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knives wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:41 am Due to exhaustion, who would have guessed that covering an entire company’s output would be a bit much, I’ve more or less given up posting everything here (though the curious can check out my copious comments here. Nearly up to the ‘90s and there’s still some good movies and the very occasional great one. Still, I’d be remiss if I didn’t post my comments for the very best discovery I made in this whole endeavor and possibly the best movie Corman was ever associated with: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. I even went out and got the book because of the film.

It speaks volumes about where New World was at the time, 1977, that they would make this let alone that it managed to show up at the Oscar’s (albeit not in the category I would place it). There’s no salaciousness present and even if it was chasing a bigger budgeted film it does so with an eye to changing Forman’s Nest by removing all sense of metaphor and instead giving a hopeful show of recovery by living with illness. This is such a sensitive film about institutionalization that shows both how hard it is to get better in such a stressful environment and how the staff are largely trying to help with culpability given to the rare bad egg.

This movie is really made by its performances. All of them provide a complexity of character I wasn’t prepared for. Even the small characters like the fat orderly who Deborah likes build this world of push and pull between giving up and attempting to live well. Her desire and perspective are very well respected by the filmmakers to the point where her distress is genuinely painful to watch. It’s almost too much especially as express by Quinlan who makes this feel like documentary. Next to her Bibi Anderson comes across as stunt casting gone right indicting the this will be like the Bergman’s Corman was distributing at the time, but playing with the kind of reality of the older films. Her job is to be caring and a guiding hand for Deborah and the audience so that we can make it through to the end on Deborah’s terms. While small, Sylvia Sidney’s show off role is also incredibly well handled present only enough to be a rock during the hardest points.

I especially like how the ending speaks for how this isn’t Deborah’s ending. She still has to work with her mania and impulsiveness, but can claim reasonable success by defeating her demons and feeling comfort being just a teenage girl. I also really want to point out Roger Ebert’s review which discusses in excellent terms the difficulty of the ending and the tightrope it walks. Ultimately though I’m just really glad this film exists.

domino harvey wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 12:22 am As someone who grew up with the Roger Corman Presents modern remakes on Showtime in the 90s, I have to share that I only recently learned that my favorite of that bunch, Welcome to Earth AKA Alien Avengers, was written by Michael McDonald from Mad TV (and McDonald also directed, unseen by me, the RCP installment remaking A Bucket of Blood with Anthony Michael Hall, Will Ferrell, Paul Bartel, and David Cross!)