of theft, ironically, would provide an iconic cinematic role for another member of the Fonda family (Henry as Tom Joad).
It’s really irritatingly arrogant for her to think that liberals were just useless elitist wussies, and couldn’t admit that Stalin and Hitler were flip sides of the fascist coin. Hitler at least had the excuse that he was bonkers from the beginning. Stalin had no such excuse. He was a flat out thug.
Let see,as late as 1966 she told her husband that stalin was correct all along.her attack against soviet defector Calling them traitor for turning there back against socialism. Lillian hellman of the 1930s is same lillian hellman we saw in the 1970s
Wow... this was fantastic. You've really upped your game! (I'd love to see you dissect the Frances Farmer story/Jessica Lange film at some point in the future... and how that wonderful gem of a film was totally overshadowed by Streep's Sophie.)
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I really love the little snippets of memes and movie/TV references you weave into your videos - like the Euphoria scene here. Your sense of humor comes through and we love to see it
The film that awarded my favorite actress the oscar... Vanessa was, is and always will be amazing! Her performance as Julia was incredible. Fonda was also great as Lillian.
Yes, Redgrave is positively incandescent as Julia. Years later I saw Redgrave on stage in a relatively small theatre in London and she was equally compelling. I realised then that the incandescence was not necessarily down to the lighting. She could generate that all on her own.
@@joshdrayton1230 She's wonderful. Even in "Letters to Juliet", sort of a teen film, she was incredible. Her chemistry with Amanda was superb, and the way she was holding her in one scene, while doing curls in Amanda hair with her fingers, was so touching. Her Isadora Duncan performance is also one I adore. You're so lucky, Josh! See the greatest actress alive on stage, and in London? MY DREAM!
I agree. I was introduced to Vanessa in the film Mary, Queen of Scots and I was hooked. I will watch anything she is in. However, the more I read about her, I came to see that politically she and I were on opposite sides. However, that didn't stop me from loving her as an actress. So now when someone says "I hate so and so (singer/actor, etc) because he's a liberal or she's a conservative", I just shrug and say "I have no problem separating politics or beliefs from talent, heck, I was and am a fan of Vanessa Redgrave". :)
@@victorrodrigueesoficial She is the only reason I watched Letters to Juliet with my grandson who had a little boy crush on Amanda Seyfried. I liked Isadora too but I really loved Mary, Queen of Scots and Playing for Time as far as Vanessa's films go.
I saw "Julia" in high school during its original run, and I loved it very much. I've never really liked Fonda, and I cared little for Redgrave's smug political posturing, but (to me) the film was fantastic. Isn't it odd that Hellman found this great female-centered story in WWII, and then wrote it as an autobiographical piece as opposed to a play, a screenplay, or a novel? I still can't get my head around that very strange decision.
Maybe one answer is that the Julia story pattern leaked into Hellman’s memory unconsciously, (like George Harrison famously did with “My Sweet Lord” years after the popularity of “He’s So Fine”), conflating what she heard from her lawyer 20 years before Pentimento with real actions and people she knew 20 years before that. Her childhood friend whose family were terrible people, and who died abroad during the 1930s after having a baby who was given up for adoption may have been a real person in Hellman’s life. Those details weren’t paralleled in the real life story of the woman whose code name was “Mary.” Perhaps the real friend was an anti-fascist in Spain (where many Americans went to help fight Franco during the Civil War) or was beaten up by Brownshirts in England (where plenty of Americans hung out before the Blitz) but Hellman may have conflated that story consciously or unconsciously with the one her lawyer had told her after the war but years before she wrote her 2nd memoir in 1973. I realize if true this doesn’t absolve her of amplifying her own role in the story as having smuggled money in to help Jews trapped in Nazi Germany, but it’s something to consider. And she may have physically brought some garment abroad with money sewn in to give to others doing underground anti fascist work in France before the war. (Sewing money and jewelry into clothes was also how some fleeing Jews smuggled money out with them when they couldn’t take anything they owned or even a suitcase). Maybe Hellman embellished details or changed things around for dramatic effect but subconsciously conflated other details. I think it’s entirely possible.
I like that your personal feelings about its leads didn’t interfere with your appreciation of the movie. Such nuance is missing from discourse in today’s world.
I think she may have unconsciously been finding her way to the treatment that would have come closer to the truth she wanted to show than the other venues she could use.
There was a play called "Imaginary Friends" written by Nora Ephron, about the Hellman/McCarthy feud. I saw it with Swoosie Kurtz and Cherry Jones - I didn't see it WITH them, as my companions, rather they were in the play that I saw.
Cherry Jones ALMOST managed to make Moon for the Misbegotten work - something ONLY Colleen Dewhurst ever managed to accomplish. I saw Cherry as Hannah in Night of the Iguana and she was ethereal.
Is it not ironic that it was a "McCarthy" who ultimately revealed the truth about Lilian Hellman? Anyway, an excellent video of a subject I knew very little about. That said, I am still a fan of Zinnemann's "Julia." And I think it's worth noting that "The Children's Hour" is a great film - especially for the period, and still very much worthwhile and even timely. But I admit my bias in being a huge Wyler/Hepburn fan, so...
GA are you aware that her mother who was actually the woman who held the wealth in her family was called Julia while her father was in essence a used car salesman. I'm sure it was her mother that provided her the lifestyle that enabled her to be the narcissist that she became, thus enabling her to embrace a life of lies and be applauded for it and paid in kind
This documentary is really high quality ! On all accounts. I'm really impressed, and got to learn so much. I loved it. Thanks. It got you my subscription to this YT channel. 👍🤩 Cheers
Basically "Julia" is like the "Sleepers" story. There's even a film with Brad Pitt, Jason Patrick, Kevin Bacon and Minnie Driver. Great story, but bollocks! Created by Lorenzo Carcaterra about his childhood. There's no actual proof that the events on the book happened to him. Anyway, amazing video! Thanks for the great content, as usual.
@@bkrewind Sure! I really like Sleepers, when I was young I had a massive crush on Jason Patrick and Brad Pitt. They were sexy as hell in that film... Anyway. It's a lie? Yes, but it entertain us. Julia is a amazing character, but the film is a little weird. Jason Robards shoudn't have won the academy award. He was completely forgetable!
Everything you create for this channel is fascinating and so well researched and presented. I feel like I am taking a masters level film studies course for free! Thank you for your hard work.
Lillian Hellman was a fav playwright for me. I read Pentimento and when I saw Julia I loved the film. I agree w/ most of the critical reviews. It was not a masterpiece but an excellent film nonetheless. I found out about the scandal in the immediate years when it was exposed. Disappointed best describes my reaction. As a writer, I’m disappointed that she didn’t simply create it as a work of FICTION since it was. That she didn’t made me understand that she was less a writer and aspired more to be a legend in her own mind similar to Hemingway. They both led fascinating lives and made literary contributions. But they were certainly flawed human beings whose literary talent a bit overhyped in retrospect. They both thought too much of themselves. That said, Julia still is a fav film of mine. I didn’t like it because I thought it was true. I liked the story of 2 women friends in a time of war and genocide. Seeing that kind of friendship onscreen is always good because it’s still rare. I’ve been inspired by works of fiction in my life. I accept Julia as nothing more than that.
This gives me very much “Atonement” vibes. Which is every because it also stars Vanessa Redgrave in that titular role where she comes clean about her novel, to an extent.
Hellman's personal story of truth and illusion in her writing does not mar Julia as a film. I think Julia is one of Jane Fonda's greatest screen triumphs. It's a film l go back to every few years and find it superlative.
I appreciate your shout-out to Pauline Kael. She was such an excellent reviewer. I could always tell from her reviews, whether she liked a movie or not, whether I myself might like the movie. She was so thoughtful about her reviews and so good about conveying what worked and what didn't. I truly miss her.
So I have a theory: when Lillian Hellman talks about losing a close friend, that part I think is true. I think she lost someone she was very closed to but probably due to what she or that other person was involved in, Lillian didn’t feel safe writing the story so instead she took someone else’s story and used it as a vehicle to express the emotions she was feeling. I’m not saying that’s any better but I’m still not entirely convinced this came from a place of malice. Grief is complicated and if you’re a writer it’s even more complicated cause your brain will naturally think of a thousand different stories to help you process it all.
OK ..thoughtful theories. I mean that genuinely, and so not to be dismissively snarky, if she was a high level communist, she was a deceiver at her core.
Lillian Hellman was a Stalinist apologist who wrote the script for "The North Star," a vile piece of pro-Soviet propaganda that depicts the happy life on a Ukrainian collective farm at a time when the real Ukraine was the object of Stalin's genocidal Terror Famine. Running cover for Stalin's crimes is no different to being a Holocaust denier.
People like her in the entertainment industry constantly either take stories other people have told them and make those stories about themselves. Or they take something from their own life and put a layer of exaggeration around it. Often they tell a story for so long, they come to believe it themselves. Especially decades after when they get older. "Julia" is also far from the only instance where she told stories about herself that were not strictly true. Its not good or bad. Its just how these people were.
It’s interesting how Hellman’s exposed fabrications (aka lies) seem to have diminished this picture. As I recall it was very well received critically and at the box office. Yet it is rarely mentioned and barely shown on TCM. I too was soured on the movie when I heard the real story and puzzled as to why Hellman never came out and explained her motives instead of her odd defenses like “I never read letters?” How odd for a writer especially from back in the day when letter writing was a primary source of communication. Bravo BKR!
YES i'm so happy to see you posted a new video! whoop. best part of my day ❤ i could wax poetic about how much care and love is apparent in your videos but instead i'll shut up and watch and learn. though i don't know much about the history of cinema, after watching your videos i feel like an expert. every single video is so well done and so, so enjoyable.
Great video with not just the usual thorough research and thoughtful commentary that we have gotten used to, but a satisfying buildup and dramaturgy as well, leading up to The Reveal! Simply perfect storytelling for those, like me, who had never heard of the movie Julia before.
If this was made today, people would be insisting that Jane and Vanessa are lovers. There would be fanvids all over, and talk about making it into a musical.
I borrowed the movie from my library and watched it earlier today for prep. I will say that the controversy is way more interesting than the movie itself.
I have watched Julia more than hundred times in last thirty years. I truly love this picture. Your tremendous video clarified many things for me. But it nothing detracts from the magic of this film for me.
I love this film. That scene with Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave where Julia and Lillian meet for the exchange of the money is a great scene, and I think that scene alone was worthy of Redgrave's Oscar. I vaguely knew that the story was not actually Hellman's life but knowing the context of that is fascinating. But despite the context I still think it's a good movie. Also The Turning Point is another fantastic movie.
Yes absolutely! I was 13 when I saw and loved both films! That scene you mention in the German pub made such an impression I think I can still quote from it. I think the word for Redgrave there would be numinous.
Oh nice, I just finished reading Indecent Exposure, about the embezzlement scandal surrounding the president of Columbia Pictures, in 1977 - this film was mentioned briefly, great timing.
Whoa... Vanessa Redgrave called out the Zionists on a nationwide stage while accepting an award for best supporting actress? I love her even more. Thank you to the people who supported her. Didn't know to hold her in the same regard as the brave Jane Fonda. So much respect for the two of them. Free Palestine.
I'm shallow, but my favourite aspects of the film were the clothes ands sets! And yes, The Turning Point is a fine movie. While I find Vanessa Redgrave a massive hypocrite politically (revolutionary workers party, educated her children in exclusive private schools), she's a brilliant actress and really shined in this film. Thanks again for an excellent analysis.
You're welcome to feel that way, but Vanessa was notorious for giving large sums of her money to causes she supported. Especially in the 70's, people would argue against casting her because her paycheck was going to go to whatever cause she believed in. So you're welcome to judge her based on the school's she sent her children to, but Vanessa definitely lived what she preached. She even gave the total sum from 5 paychecks to build an elementary school in England that exists to this day. One can scarcely find another celebrity who has done the same. You can even look to Fonda who talks about how she used to live in some of the most impoverished areas and sent her kids to public school because she felt like a hypocrite if she didn't. But as she got older, she realized there's a middle ground. One doesn't have to live on poverty to prove they care about the working class.
I had heard that "Julia" was a lie but thank you for exploring it more deeply. The best spin that I can put on this is that Hellman was delusional and actually believed her own lies. Memories are so nebulous and ephemeral that you can't always be sure it really happened, especially as a youngster.
Thank you, BKR for another well researched video. I was 21 when "Julia" came out. I remember that there was not an empty seat in the theater. At that time, I was totally enthralled in the story. I still think that it's a beautifully made film, as you say, reminiscent of the movies of WWII. As a piece of fiction, it's intriguing and it's so good to see women as the main focus. As misrepresentation on Ms. Hellman's part that she was indeed the real character involved in this story, shame of her. I like how you indicated that she wanted to appear heroic. I'm going to make another comparison about a person misrepresenting themselves. It has nothing to do with this film. I have watched and am currently watching several documentaries on Princess Diana. The person that I think is lying through his teeth about what "close friends" they were is her former butler, Paul Burrell. He strikes me as a slimy piece of work that will say anything for a buck or quid, if you will.
I agree with everything you said and Paul Burrell is a piece of slime. HE came out as gay when he worked for Diana and she of course accept it tho he carried-on with his wife and children until I think recently. ALL he does is try to make money off of his short association with Diana. SHE got rid of him because he was trying to insert himself into her life too much. LITTLE did she know after her death he would go on talking about her and making up things just to get money
Utterly fascinating presentation! Thank you for pealing the layers off this woman's interesting life. In a similar but not comparable case, we also have Wagner, who was an anti-Semite but we love his works. We can love Hellman's works but we do not have to admire the person. Thank you!
Mary McCarthy was absolutely right about Hellman's lies but paid a terrible price for her comment by being dragged in and out of court for the rest of her life by the vindictive and much wealthier Hellman.
"Pentimento" is also the book that revealed the legendary quote from Tallullah Bankhead : "Cocaine's not addictive! I should know, I've been doing it for years!" I certainly hope that Ms. Hellman didn't make THAT up.
Tallulah is unforgettable and her words incorruptible, even by Lillian.
Wasn't Bankhead also supposed to have said, "I can say f**k: I'm a lady"?
I've always loved that one -true or not.
Sounds very Tallullah-ish
And another Tallulah issuing a warning to Joan Crawford: "I f**ked your husband and if you don't watch out, I'll f**k you too!"
@@dontbefatuousjeffrey2494 Bankhead once did a play with Montgomery Clift. During that time, a reporter asked her if the rumors about Clift (that he was gay) were true. Her reply: "Gee, I dunno. He never tried to suck MY d***!"
In her book " I remember nothing" Nora Ephron talks at length about meeting Lillian and being just in awe of who she was as a person but later discovering that her whole story of heroism was really just a farce but ultimately feeling a sense of genuine sadness for this older woman who was grasping at the straws to cling to this hero narrative she created. I highly recommend it
Your comment makes me want to see this Channel cover some ground on Nora Ephron.
@@eamonndeane587 read her book " I remember nothing"... wonderful humor and lots of insight into life as a writer in Nyc
@@cafeAmericano I'll get that through my Amazon Kindle account.
@@eamonndeane587 the audiobook is also great. Lots of candor. I listen to it during covid LOL
I’m going to check it out but first I’ll see if I can get an old fashioned hard copy through my local independent book store and then my library.
The Jane Fonda incident was in North Vietnam, not South Vietnam.
Yup! An important difference and a surprising error.
@@frogpalpeeper4249 I guess at times, all of us have problems with "the truth".
"Hanoi Jane"
@@EmmaWhitaker-gf3uclet sleeping dogs lie!
@@lark6spur When it involves something as serious as that? No.
Lillian Hellman: She must tell me how I lied
Martha Gellhorn: Bet
Your videos should amount to an elective for a film studies course, honestly. I have learned so much from your channel.
I’ll second that!
Agreed!!
What a nice compliment.
They should be a required class for a film studies course.
omg I literally became obsessed and learned everything about golden age hollywood from this channel before I even registered what I was watching
I love the quote from Mary McCarthy: Every word she writes is a lie, including "and" and "the."
Greatest quote of all time.
If you wanna be sued by someone you detest for her dishonesty, it's a brilliant ploy.
"Green" in the old metaphorical sense?
@@johnpaterson6112 didn't use the word
A banger for sure
The part where you say that Jane Fonda did not disappear into the role and what she brought to it were the characteristics specific to Jane Fonda as a performer, this is what I think of Susan Sarandon‘s Oscar winning performance in Dead Man Walking. After watching it, I saw a TV interview with Sister Helen Prejean, and Sarandon did not attempt in any way shape or form to be anything like Prejean. Prejean is spunky and feisty, Sarandon made the character much more soft and genteel. I don’t think her performance would have been as moving if she had tried to do an imitation of Prejean, and I think it’s the same with Jane Fonda in this movie.
Agree about Jane Fonda not disappearing into the role. I find that's the case with most of her work as an actress. I believe they used to refer to these types of actors as "personality actors" who tend to present themselves similarly from one acting role to another. Cary Grant is another example.
@@1trschaefer78 Agree except, somewhat, in her comedy roles like "9 to 5" - just an insecure housewife making her way, but finding it. I felt I was watching Judy, not Jane, in that one
Absolutely agree and it's about time someone else said it. On another note with Sarandon, I felt the exact same way with her "portrayal" of Bette Davis in the Feud series. Like, when and where did she become Bette instead of playing herself? So disappointed 😞
@@1trschaefer78 And famously, Sean Connery!
On the other hand, I hate the trend nowadays of having to make the actor/actress look like the actual person they’re portraying through prosthetics. The prosthetics always look laughably fake and they don’t move, so the actors can’t express any emotion with their faces. Such nuances of expression are available through film and why anyone would want to forego that is beyond me.
I think one of her biggest mistakes was just marketing her work as non-fiction, I don’t need a story to be 100% true to speak to some universal truth or artistic message. Anyone who has taken a creative writing class knows that they encourage you to draw on memory and you can write a story “inspired by true events” but not necessarily exactly what happened. I’m sure plenty of other authors and public figures have told similar aggrandizing lies and their image would fall apart like a house of cards upon further scrutiny.
I agree with you. Majority of movies about real stories or biopics specify that there can be parts based on fictional events or characters. And you're also right about stars and their 'come up' stories. For instance, I read that Clint Eastwood real story isn't the one he told about being a struggling kid from the depression era, etc., in order to match his all American & cow boy film characters. I wonder if they realize that everything will come to light one day lol.
She told lies about herself her whole life. It was part of how writers in that era tended to create larger than life public personalities. They were generally protected from the consequences of their lying by the power of the entertainment industry and the mainstream media. They were also often protected by the threat of legal action for libel.
But by the time Julia was made, that protection system was breaking down. Celebrities couldn't get away with what they used to get away with.
rousseau's confessions are a testament to this
Oh so in writing class, they encourage you to lie - to lie about real world events and people?? Ok - nice.
nothing gets people more interested and makes more money than written mendacity. Guess that is the American Way these days.
@@josephinekassongo4368 So you are ok with lies about real events and real people? How the heck do you formulate an accurate and true opinion so that you can calculate truth about an event or person? You say they..... "specify that there can be parts based on fictional even or characters." Ok, then what is the point of viewing the movie -- to go see an untruth so that the movie can make money off your nonchalance about truth? Instead of saying "based on" the qualifying statement should be " hey fools -we made some of this up just to get you interested and to take your money. ENJOY!"
Sounds like the FOX network to me and how 65% of America appears to be ok with Orange Stalin overthrowing our government - all rendering truth absurd in modern times.
Julia's strength is its lyricism; it captures a great platonic love with watchful awe and not many words.
My personal opinion is that Hellman didn’t simply misremember a story she’d been told about someone else. I believe that since the lawyer she and Muriel had both known died in 1951, Hellman would have had no way to know at the time of Pentimento that the woman whose story she inserted herself into was actually still alive. It’s interesting to me how her recollection of “Julia’s” life is almost 100% accurate except for the glaringly obvious difference about Muriel being alive and her Julia being deceased yet all of the inconsistencies and inaccuracies only come into play when they’re related to her involvement in the story. I think that’s because she did take Muriel’s story, probably not even thinking a woman who had lived such a full and dramatic life could’ve still been alive, and inserted herself into it to portray herself as the ultimate anti-fascist as a way to reiterate that she wasn’t black-listed for being a communist, but for refusing to be complicit in fascism. I think she felt she could get away with it because the lawyer who first told her about Muriel had passed away and she assumed no one would be around to contradict her.
I think this must have something to do with it. I think there’s also some real possibility of people “colonizing” stories they hear - where you relate to it or to the person telling it so well that you forget where the story ends as separate from yourself. There’s a This American Life cartoon animated by Bob Staake where a guy is telling how he and his wife were at dinner with friends and he starts telling a story of when he waved at Jackie Kennedy and his wife tells him, you weren’t there. She told him after it happened and he basically adopted the story as his own. This happened to me and my husband. One time he told a friend right in front of me that he knew someone whose mom decorated Christmas trees professionally and one of her clients was a NBA player in Arizona. Only it was my friend’s mom. It’s truly bizarre! How did he start to believe this was his experience? I think your explanation makes utter sense, and with actual fascists like Cohn and McCarthy running congress at the time Hellman was facing blacklisting, there’s an element of serious unsafety and trauma around the situation. The more important truth might not be the actual facts but the larger moral issue, that fascism is is a true danger and, like she says in the video, too many of us shrug at it. Hellman, for all her faults, was correct in that assertion.
Spot on, IMO.
Why don’t you kids go find something else to criticize like your own lack of contributing anything of value to the world. How about making a film beyond comic books? Go to Palestine see for yourself what is happening to Palestinians. Go to Viet Nam and find out what happened there. You might learn something. As for Joseph McCarthy do some research into the lives his lies ruined as America’s premier communist with hunter. It’s easy to put this crap up for public consumption about people long dead and can’t answer this kind of shite. Hey why don’t you this kind of deep dive into Trump Maga and the current state of the GOP party.
@@barbiedesoto7054 Thanks for the phrase "colonizing stories they hear." BION, my mother does this to me all the time. I had no idea what to make of it. It is bizarre. But when someone is in a position to make $$$$$$$millions from it, and it involves Stolen Valor, it is wrong, even if it is unconscious.
@@marlene56-143totally! I didn’t mean to say it wasn’t wrong. More like trying to understand it. And I think “her” version of the story is right in what it was trying to do to warn about fascism. I find that our brains do funny things, and it’s all about self preservation, and a lot of what we rationalize is exactly because it benefits us - obviously- in some way, often in terms of power or material gain.
Since I didn’t know this story, I actually gasped when you said Julia wasn’t true. Great video! Probably one my favs from you 🧡
same ! i didn’t know when the ‘controversy’ was going to come in but when she said that i audibly gasped
lmao sameeeee
Same! I actually gasped out loud
me too, I gasped. I don't know how I missed the controversy because I was fascinated with Hellman and I was very young, it would have been in the papers.
I remember finding out about this probably 25 or so yrs ago & being shocked & in disbelief. So back then I read what I could find about it. I thought surely she didn't do this! But as I read more & more, I realized, yup - I guess she did. It's very sad in It's way. It took me quite sometime before I could enjoy the movie once again. It's a really good movie. So now I do enjoy the film, but I know longer trust Lilian Hellman's "truths". A shame, really.
For those intrigued by Muriel Gardiner, there is a book she authored - “Code Name Mary: Memoirs Of An American Woman In The Austrian Underground”. It was written after Gardiner had been alerted to the Hellman book. Another excellent book about Muriel Gardiner’s heroic life is “Muriel’s War: An American Heiress In The Nazi Resistance”, written by Sheila Isenberg. Both are satisfying rabbit holes.
Thank you!!
There were other Austrian resistances--
1936 to 39, some Austrians joined Ernst
Thaelmann Batallion of Intl Brigades for Spanish Republic in Spanish Civil War.
There was a 1945 little known battle
between Austrian resistance, US army,
etc. vs. Nazi SS units who wanted to
massacre Allied VIP pows and Austrian
resistors.
All these have websites.
It's not Austria. It's Austria-Hungary. The eugenicists were a minority and eager to join the nazis and kill or enslave the Slavs. Today, Austrian neo-nauts are the wealthiest and biggest supporters of Holocaust denial. I take the word of the Resistance over LH. Long li/o/ve fake news. Am I writing poorly?
You know what I would love? A video about all these "women films" from the 70s, that feminist wave that took over Hollywood from mid to late 70s and then disappeared without a trace. Sally Field, Jill Clayburgh, Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn and Jane Fonda herself, they all thrived in those short years and there's a great case in that! 🤗
Undersign this wish! That would be amazing and BKR is just the person to do it, should she choose.
so true!
QQ
Q
Movies had indeed become action-oriented and male-centered during that time, and these female-driven roles emerged and made us hopeful….briefly.
Yesssss
I am absolutely blown away by your very truthful, albeit incisive take on Hellman's both, writer and woman. While still living in Cuba, I went to see a play by Lillian Hellmann, The Little Foxes. I was 17 going on 40, and one thing that struck me as very unusual was, why would they produce a play by a Jewish American writer? Considering that, Fidel Castro, was always venomous against Israel.
I went to the national library to see what I could find regarding Hellmann, and there it was clear as a bell. Lillian Hellmann was another in the long list of limousine and fur communists.
It wasn't until I came to the US that I came across this movie, which I will admit, I enjoyed immensely. The whole trajectory of the train travel to Moscow via Berlin, the 50K in the fur hat, the stop at the border, etc. I was on the edge of the seat grasping the arms of the chair as if it was me. You see, I attempted an escape from Cuba where I was nearly killed. Only by the Grace of God me and my 3 other companions were not captured. I had to wait for another 15 months before I finally got out. We all did, eventually.
The more I learned about this woman, the more I despised her and her hypocrisy. So very typical of every communist whose lives were never affected by it.
She did possess a great talent, her stories are entertaining and well crafted. However, as distant from reality as Andromeda is from the Milky Way.
I Thank you for bringing us this little window into the reality of she was and what she stood for.
I wonder if Lillian Hellman would be a Zionist today?
I hear you. But remember that most Republicans - if they could - would have you deported in a New York minute, after forcing you to forfeit any property (like Castro did).
All the while, bellowing about 'freedumb'.
I WAS JUST WONDERING WHEN YOU’D POST AGAIN, BLESS YOU ❤️❤️❤️
I don’t care if it’s true or not. I don’t care that the movie was lacking, but every time I watch this film I’m enthralled by the performances of Fonda and Redgrave.
I completely agree!!
Me too !
Saw it when it first came out. Loved it!
The academy award was invented by Jews in the 20's and I forgot what a nut VR was. In the 30's, my dad loved Greta Garbo when he was young. I loved VR. (Blowup) So these pink ladies get the last laugh?
I'm with you. Whether LIllian Hellman lied about this being autobiographical or not doesn't matter to me. All artists are crazy but, they do bring visions of our own inner worlds which we wouldn't have had otherwise. I'm still grateful for "Julia"
It’s so cool that Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave shared screen space. And Meryl Streep was in it? JACKPOT!
P.S. In a tribute to Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep did say that after seeing her, the former told everyone who would hear that there’s a promising new talent.
Streep utterly shines in her one scene, creating a rich portrait of a snobbish socialite with a few lines of dialogue. The way she congratulates Lillian for being "so slim" is a wonderful combination of admiration and envy.
My favourite behind the scenes story of this movie is that Jane and Meryl did their first scene together and afterward Jane said something to the effect of “that was great, but it would be even better if you stepped forward into your light - because then you might be in the movie.” Lol.
It gets better, then, in Jane’s acceptance speech she said that in all her decades of acting only one person asked her how does she do it, and guess who that person was? Meryl, of course! And then she joked that all of Meryl’s success is because of her, lol.
@@EvaSofie I know exactly which moment you’re referring to - it was Jane’s acceptance speech for an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, and Meryl had introduced her. It was extremely wholesome, but also a cool insight into these huge names as artists who just love to sit and chat and explore creatively together like theatre geeks.
Streep absolutely stole the one scene she was in.
A pentimento (plural pentimenti), in painting, is "the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over".[1] Alass the title gave it away...
Thank you for that information. Enlightening. ✌️
This was great! I first watched 'Julia' when I was 14 lol and I kinda used to love it then. I knew Hellman was in the film, but for some reason, it always stroke me as a work of fiction and not really a non-fictional story. I'm glad Fonda didn't really tried to do Hellman in the movie, that helps elevating it more into a work of fiction rather than being based on a real story. I remember hearing Fonda also never did much research for this role because she had just come out of shooting something else and literally had no time to do so.
Mary McCarthy is a savage! I just happen to be reading her most famous novel, 1963’s The Group. It’s so good, I re-read it often. It was my grandmother’s copy, so it’s very precious to me. And it’s just really fascinating- read it!
I read the memoir "Maybe" by Lillian Hellman before reading her other memoirs, & it's all about truth vs memory in dealing w/a woman who comes in and out of her life at odd moments and always has a different story, or she finds out from a third source that the events described didn't happen. It made me have a more ambiguous take on the other non-fiction. I think she remembers her feelings honestly, but specifics can be lost in the ether.
Yeah! To be honest, even if they aren't factual, I find her books really fun to read. She is, after all, a great writer above all else!!
@@bkrewind I think you left your best line about Lilian to the comments of the video that seems to seek to cancel her. Probably a bit late "to be honest".
@@disconouvo3037 what was the best line? Also, Lillian is a writer. Great writers have great imaginations. Writers are also known for thier embellishments. Combine those 2 elements and...
This description sounds like consequences of dissociation and derealization, if it's not able to be controlled. Those are almost always symptoms that correlate with someone on the Dissociative spectrum. I have no idea why Lillian lied about the story that takes place in "Julia." The possibilities seem endless; money/knowing this lie could sell, a desire for fame, a desire to be thought of better than she thought of herself, narcissism, etc. If she truly had an inability to remember events and if she actually struggled with (and that's a big "IF") the truly crippling effects of Complex Trauma, that are derealization and dissociation, and maybe lying to herself to the point where even she believed the lies she was telling, and internalized them as part of her narrative, then I can see how that might lead her on a trajectory that ends with Julia, and inserting herself into another's narrative. It's also fascinating how she almost got away with it.
@@disconouvo3037 it’s incredibly ironic that the people that complain about cancel culture are unable to understand when someone is just being criticized and their actions reviewed. no one is trying to “cancel” Lilian
I'm 65 and had never heard of this scandal. Just listening to Lillian Hellman say on television that she had changed all the names in the Julia story to "protect" people sounded so unbelievable to me. These people would have been praised to high heaven for their anti-Nazi activities. No, Lillian Hellman obviously recognized a good story when she heard it somewhere and immediately worked herself into it. It was just one chapter in a collection of stories, who would ever know? When the story became the focus of so much attention, she just dug herself deeper and deeper into a quagmire of lies.
I agree completely, she simply heard this story however she did and reenigeered it into a fictionalized version of her life. Honestly watching the film of Julia, I never assumed it was accurate to reality, but it was an interesting story.
I'm a little ashamed to admit I knew absolutely nothing about this film, but this story was fascinating. Thank you for continuing to educate me and others on film history and its intricacies.
Don't feel bad. When I first saw the film, I had no idea of the controversy surrounding it. Even after I found out, I still love the film; Fred Zinnemann knows how to make a great movie.
Watch the movie, it's far more interesting than the controversy around the writing of the book. Hellman was and still is, a Goddess to American literature.
WHEN THIS FILM CAME OUT I KNEW nothing about it, I just loved it, I went with my mother to see a horror dirge, she wanted to see this instead; she fell asleep and I was fascinated!
@@maureenleigh4724 while I was enjoying the film when I first watched it, I think the real clinch for me was when Maximilian Schell walked onto the screen. His mysterious character, and yet his gentleness was just so impressive. Heck, he would convince me to purchase him a roll with an egg, and a glass of milk. Jason Robards yelling at Jane was a highlight for me as well (Jane annoys me).
SHAME on jou!!! L0L
I think I saw Julia the first time in the 90s. My father warned me about the Pentimento scandal, which had already come to light. I remember that I didn't care too much because the only thing I saw was a well-told story and two very good actresses. And also Jason Robards who is always excellent. Very very very good video, as always! The work that seems to be behind these videos is incredible. Hours and hours of reading reviews and articles and watching movies. I can't imagine how you do them. Congratulations!
I like you father’s concern
Despite it all being a lie, I adore this movie so much I don’t even care about Hellmann’s legacy, I just always feel transported by the beauty of the screenplay, Zinnemann’s directing, the magnificent performances by Fonda, Redgrave, Robards and Schell and the always nostalgic score by Georges Delerue. Great video as always, though.
I feel that way too! This was my favorite movie in my teens, and made an indelible impression on me about the profound courage of fighting for principles that women are capable of which nothing else showed me then. I idolized Fonda (growing up in left-leaning L.A. with a single, working Mom z’l’), and was captivated by Redgrave (who was my favorite actress in the world after I saw & loved “Camelot” at 8 yrs old)! I read Pentimento after seeing the movie and loved the story too. For me, seeing it as fiction takes nothing away from how powerful, tragic, beautiful, and (for me), inspiring a piece of work it is!
@@boointhelotus5332 I loved it too, also during my teen years - loved the depiction of the writer's life, the political activism, and the relationships
That's nice, but the story and the movie insulted real people, both the victims of the Holocaust and Muriel Gardiner. It's using a real tragedy to build yourself a pedestal. The movie is perhaps one more lovely film that is secretly creepy, and Hellmann is the one to blame here. All the people you mentioned worked hard on this and it's a pity that their efforts were obscured by this controversy.
It was one of my favorite movies, ever.
To me it is a perfect period piece, I knew nothing of all the bru ha around it until now...
Really, for me, it's a story that gets a point across about friendship, loyalty, courage and women, written by a woman which at that time(1970's) was very important to women.
If it is true... Then what courage to publish!! 😒😏
This is SUPERB. Thank you for creating and posting this
Julia is an excellent excellent film. And it's so disheartening that it's seldom mentioned in the pantheon of great Jane Fonda films. It's either Klute Barbarella or Grace and frankie. This is a magnificent period peace and it came right off the cusp of the Hanoi Jane era. A testament to Fonda's acting ability and skill of reemerging and staying relevant
When I think of Jane Fonda films, I think of 'The China Syndrome' rather than any of those.
I honestly wish she had won her Second Academy Award for that instead of 'Coming Home'.
I hated Klute, and I frankly didn't, and still don't understand how she won for that film. The scenes where she is talking to the psychologist or therapist are the most annoying of all; bitch, bitch, bitch, hand gestures galore, crappy method acting. I think she would've done better if she literally chewed up the set, snarling and drooling. Now Monster In-Law; dreadful film, but her acting in it was perfect and hilarious.
I love Julia, but not because of Jane Fonda.
Wish I can share your enthusiasm for the film
And don’t forget 9-to-5 which was hugely popular, a real departure for her, and was the best female-centric comedy of hers till Grace & Frankie.
China Syndrome
Julia is an interesting character and the film is enjoyable independent of its possibly dubious origins. I am glad to see that Muriel Gardner got some recognition for her efforts. A possible complication her is that between the British Official Secrets Act and sexism, the heroic acts of a number of women who were agents or in the Resistance are not well known. There is, for example the American Virginia Hall, among the first British spies sent into France. She had, oddly enough, lost a leg.
Recently saw the movie "A Call to Spy" which starred Sarah Megan Thomas as Virginia Hall. It was quite fascinating telling the story of three women involved in the underground in France during WWII.
@@devonrains6580 womens heads were shaved if they mingled w germans, spy or not. repression. my cousins didnt make it & died sabotaging germans
Vanessa is her own standard. She's not the English Jane Fonda. Vanessa and Jane are equals in their craft, they are fantastic! Love them!
Jane Fonda is the US Vanessa Redgrave.
The Jane Fonda incident referred to took place in North Vietnam not South.
I saw Julia when it first came out & watched Vanessa Redgrave’s acceptance speech that year. I watched Dick Cavett on a regular basis…geez am I old…I remember all of this unfolding, it did take awhile. I never did watch Julia again & I agree The Turning Point was a better movie. Thanks for the video, it is/was an interesting story.
I liked Turning Point, but had a hard time noticing that Anne Bancroft didn't dance altho I know she is not a dancer, but it cast a damper on the film in my opinion.
Yeah you ARE old 😂
Agree with all you say
I first read Julia, excerpted from "Pentimento," in Esquire Magazine in 1975. I thought it was one of the most powerful stories I had ever read. I couldn't wait to read "Pentimento" when it came out awhile later. I liked the movie, but thought Jane and Vanessa were about 12 years too old for the parts. I also had a hard time putting aside their smug, real-life political activism and accepting them as the characters. But, both did a competent job and the performances have held up. At the time the movie came out, I thought it was missing something. It had nowhere near the power that Hellman's writing had. I still think Hellman's memoirs, true or not, are some of the best I have ever read. I also agree that "The Turning Point" was a better movie.
I, too, was a regular Dick Cavett watcher, going back to That Was The Week That Was. Just because someone watched the program that was replaced by Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and every Gemini launch doesn’t make me old, it merely means that I had allergies and watched TV instead of going outside.
Outstanding! I remember the Cavett interview and read coverage of Hellman's response to McCarthy, and the issue being taken up by others in the press & journals.
wow, this video truly had twist and turns that I wasn't expecting! Lillian Hellman was truly trying to be the main character.
I never heard of any of this. Thank you for such compelling and well-made content.
Interesting. I hadn't thought much about for many years but I remember thinking it implausible when I saw it in 77. What tipped the scales for me was that every time she (Hellman) verged on a catastrophic mishap, there was someone from the resistance there to rescue the situation. I wondered why, if they had all these lookouts and protectors, they needed her to carry out such a mission. Thanks for all the background.
Yes I wondered that too. But as I recall that was added in the movie (as most movies alter stories from fiction & nonfiction to make them work on the screen). I don’t think all those helpers appeared in the Julia story as Hellman wrote it in Pentimento.
Interesting that Hellman's own mother was named Julia.
Would you do a Louise Brooks video? I'd be super interested to hear your take on her sadly very brief but hugely influential career, her fall from grace to becoming an escort and her eventual career revival as a critic and a wonderful film writer. She's so great and I think not many people who aren't into classic movies know about her. Thanks for another great video!
I second this, yes please.
What a great video! So interesting, and so well done.
I could watch or listen to this kind of video for hours, and nice thing is you learn something. Just love it.
every time you post my heart skips a beat, i look forward to everything you put out
One more thing. Unlike The Turning Point, which depicted women rivals, Julia showed two women in loyal friendship -- something very rare, as many men writers, and many women too, believe women are treacherous to each other, "catty," etc. My own experience has been that my friendships, women and men, have been the most precious and wondrous thing that ever happened in my life. Without that web of friends, I would have been lost. I loved how "Julia" made much of a long-time friendship between two women.
Thanks SO MUCH for this! I've known for years about some of these facts and events, but now thanks to your compelling video, I feel like I have as much of the whole story as I can get. Once again, great and FASCINATING work here.
Lillian Hellmann is a fascinating character herself. She couldn't have written a better one.
Would you consider doing videos on Patricia Neal winning for "Hud" or Julie Christie for "Darling", wins from the 60s that have been a little forgotten?
Loved Hud, gorgeous cinematography
A Julie Christie Oscar video would be super interesting - especially in the context of the Academy obsession with British cinema in the mid-60's and why that happened
I love Patricia Neal - an underrated film with her in her later years is an Altman film called "Cookie's Fortune." Great cast and setting, but who would expect anything else from Altman?
I watched an interview with Patricia Neal one time and she kept talking about all the roles she was offered and how she had to turn them all down because that poor woman was literally pregnant all the time (I think she said had been pregnant 13 times total, and Loretta Lynn 9 times in an NPR interview, counting miscarriages that they shared about), a symptom I believe of her extremely controlling and abusive husband, Roald Dahl.
"Being happy should be the easiest thing in the world...I wonder why it isn't?" My favorite line
I liked her mayonnaise, too!
I remember seeing it when I was 13 years old and was blown away by the performances. It didn’t win a lot of Oscars but the competition was fierce that year (Annie Hall, Star Wars,Sat. Night Fever, Goodbye Girl, Equus, Turning Point,
Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Looking For Mr. Goodbar, The Spy Who Loved me etc.) - back when people actually saw the films that were nominated for Oscars.....
Thank you @BeKindRewind for always uploading the most informative and interesting videos for those of us interested in film and acting. Would you possibly consider doing write-ups/videos on some of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age -- Jean Arthur, Rosalind Russell, or Doris Day? Specifically when it comes to Arthur, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts given her personal life and how shy she was for the cameras, yet her screen persona never suggested that. Thanks again for sharing all your work!
Your impeccable research and your personal insight into this subject was riveting! SUBSCRIBED. 😃
oh what an interesting video! I saw Julia during the lockdowns and I thought it was fine, carried by stellar performances by Fonda and Redgrave (still weirded out that supporting actor went to their co-star, almost forgettable performance)
BUT I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT THE STORY BEHIND JULIA! I really just wanted to see it bc I've seen that Redgrave won an Oscar for it, but omg this is horrendous to know the author lied about so much. Now it makes sense why my Holocaust and German film professor never had this film in her roster about of films to watch and write an essay on. But now I can't wait to email her and ask her what she's read on the film, on the cultural and collective memory of the film and its depiction of the Holocaust
I think this is an excellent point. Yes, lots of writers of literary nonfiction have, cough, honesty issues. But given that Holocaust denialism is such a scourge, I think there is an additional burden not to play with the truth like Hellman did.
You're so lucky that you still have a professor that you can contact and I think it's a brilliant idea good luck
Please get back to us with your professor's assessment of this movie and book. And don't be too quick to accept the "story behind Julia" on face value based on this video alone. :)
This was FASCINATING! What a sh¡tty thing to do, though. I had to laugh when Mary McCarthy listed John Steinbeck among the overrated, because I only recently learned the story of how he had stolen a lot of material for “The Grapes of Wrath” from journalist and author Sanora Baab in much the same way that Hellman stole ideas for “Pentimento” from Muriel Gardiner: through a common acquaintance. Baab’s notes about conditions in California’s migrant camps in the 1930’s were shared with Steinbeck by her supervisor at the Farm Security Administration, without her permission, of course. Baab incorporated her notes into a novel that was enthusiastically accepted for publication, then quashed when “Grapes”, which was published first, became a bestseller (Baab’s novel would eventually be published in 2004 as “Whose Names Are Unknown”). Steinbeck’s act of theft, ironically, would provide an iconic cinematic role for another member of the Fonda family (Henry as Tom Joad).
Lillian Hellman was not a socialist, she was a die-hard Stalinist even after Stalin was exposed as a mass murderer. Willful moral blindness.
It’s really irritatingly arrogant for her to think that liberals were just useless elitist wussies, and couldn’t admit that Stalin and Hitler were flip sides of the fascist coin. Hitler at least had the excuse that he was bonkers from the beginning. Stalin had no such excuse. He was a flat out thug.
Let see,as late as 1966 she told her husband that stalin was correct all along.her attack against soviet defector
Calling them traitor for turning there back against socialism.
Lillian hellman of the 1930s is same lillian hellman we saw in the 1970s
The awful thing is that the left is now almost entirely Stalinist.
Wow... this was fantastic. You've really upped your game!
(I'd love to see you dissect the Frances Farmer story/Jessica Lange film at some point in the future... and how that wonderful gem of a film was totally overshadowed by Streep's Sophie.)
I really love the little snippets of memes and movie/TV references you weave into your videos - like the Euphoria scene here. Your sense of humor comes through and we love to see it
I love your posts more and more. Keep up the good fight!!
The film that awarded my favorite actress the oscar... Vanessa was, is and always will be amazing! Her performance as Julia was incredible. Fonda was also great as Lillian.
Here here! Fully agree!
Yes, Redgrave is positively incandescent as Julia. Years later I saw Redgrave on stage in a relatively small theatre in London and she was equally compelling. I realised then that the incandescence was not necessarily down to the lighting. She could generate that all on her own.
@@joshdrayton1230 She's wonderful. Even in "Letters to Juliet", sort of a teen film, she was incredible. Her chemistry with Amanda was superb, and the way she was holding her in one scene, while doing curls in Amanda hair with her fingers, was so touching. Her Isadora Duncan performance is also one I adore. You're so lucky, Josh!
See the greatest actress alive on stage, and in London? MY DREAM!
I agree. I was introduced to Vanessa in the film Mary, Queen of Scots and I was hooked. I will watch anything she is in. However, the more I read about her, I came to see that politically she and I were on opposite sides. However, that didn't stop me from loving her as an actress. So now when someone says "I hate so and so (singer/actor, etc) because he's a liberal or she's a conservative", I just shrug and say "I have no problem separating politics or beliefs from talent, heck, I was and am a fan of Vanessa Redgrave". :)
@@victorrodrigueesoficial She is the only reason I watched Letters to Juliet with my grandson who had a little boy crush on Amanda Seyfried. I liked Isadora too but I really loved Mary, Queen of Scots and Playing for Time as far as Vanessa's films go.
I saw "Julia" in high school during its original run, and I loved it very much. I've never really liked Fonda, and I cared little for Redgrave's smug political posturing, but (to me) the film was fantastic. Isn't it odd that Hellman found this great female-centered story in WWII, and then wrote it as an autobiographical piece as opposed to a play, a screenplay, or a novel? I still can't get my head around that very strange decision.
Maybe one answer is that the Julia story pattern leaked into Hellman’s memory unconsciously, (like George Harrison famously did with “My Sweet Lord” years after the popularity of “He’s So Fine”), conflating what she heard from her lawyer 20 years before Pentimento with real actions and people she knew 20 years before that. Her childhood friend whose family were terrible people, and who died abroad during the 1930s after having a baby who was given up for adoption may have been a real person in Hellman’s life. Those details weren’t paralleled in the real life story of the woman whose code name was “Mary.” Perhaps the real friend was an anti-fascist in Spain (where many Americans went to help fight Franco during the Civil War) or was beaten up by Brownshirts in England (where plenty of Americans hung out before the Blitz) but Hellman may have conflated that story consciously or unconsciously with the one her lawyer had told her after the war but years before she wrote her 2nd memoir in 1973. I realize if true this doesn’t absolve her of amplifying her own role in the story as having smuggled money in to help Jews trapped in Nazi Germany, but it’s something to consider. And she may have physically brought some garment abroad with money sewn in to give to others doing underground anti fascist work in France before the war. (Sewing money and jewelry into clothes was also how some fleeing Jews smuggled money out with them when they couldn’t take anything they owned or even a suitcase). Maybe Hellman embellished details or changed things around for dramatic effect but subconsciously conflated other details. I think it’s entirely possible.
I like that your personal feelings about its leads didn’t interfere with your appreciation of the movie. Such nuance is missing from discourse in today’s world.
I think she may have unconsciously been finding her way to the treatment that would have come closer to the truth she wanted to show than the other venues she could use.
There was a play called "Imaginary Friends" written by Nora Ephron, about the Hellman/McCarthy feud. I saw it with Swoosie Kurtz and Cherry Jones - I didn't see it WITH them, as my companions, rather they were in the play that I saw.
Oh my god, Cherry Jones would be excellent in that part.
Cherry Jones ALMOST managed to make Moon for the Misbegotten work - something ONLY Colleen Dewhurst ever managed to accomplish. I saw Cherry as Hannah in Night of the Iguana and she was ethereal.
@@poetcomic1 Sorry, you saw Cherry or Colleen as Hannah? It is just occurring to me that I could easily get them confused in my head.
@@martinsorenson1055 Cherry did both Colleen as Hannah? I'm trying to imagine!
@@poetcomic1 As you have probably figured out, I don't know Night of the Iguana very well!
This is one of the best investigative reviews, bar none, on UA-cam -- or, indeed, anywhere.
Is it not ironic that it was a "McCarthy" who ultimately revealed the truth about Lilian Hellman? Anyway, an excellent video of a subject I knew very little about. That said, I am still a fan of Zinnemann's "Julia." And I think it's worth noting that "The Children's Hour" is a great film - especially for the period, and still very much worthwhile and even timely. But I admit my bias in being a huge Wyler/Hepburn fan, so...
GA are you aware that her mother who was actually the woman who held the wealth in her family was called Julia while her father was in essence a used car salesman. I'm sure it was her mother that provided her the lifestyle that enabled her to be the narcissist that she became, thus enabling her to embrace a life of lies and be applauded for it and paid in kind
@@ladybug5859 No, I was not aware. Thank you for the reply and the insight!
This documentary is really high quality ! On all accounts. I'm really impressed, and got to learn so much. I loved it. Thanks. It got you my subscription to this YT channel. 👍🤩 Cheers
Basically "Julia" is like the "Sleepers" story. There's even a film with Brad Pitt, Jason Patrick, Kevin Bacon and Minnie Driver. Great story, but bollocks! Created by Lorenzo Carcaterra about his childhood. There's no actual proof that the events on the book happened to him.
Anyway, amazing video! Thanks for the great content, as usual.
Yes! I was going to compare this to Sleepers and the James Frey/Oprah situation but basically ran out of time.
@@bkrewind Sure! I really like Sleepers, when I was young I had a massive crush on Jason Patrick and Brad Pitt. They were sexy as hell in that film... Anyway.
It's a lie? Yes, but it entertain us. Julia is a amazing character, but the film is a little weird. Jason Robards shoudn't have won the academy award. He was completely forgetable!
@@victorrodrigueesoficialI forgot it too.Forgettable indeed.
Everything you create for this channel is fascinating and so well researched and presented. I feel like I am taking a masters level film studies course for free! Thank you for your hard work.
Agree.
Maybe even better than academia's ongoing lowering of standards....
My day always brightens up when I see a new video from my favorite UA-cam channel!! Thank you 😊
Lillian Hellman was a fav playwright for me. I read Pentimento and when I saw Julia I loved the film. I agree w/ most of the critical reviews. It was not a masterpiece but an excellent film nonetheless. I found out about the scandal in the immediate years when it was exposed. Disappointed best describes my reaction. As a writer, I’m disappointed that she didn’t simply create it as a work of FICTION since it was. That she didn’t made me understand that she was less a writer and aspired more to be a legend in her own mind similar to Hemingway. They both led fascinating lives and made literary contributions. But they were certainly flawed human beings whose literary talent a bit overhyped in retrospect. They both thought too much of themselves. That said, Julia still is a fav film of mine. I didn’t like it because I thought it was true. I liked the story of 2 women friends in a time of war and genocide. Seeing that kind of friendship onscreen is always good because it’s still rare. I’ve been inspired by works of fiction in my life. I accept Julia as nothing more than that.
Well said. “Julia” sets the standard for the Bechdel test!
This was so interesting! Thank you for sharing this story and for giving us so much essential information to get a complete picture of the situation.
This gives me very much “Atonement” vibes. Which is every because it also stars Vanessa Redgrave in that titular role where she comes clean about her novel, to an extent.
Thank you for your superb analysis. It's a fascinating study of the motivations behind Hellman's writing.
Another informative, engaging, and thoughtful video essay. I learn so much from this channel, thank you for all you do!
Hellman's personal story of truth and illusion in her writing does not mar Julia as a film. I think Julia is one of Jane Fonda's greatest screen triumphs. It's a film l go back to every few years and find it superlative.
Yes it retains its power in multiple viewings even after many years!
Another great video with great editing and your excellent narration.
Oh, and I consider most of Hellman's "non-fiction" to be "fiction," except perhaps in her own mind!
This was so interesting! And also about a topic I've never heard of before. Stellar work as per usual 😁
Mary McCarthy's quote on Ms. Hellman is precious. And, it's come in handy more than once; particularly, when referring to certain politicians.
I appreciate your shout-out to Pauline Kael. She was such an excellent reviewer. I could always tell from her reviews, whether she liked a movie or not, whether I myself might like the movie. She was so thoughtful about her reviews and so good about conveying what worked and what didn't. I truly miss her.
Wow. As always I come away from this not only more culturally informed but thinking about our current moment and the lens we see it through. Thanks!
Great video! I really love the editing at 14:16 You really know how to tell a story.
Awesome. BKR is back.
So I have a theory: when Lillian Hellman talks about losing a close friend, that part I think is true. I think she lost someone she was very closed to but probably due to what she or that other person was involved in, Lillian didn’t feel safe writing the story so instead she took someone else’s story and used it as a vehicle to express the emotions she was feeling. I’m not saying that’s any better but I’m still not entirely convinced this came from a place of malice. Grief is complicated and if you’re a writer it’s even more complicated cause your brain will naturally think of a thousand different stories to help you process it all.
OK ..thoughtful theories. I mean that genuinely, and so not to be dismissively snarky, if she was a high level communist, she was a deceiver at her core.
Lillian Hellman was a Stalinist apologist who wrote the script for "The North Star," a vile piece of pro-Soviet propaganda that depicts the happy life on a Ukrainian collective farm at a time when the real Ukraine was the object of Stalin's genocidal Terror Famine. Running cover for Stalin's crimes is no different to being a Holocaust denier.
Exactly
People like her in the entertainment industry constantly either take stories other people have told them and make those stories about themselves. Or they take something from their own life and put a layer of exaggeration around it.
Often they tell a story for so long, they come to believe it themselves. Especially decades after when they get older.
"Julia" is also far from the only instance where she told stories about herself that were not strictly true. Its not good or bad. Its just how these people were.
@@Jim-Tuner Personally, I cannot find any good in this level of deception. A lie is a lie.
I love the little inclusions of meme/modern media, especially the Dakota Johnson clip. That interview is *chef's kiss*
Brava, wonderfully written and narrated. Thank you so much.
You made my night. You're amazing, love your stuff! Thank you!
It’s interesting how Hellman’s exposed fabrications (aka lies) seem to have diminished this picture. As I recall it was very well received critically and at the box office. Yet it is rarely
mentioned and barely shown on TCM.
I too was soured on the movie when I heard the real story and puzzled as to why Hellman never came out and explained her motives instead of her odd defenses like “I never read letters?” How odd for a writer especially from back in the day when letter writing was a primary source of communication.
Bravo BKR!
YES i'm so happy to see you posted a new video! whoop. best part of my day ❤ i could wax poetic about how much care and love is apparent in your videos but instead i'll shut up and watch and learn. though i don't know much about the history of cinema, after watching your videos i feel like an expert. every single video is so well done and so, so enjoyable.
Agreed!!
Great video with not just the usual thorough research and thoughtful commentary that we have gotten used to, but a satisfying buildup and dramaturgy as well, leading up to The Reveal! Simply perfect storytelling for those, like me, who had never heard of the movie Julia before.
If this was made today, people would be insisting that Jane and Vanessa are lovers. There would be fanvids all over, and talk about making it into a musical.
Ha ha! (Or LOL) :)
Excellent commentary and video production. ✨️🔳🟫🟫🟫🟧⬜️🟥🟥🔳🌬🌬🕯
I borrowed the movie from my library and watched it earlier today for prep. I will say that the controversy is way more interesting than the movie itself.
I have watched Julia more than hundred times in last thirty years. I truly love this picture. Your tremendous video clarified many things for me. But it nothing detracts from the magic of this film for me.
I love this film. That scene with Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave where Julia and Lillian meet for the exchange of the money is a great scene, and I think that scene alone was worthy of Redgrave's Oscar. I vaguely knew that the story was not actually Hellman's life but knowing the context of that is fascinating. But despite the context I still think it's a good movie. Also The Turning Point is another fantastic movie.
Yes absolutely! I was 13 when I saw and loved both films! That scene you mention in the German pub made such an impression I think I can still quote from it. I think the word for Redgrave there would be numinous.
@@boointhelotus5332 That's a good word for her.
@@boointhelotus5332 When one is 13 one tends to be gullible.
One shouldn't find lies (especially self serving ones) moving.
@@steve3131 And yet
I think they should do a movie about Muriel Gardiner. Fascinating story
so thrilled you've done a Jane Fonda episode 💛 My all time forever and a day favourite human being in the world
I love the ending : "It's always better to have something more dramatic to say". LOL.
Best behind the scene analysis channel of old Hollywood films on this platform.
The defamation suit was unresolved at the time of Hellman's death in 1984; her executors eventually withdrew the complaint.
Oh nice, I just finished reading Indecent Exposure, about the embezzlement scandal surrounding the president of Columbia Pictures, in 1977 - this film was mentioned briefly, great timing.
Whoa... Vanessa Redgrave called out the Zionists on a nationwide stage while accepting an award for best supporting actress? I love her even more. Thank you to the people who supported her. Didn't know to hold her in the same regard as the brave Jane Fonda. So much respect for the two of them. Free Palestine.
I'm shallow, but my favourite aspects of the film were the clothes ands sets! And yes, The Turning Point is a fine movie. While I find Vanessa Redgrave a massive hypocrite politically (revolutionary workers party, educated her children in exclusive private schools), she's a brilliant actress and really shined in this film. Thanks again for an excellent analysis.
You're welcome to feel that way, but Vanessa was notorious for giving large sums of her money to causes she supported. Especially in the 70's, people would argue against casting her because her paycheck was going to go to whatever cause she believed in. So you're welcome to judge her based on the school's she sent her children to, but Vanessa definitely lived what she preached. She even gave the total sum from 5 paychecks to build an elementary school in England that exists to this day. One can scarcely find another celebrity who has done the same. You can even look to Fonda who talks about how she used to live in some of the most impoverished areas and sent her kids to public school because she felt like a hypocrite if she didn't. But as she got older, she realized there's a middle ground. One doesn't have to live on poverty to prove they care about the working class.
I had heard that "Julia" was a lie but thank you for exploring it more deeply. The best spin that I can put on this is that Hellman was delusional and actually believed her own lies. Memories are so nebulous and ephemeral that you can't always be sure it really happened, especially as a youngster.
Thank you, BKR for another well researched video. I was 21 when "Julia" came out. I remember that there was not an empty seat in the theater. At that time, I was totally enthralled in the story. I still think that it's a beautifully made film, as you say, reminiscent of the movies of WWII. As a piece of fiction, it's intriguing and it's so good to see women as the main focus. As misrepresentation on Ms. Hellman's part that she was indeed the real character involved in this story, shame of her. I like how you indicated that she wanted to appear heroic. I'm going to make another comparison about a person misrepresenting themselves. It has nothing to do with this film. I have watched and am currently watching several documentaries on Princess Diana. The person that I think is lying through his teeth about what "close friends" they were is her former butler, Paul Burrell. He strikes me as a slimy piece of work that will say anything for a buck or quid, if you will.
I agree with everything you said and Paul Burrell is a piece of slime. HE came out as gay when he worked for Diana and she of course accept it tho he carried-on with his wife and children until I think recently. ALL he does is try to make money off of his short association with Diana. SHE got rid of him because he was trying to insert himself into her life too much. LITTLE did she know after her death he would go on talking about her and making up things just to get money
He was a close friend
Utterly fascinating presentation! Thank you for pealing the layers off this woman's interesting life. In a similar but not comparable case, we also have Wagner, who was an anti-Semite but we love his works. We can love Hellman's works but we do not have to admire the person. Thank you!
Mary McCarthy was absolutely right about Hellman's lies but paid a terrible price for her comment by being dragged in and out of court for the rest of her life by the vindictive and much wealthier Hellman.
I don't think that's true as Hellman died 1975 and McCarthy died in 1989. Unless the lawsuits were pursued by her estate.
Well thought out and researched. Very interesting.
Hi Izzy! Please do a video on Linda Hunt, one of my favorite underrated actors!
Oh, what a great idea!!!