"Claudia" is the film debut for Dorothy McGuire and it's a very strange but mostly enjoyable movie. I say strange because it's much like a screwball comedy combined with a tear-jerker!
When the film begins, Claudia (McGuire) is married to David (Robert Young) and life is good. However, you soon start to realize that Claudia is a bit, well, slow. She's a bit like Gracie Allen's character--guileless, naive and a person who seems to need a keeper to follow her about and keep her out of mischief. Why David loves this slow-witted woman, I have no idea.
Later in the film, you learn that Claudia's mother is dying. However, she and David want to keep this from Claudia--like she's too emotionally fragile to handle reality. How will they break the truth to this ditsy lady?
Overall, I liked the film but didn't love it. Perhaps part of it was the uneasy combination of pathos and comedy (such as the over the top and VERY kooky Madam Daruschka being in the film) but I think the biggest reason was just the whole 'stiff upper lip' notion that pervades the film. Why no one is willing to talk about death is troubling and awfully strange. Well acted but not always enjoyable.
By the way, three years later they made a sequel, "Claudia and David"--starring McGuire and Young once again.
When the film begins, Claudia (McGuire) is married to David (Robert Young) and life is good. However, you soon start to realize that Claudia is a bit, well, slow. She's a bit like Gracie Allen's character--guileless, naive and a person who seems to need a keeper to follow her about and keep her out of mischief. Why David loves this slow-witted woman, I have no idea.
Later in the film, you learn that Claudia's mother is dying. However, she and David want to keep this from Claudia--like she's too emotionally fragile to handle reality. How will they break the truth to this ditsy lady?
Overall, I liked the film but didn't love it. Perhaps part of it was the uneasy combination of pathos and comedy (such as the over the top and VERY kooky Madam Daruschka being in the film) but I think the biggest reason was just the whole 'stiff upper lip' notion that pervades the film. Why no one is willing to talk about death is troubling and awfully strange. Well acted but not always enjoyable.
By the way, three years later they made a sequel, "Claudia and David"--starring McGuire and Young once again.