Mrs. Parkington

Plot synopsis:
At Christmastime in 1938, Susie Parkington, an elderly society matron and widow of the wealthy businessman and financier Major Augustus Parkington, is visited by her many relatives, with the exception of her beloved great-granddaughter Jane. Except for Jane, Susie's heirs are boorish, dissolute, and unhappy despite their wealth. When Jane does appear, she informs her great-grandmother that she plans to secretly elope with Ned Talbot, her father's employee, who wishes to take her away from her family and their way of life.
Susie has a flashback to her own life. As a teenager, Susie helps her mother run a boarding house for silver miners in Leaping Frog, Nevada. She meets Major Augustus Parkington, the owner of the mine, when he stays at the boardinghouse on a visit; the miners complain to him about dangerous working conditions, but he refuses to fix them as it would slow down the yield of the mine, instead paying the miners higher salaries to take the risk and telling them to quit if they are so afraid.
Shortly afterwards, a serious mine accident occurs which kills Susie's mother along with a number of miners. Rather than leave Susie to an uncertain fate, Augustus marries her and takes her away to New York City. Susie is introduced to Baroness Aspasia Conti, a French aristocrat and close friend and former mistress of Augustus, who helps Susie pick out clothes and learn the social graces needed for a woman of her station.
Back in the present, Susie arranges a meeting with Ned, where he reveals that Jane's father Amory (Susie's grandson-in-law) is being investigated for fraud, and Ned planned to take Jane away in order to avoid telling her or having to testify against Amory. Susie disapproves of Ned's handling of the situation, prompting Jane to send Ned away. Amory confesses to Susie and Jane that he did commit fraud, and begs Susie for a loan of $31 million to cover his actions in hopes of avoiding prison. Susie is inclined to give him the loan, but says he must ask the rest of the family, as Amory would be spending their inheritance.
Susie once again reminisces about her past. She remembers how, on their third anniversary, Augustus presented her with a grand house, furnished with Aspasia's help. Susie announces that she is pregnant, and an elated Augustus holds a ball to celebrate, inviting the wealthiest and most socially prominent citizens of New York, but his happiness turns to fury when most of them refuse to attend due to his blunt, outspoken behavior. His rage upsets Susie, and when she runs away from the dinner party, she runs upstairs, faints, falls down the stairs, and has a miscarriage.
Augustus angrily vows revenge against the non-attendees, and unbeknownst to Susie, manages to force many of them out of business over the next few years. Susie only finds out after Mrs. Livingstone, whose husband is about to be put out of business by Augustus, pleads with Susie for help and informs her that another man committed suicide after Augustus ruined him. Susie has words with Augustus, who remains unrepentant, so she separates from him and takes up new quarters elsewhere with Aspasia. Several weeks pass before Augustus begs his wife to return home, revealing that he has been unsuccessful in his mission to put the Livingstones out of business. Susie then informs him that she has been secretly financially supporting the Livingstone business and that his vendetta must stop. Augustus agrees and the couple reunite.
Back in the present, as Susie expected, her heirs refuse to lend Amory the money. Amory, overcoming his fear of going to prison, resolves to make a full confession to the authorities; Susie approves, saying that is what the Major would have done.
Once again, Susie has a flashback, this time to when her son was killed in an accident. Susie becomes a recluse for a year and Augustus moves to England, renting a lavish country home and carrying on an affair with Lady Norah Ebbsworth. Aspasia convinces Susie to fight for her marriage, so Susie follows Augustus to England and, with the assistance of the Prince of Wales, convinces him to end his affair.
Following this, Aspasia reveals that she will be moving back to Paris. She also admits to Susie that she has always been in love with Augustus. Susie reveals that she has always known, and after she herself was sure of Augustus' love for her, she loved Aspasia too. Augustus and Susie have a heart-to-heart in which he hopes that if their grandchildren develop the weaknesses he associates with money that is inherited rather than earned, he or Susie will be alive to set them straight.
Once more in the present, Susie realizes she made a mistake in having Jane send Ned away, and tells Jane to follow her heart and go after Ned, which Jane gladly does. Finally, Susie makes the decision to bail out Amory anyway, as many "little people" would otherwise lose their money through his fraud. Her heirs leave in disgust after learning they will be cut off by their grandmother, while Susie gleefully plans to return to Leaping Rock, Nevada.

Tags: revenge, flashback

Review:
Greer Garson got an Oscar nomination for one of her best roles in Mrs. Parkington.
Though the film is one that had her co-starring with her favorite leading man, the film is all Greer.Like Maytime the film starts with Greer as the aged family matriarch of the Parkington family during Christmas of 1938.
Her husband who died many years ago was Walter Pidgeon and the family has gathered once again.
His daughter Frances Rafferty and Garson's great granddaughter additionally has a romantic problem, she's torn between her fiancé Tom Drake who is whistleblowing on Arnold and family loyalty.During the evening Garson reminisces back to certain crisis times in her own marriage and it eventually tells her what she must do in this situation.
I will say this about the Parkingtons, Garson's the genuine article, the rest of them are a spoiled and selfish lot, only Rafferty seems to have escaped the taint.I have to say it was a little strange seeing the much older Gladys Cooper playing the daughter of the heavily made up Greer Garson, still both actresses are professional enough to make it convincing.
Kellaway may be the Prince of Wales, but he proves to be real sharp in terms of human relations and delicately removes a bump in the road of the Parkington marriage.Agnes Moorehead got a Supporting Actress nomination for Mrs. Parkington in the role of an impoverished French aristocrat who becomes friend and confidante of Garson.
She lost to Ethel Barrymore for None But The Lonely Heart and Garson lost her race for Best Actress to Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight.Mrs. Parkington remains however one of MGM's best films of the Forties.
The influence of Maytime and of Citizen Kane in the telling of the Parkington family story is obviously apparent.
For Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon fans a must..
This is an entertaining family saga from Louis Bromfield's novel, the kind of long, digressive trash wallow that still regularly tops best-seller lists.
Essentially a subversive treatise on why inherited wealth is a bad thing, we observe the wealthy Mrs. Parkington as she copes with her selfish, dishonest middle-aged children in 1920s N.Y. while reminiscing about her stormy Gilded Age marriage to her late husband, a Wall Street cutthroat who made a vast fortune.Greer Garson wears a black wig in this role and -- surprisingly -- it really dims her luster.
Walter Pidgeon is exactly what the part of the Robber Baron requires:  physically imposing and masculine, stubborn and rakish by turns, he is never dynamic but always convincing.There are several worthwhile points of interest here:  In a role that earned her a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, Agnes Moorehead gives a vivid performance as the French mistress that Parkington insensitively presses into service to make his wife the queen of N.Y. society.
And several of the sets, most notably the spectacular rendering of the Parkington mansion on Fifth Avenue (including an entry hall that doubles as a ballroom, complete with two endlessly curving staircases and a colonnade of pillars that leads to a dining hall seating 100) are prime examples of the opulent art direction one routinely enjoys in Hollywood pictures of the '40s.Finally, although the first third of the film sometimes drags, there are two excellent set pieces that are beautifully constructed and lovingly detailed by director Tay Garnett.
The second is a very droll bit of drawing room comedy during which Mrs. Parkington meets and enlists the aid of the Prince of Wales to win back her husband from the clutches of an English society hostess.
Fully adult themes with never a glimpse of stocking.I didn't intend watching this but just heard the small bit of banter from actor Cecil Kellaway(as the Prince of Wales) who has a surprise meeting with Mrs Parkington.
Greer Garson was exceptional as we watched her age from a young lady to a family matriarch in her 80's.
I must agree that the pairing of she and Walter Pidgeon was superb and Agnes Moorehead's performance was remarkable.
Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon turn in fine performances here, in fact, they're as good here as in any of their films.
And Cecil Kellaway as Edward, Prince of Wales...again, a very different performance, and so well done.The story itself is interesting, with Garson as an old family institution reflecting on her life.
If there's a criticism about this film, it's that Garson looks too young even in her elderly makeup.
"Mrs. Parkington" is an incredibly well made film--with great acting and some lovely production values.
And, for her wonderful performance, Greer Garson was nominated for an Oscar.
When the matriarch, Mrs. Parkington (Garson) learns that one of the brood is a thief, she begins to reminisce--remembering her life with Mr. Parkington (Walter Pidgeon).
The bottom line is that I'd hate for my daughters to watch such a film, as I'd hate to think that Mrs. Parkington is someone to admire (though the film tries HARD to say this).
A great job of acting and a sick message to this film.Oh, and I should mention that in one brief scene, the Parkingtons joke about how it is Mr. Parkington's job to regularly 'thrash his wife'.
I actually like Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson in most of their films.
Mrs. Parkington is a widow living in a big mansion and her adult children and grandchildren are visiting her on Christmas Eve, and we soon learn they are all leading disappointing unhappy lives.
An author visits and leaves Mrs. Parkington a copy of a book he wrote about her "great American" family.
This gives opportunity for the series of flashbacks.So as a girl, Mrs. Parkington (Susie) meets Augustus Parkington in a Nevada mining town where he owns the mine.
A tip - Do not play a drinking game with this film where you take a shot every time you hear or see a tired movie cliché or you will be dead in twenty minutes.
I give it four points for the art design, because MGM always did get that right, and also for Agnes Moorehead as Augustus Parkington's French aristocrat (????) mistress.
Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon were one of the great romantic teams of the 1940s but both were too old (particularly Pigeon) for their roles in this disappointing film version of the popular Louis Bromfield novel.
As his wife, Susie, Garson, wearing a dark wig (and looking rather like Yvonne DeCarlo), ages from a naive young woman to the crusty, 84 year old family matriarch.
Neither Garson or Pigeon is particularly well-aided by a meandering script that fails to adequately clarify the relationships among the family members or takes the time to develop the various characters.
The supporting cast...among them, Edward Arnold, Lee Patrick, Dan Duryea, Cecil Kellaway, Frances Rafferty and Tom Drake...is competent but only Agnes Moorehead, in a rare sympathetic turn as Pigeon's ex-mistress, and Gladys Cooper, as Pigeon and Garson's dypsomaniacal daughter, manage to make a significant impression..
This B&W film from 1944 stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, who were riding a wave of success together at the time.
The members of the Parkington family are assembling in the grand house of their mater familia, Susie (Garson).
As they wait for Susie to descend the stair and honor them with her presence, they spread their flawed character traits (and dissatisfaction with the world) around the drawing room.You may have met a woman like Susie--one whose very existence is a memorial to the memory of her deceased husband, Major Augustus Parkington (Walter Pidgeon).
And it shows how an inauthentic moment can drag down a film.Maybe it's just me, but I found the incessant use of "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" in the background monotonous and annoying.Agnes Moorehead is wonderful as the Baroness Aspasia Conti, the woman who bridged the gap between Susie and Gus and helped them stay together.
Here the flashbacks begin that tells the story of the dead Patriach and the matriarch of this family, how they met at an old dingy coal town, their marriage, pits and falls and always in all these scenes Garson luminence is assured.
In spite of the top notch acting by the entire cast, I think this film should have been relegated to a typical country song of woe with a woman moaning about her chosen life to a sympathetic guitar.
Greer Garson is given the chance to age on screen from a penniless young woman to multi-millionaire dowager in her 80's.
The script is rather uneven, but the screen team of Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon is always a winner.
Elegant 83-year-old family matriarch Greer Garson (as "Susie" Graham-Parkington) welcomes various family members to her majestic New York mansion.
The holiday spirit triggers Ms. Garson's life story to be told, in a series of extensive flashbacks Long ago, 18-year-old Garson tends to guests in her poor mother's boarding house.
Their Leaping Rock, Nevada home is visited by silver mining tycoon Walter Pidgeon (as Augustus "Gus" Parkington).
Still, attractive Agnes Moorehead (as Aspasia Conti) decides to show Garson the ropes, having given up on playboy Pidgeon.
Multi-millionaires have problems too, as we discover while the decades pass..."Mrs. Parkington" isn't a very engaging story, but it is an excellent star vehicle for Greer Garson.
A sense of staginess pervades, but it's appropriate; after all, this isn't "Citizen Kane".****** Mrs. Parkington (1944-10-12) Tay Garnett ~ Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Agnes Moorehead, Edward Arnold.
Mrs. Parkington looks back on her marriage.
Greer Garson lived to be 91 years old, and she never looked as she did as the older Mrs. Parkington and the older Madame Curie - all white.In this 1944 film, the Parkington family meets for Christmas, just before they all learn of a scandal which will impact the family fortune and the reputation of the family.Thinking about her husband, Susie (Greer Garson), the matriarch, now 84, thinks back to meeting her husband Gus (Walter Pidgeon) at her family boarding house in Leaping Frog, Nevada.
She gets her wish when, after the loss of her mother when the mine caves in, the Major and Susie marry and go to New York.There she meets Aspasia (Agnes Moorhead), the Major's former mistress, who takes Susie in hand and helps her to buy clothes and learn the ways of society.
With the Major gone now, Susie reflects on how best to handle this situation by asking herself what the Major would do.Really lovely film, with fine performances by Moorhead, Pidgeon, and of course, Garson.
Strangely, Gladys Cooper plays Garson's daughter when Mrs. Parkington was 84.
The film also features Edward Arnold, Dan Duryea, Lee Patrick, Tom Drake, Hugh Marlowe, Hans Conried, with Peter Lawford in a tiny role.Good movie..
PARKINGTON represents one of eight Garson-Pidgeon star-vehicles, it is a vintage family saga of our titular heroine Susie Parkington (Garson), a rich matron starts with a humble beginning as a chambermaid, when a mine explosion takes her mother's life away, out of guilt and admiration, Major Augustus Tarkington (Pidgeon) marries her and spirits her away to New York, so she can get a luxurious life a woman can ever dream of.
And a new but tumultuous page of life opens and Susie gives her best shot to manage a perfect marriage with a dignitary and grows up to be an exemplar who knows and accomplishes a woman's true worth, heightened by a dramatic presentation of an inopportune situation when most of their dinner guests are in absentia for their fancy reception and bookended by a vignette in London involves Edward, Prince of Wales (Kellaway).
These mentioned above actually are told through flashbacks by Susie, when she is an octogenarian and Augustus has long gone, during a Christmas gathering, she learns that her favourite great granddaughter Jane (Rafferty) decides to elope with a former employee of her father Amory (Arnold), and later finds out Amory is going to prison for fraud if he cannot pay a loan worth $31 million, which is equivalent to the entire inheritance for her offspring.
Since the film bifurcates into two alternate narratives with a time-span of over 60 years, it presents Garson a full-scale chance to act from adolescence to senility, although she is consistently pleasant to watch and impressively dignified in the latter period, her rigid posture can never pass off as a woman in her eighties no matter how much effort exerted from the make-up division.
As the film's title infers, co-star Pidgeon dutifully retreats to a second tier and downplays Major's volatility and vainglory.Garson is nominated with an Oscar and so is Ms. Moorehead, probably in her most opulent attire, her Aspasia is even much more laudable in handling the delicate issues of the rivalry among women or in a more literal sentence, how to co-exist with the wife of the man you love without hating each other's guts.
Made up as an 84 year old woman, Greer Garson thinks back to her life with her husband, Col. Parkington, a wonderful Walter Pidgeon.It goes back to her humble beginnings and her meeting with the colonel.The film proves that money isn't everything as we see the ups and downs of the Parkington marriage, constantly beset by tragedies.Garson was nominated for best actress here and Agnes Moorehead, with a totally French accent, snared a best supporting actress bid as her rival turned friend.Gladys Cooper plays Parkington's daughter, a divorcée with a drinking problem.
Obviously, the Parkington ways did not descend on children and grandchildren.The picture has an all-star cast.
The best scene in the movie is when the recently married Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon are shopping.
Garson goes from anxious young lady to beloved matriarch, struggling for years to contribute to society with the ambitious Walter Pidgeon, later finding that the ungrateful dynasty they create doesn't share the values she's tried to instill in them.
A brilliant all star cast and the MGM gloss helps this become one of the great films of the 1940's and a film I wish in spite of its popularity at the time was more well known.Like the following year's "The Valley of Decision", this is a family soap opera where each scandal and scheme makes you want to know more about each of these characters.
Pidgeon has minimal screen time, just part of the ensemble supporting Greer, but as their fourth pairing, it is as important as those and he is vital to how the story builds.
As Pidgeon s former mistress, Agnes Moorehead delivers her most surprising performance, an aging French beauty who knows what she has become and willingly passes the baton to Garson, training her in the nuances of becoming a great lady.
She would do her final acting work in a very similar part, the elegant Aunt Alicia in the original Broadway production of "Gigi".Then there's Gladys Cooper as Garson's troubled daughter, so filled with self hate and disrespect for the legacy that she needs to be reminded of her parent's struggles so she could be rich and miserable.
This superficial, ultra-glossy family saga features an outstanding cast, but like so many MGM efforts, that does not a good film make.
Garson is unconvincing in her scenes as the aged matriarch, and her usual warmth is missing in one crucial scene: The maid has just told Agnes Moorehead how Mrs. Parkington is still, after a a year, despondent over the death of her son, when we see Garson, pouting like a young girl who's been told to get off the telephone.Walter Pigeon, however, is quite good in a rare role as a less than perfect gentleman.
The drama itself is average, but some of the acting is exceptional including Greer Garson in the title role and Agnes Moorehead as Aspasia Conti; both performances were Oscar nominated.
Although there are several other familiar actors and actresses in supporting roles, the film's story revolves around Major August 'Gus' Parkington (Walter Pidgeon) and the simple boarding house maid, girl, he married.The Major's a bit of a scoundrel, certainly an independent and a risk taker, the kind of man who helped build this great country, who is somewhat tamed by Susie, whom he dubs his 'Sparrow', as their relationship evolves.
Garson, whose character is an 84 year old widow dealing with the problems of her children, their spouses, and her grandchildren when the film opens, is the only actress who appears throughout the story, though Moorehead and Pidgeon play a close second.
Edward Arnold, Gladys Cooper, Frances Rafferty, Tom Drake, Dan Duryea, and Lee Patrick (among others) are Parkington family members who appear in the present day (Christmas, 1938) scenes as does Selena Royale, who also appears in some "earlier" scenes as Mrs. Parkington's longtime maid.
Cecil Kellaway, Peter Lawford (though he is just window dressing), Tala Birell, Hugh Marlowe and Fortunio Bonanova, as a hired tenor with Hans Conreid as his manager, appear (among others) in discrete flashback scenes.The present day drama is two fold, granddaughter Jane (Rafferty) wants to marry Ned Talbot (Drake) who knows about her father Amory's (Arnold) embezzlement and pending exposure for such, and serves only to provide Mrs. Parkington with opportunities to privately reminisce about her life with her husband.
Cooper, Patrick and the rest of the family (which also includes Helen Freeman as Arnold's wife and Rod Cameron as Patrick's fourth husband) are given little to do besides feign outrage and fill scenes.
The love story, a triangle of sorts, provides the film its only compelling moments:The Major owned a mine in some drink water town, named Leaping Rock, out West (in 1873 or thereabouts).
But, what do you know, the Major had been practically engaged to a French Baroness, also living in New York, named Aspasia Conti (Moorehead), before he'd gone out to Leaping Rock.
So, the first thing he does upon his return, after apologizing to Aspasia, is ask her to help Susie become presentable to all his friends in New York!
Lawford plays a Lord with no lines.The film's best dialogue, spoken between Garson's and Birell's characters, is a rather catty one.