Lady in a Corner (1989)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Magazine editor Grace Guthrie (Loretta Young) refuses to changed with the times and she's forced to come up with enough money to match an offer to buy the magazine she's worked out her entire life. The editor is terrified that the magazine is going to fall into the hands of Susan Dawson (Lindsay Frost), a new woman on the staff who came from a magazine that was too risqué for what Grace thinks should be allowed. LADY IN A CORNER turned out to be the final film that Young would act in. Another film would follow but she just served as narrator so technically the legends career ended with this film and it's a real shame because this film is pretty horrid. In fact, if it wasn't for the good performance by Young then this thing would have been one of the most laughably bad movies I've ever seen but thankfully the actress is here and managed to do more than what the script deserved. A great movie could have been made about what's decent or not in magazines but instead of this happening, the film just resorts to a bunch of speeches where people talk about what's decent in this day and age. Young's character cracks countless jokes about how tasteless certain things are and these speeches grow very tiresome and boring. The screenplay makes the Grace character so old-fashioned and boring that she soon also grows annoying and this isn't a good thing. I was never certain why on Earth the screenplay wanted to show her this way because are we supposed to be rooting for her? Everything we're seeing is just leading up to a predictable ending so it never makes sense for them to paint the Grace character one way and then spring on the viewer what happens at the end. At 93-minutes this film seems three times as long as it just keeps dragging and dragging to the point where you just want to scream. Young, my favorite actress, is good here, there's no question about it but it's a shame to see her waste your talents in a film like this. Brian Keith adds nice support and he and Young share some nice chemistry but in the end it's all for nothing.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Magazine editor Grace Guthrie (Loretta Young) refuses to changed with the times and she's forced to come up with enough money to match an offer to buy the magazine she's worked out her entire life. The editor is terrified that the magazine is going to fall into the hands of Susan Dawson (Lindsay Frost), a new woman on the staff who came from a magazine that was too risqué for what Grace thinks should be allowed. LADY IN A CORNER turned out to be the final film that Young would act in. Another film would follow but she just served as narrator so technically the legends career ended with this film and it's a real shame because this film is pretty horrid. In fact, if it wasn't for the good performance by Young then this thing would have been one of the most laughably bad movies I've ever seen but thankfully the actress is here and managed to do more than what the script deserved. A great movie could have been made about what's decent or not in magazines but instead of this happening, the film just resorts to a bunch of speeches where people talk about what's decent in this day and age. Young's character cracks countless jokes about how tasteless certain things are and these speeches grow very tiresome and boring. The screenplay makes the Grace character so old-fashioned and boring that she soon also grows annoying and this isn't a good thing. I was never certain why on Earth the screenplay wanted to show her this way because are we supposed to be rooting for her? Everything we're seeing is just leading up to a predictable ending so it never makes sense for them to paint the Grace character one way and then spring on the viewer what happens at the end. At 93-minutes this film seems three times as long as it just keeps dragging and dragging to the point where you just want to scream. Young, my favorite actress, is good here, there's no question about it but it's a shame to see her waste your talents in a film like this. Brian Keith adds nice support and he and Young share some nice chemistry but in the end it's all for nothing.