When this film recently appeared on British television, I was surprised that I had never heard of it. It is, after all, based on a classic American novel with which I am familiar and was made by William Wyler, one of the greatest Hollywood directors of his time (indeed, of all time). It stars an actor as distinguished as Laurence Olivier and Jennifer Jones, one of the screen's great beauties of the forties and fifties. And yet when I saw "Carrie" in the TV schedules I assumed the reference must be to Brian de Palma's gore-spattered supernatural seventies schlock. Only closer investigation revealed that this was in fact an adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie". (Dreiser's title was presumably altered by the film-makers to prevent audiences from assuming that the film was about either a nurse or a nun). This "Carrie" was made in 1952, a year after another of Dreiser's novels, "An American Tragedy", was filmed as "A Place in the Sun".
Carrie Meeber, a young working-class country girl, goes to Chicago to look for work and to stay with her older sister and brother-in-law. (Hence Dreiser's title). The film tells the story of Carrie's relationships with two men, a salesman named Charles Drouet whose mistress she briefly becomes, and George Hurstwood, the manager of an upmarket restaurant. Carrie soon realises that Drouet is not serious about marrying her, and she and Hurstwood fall in love, even though he is a lot older than her. Hurstwood is, in fact, unhappily married; Carrie is initially unaware of this, but after she finds out she agrees to elope with him to New York. Unknown to Carrie, Hurstwood has embezzled $10,000 belonging to his employer in order to finance their elopement, and when they arrive in New York the consequences of his actions start to catch up with him.
Had this story been made with a contemporary setting, "Carrie" might today be regarded as an example of fifties film noir, but the action actually takes place during the late nineteenth century, which means that it is generally classified as period drama. With its start black-and-white photography and its emphasis on the gritty underside of urban life, however, it is very different to the sort of "heritage cinema" period films we are used to today.
Dreiser belonged to the literary movement known as "naturalism", inspired by European writers such as Emile Zola. Naturalist writers sought to depict the darker side of life, especially poverty and crime, and were often, by the standards of the day, surprisingly frank in their treatment of sex. They generally avoided the moralising of earlier novelists such as Dickens. When "Sister Carrie" was first published in 1900, it was much criticised on account of its supposed immorality. What outraged the critics was Dreiser's disregard of the convention that vice and wrongdoing must be seen to be punished, if not by the law then through the agency of a vindictive Fate. Although Hurstwood suffers greatly for his dishonesty and adultery, sinking into poverty and degradation, Carrie does not suffer at all for her own sexual promiscuity. After abandoning her lover she becomes a successful actress and prospers greatly.
It was therefore a brave move by Wyler to adapt this story for the screen. Whereas the American literary scene might have become more liberal in the intervening half-century, the Hollywood of the Production Code era still (in public if not in private) tried to uphold Victorian values, frowning on the idea that good things might happen to bad people. The character of Carrie is therefore considerably softened. In the film version, Hurstwood tricks her into entering a bigamous "marriage" by falsely telling her that his wife has obtained a divorce. Her treatment of him is less callous; she only leaves him because she wrongly believes that this will help to bring about a reconciliation between him and his family. Despite his deceit, she is still in love with him, whereas Dreiser's anti-heroine was always thinking of her own self-interest. The ending was also softened; in the book Hurstwood commits suicide, but here he considers that option but rejects it.
Despite this toning-down of the novel, Carrie is hardly your typical 1950s film heroine. Jennifer Jones, however, had experience of playing heroines who were less than virtuous- one previous role had been as Emma Bovary, one of literature's most notorious adulteresses- and copes well here with the challenge of bringing out Carrie's wilder side while avoiding making her too unsympathetic. Laurence Olivier rarely gave a weak on-screen performance- "The Prince and the Showgirl" being one of the few regrettable exceptions- and this is certainly one of his good ones. He has, perhaps, an even more difficult task than Jones. Hurstwood is dishonest and unfaithful, deceiving both his employer and his family, and yet he must come across as a tragic, pitiable figure, never as a villain. There are also good contributions from Eddie Albert as the amiable boulevardier Drouet and Miriam Hopkins as Hurstwood's embittered and vindictive wife Julia.
"Carrie" may not be well-known today, and certainly is not when one compares it to some of Wyler's other films such as "Ben-Hur" or "Roman Holiday", or with some of Olivier's roles such as "Henry V" or "Wuthering Heights" (also directed by Wyler). It is, nevertheless, an engrossing and at times moving human drama which in my view deserves to be better remembered. 7/10
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