Review of Marty

Introduction

`Marty` won the Oscar for best picture in 1955. Its star, Ernest Borgnine won the Best Actor Oscar. For all that it is a modest film, based on a TV play. These days Borgnine is mainly remembered for his tough guy role in `The Dirty Dozen` but here he is a bumbling over weight desperately lonely man. He has already resigned himself to a single life of hanging out with the boys on a Saturday night. However his brother-in-law`s suggestion of a trip to the local dance hall changes everything. There he meets a plain and lonely girl.

As a sub plot Marty`s Aunt moves into the large house he shares with his widowed mother because she cannot live with her daughter in law. The sub plot is much more disturbing than the main one. However even the main plot is a sad indictment of how society treats those who are just a little different and the ultimate achievement of Marty is to be normal.

Other claims to fame for the movie are that it got a rave review in Pravda and its female lead, Betsy Blair, was blacklisted for communist `sympathies`.

The issues addressed are very much ` Play for Today` material in the UK but maybe a little far out for America in the 50`s. In the context of the 50`s paranoia it seems mainly to be about fear. Marty is afraid of ending up alone. His mother foresees a lonely future as unwanted as her sister in her married son`s home. The family is disintegrating under the pressures of modern living. Her desire for Marty to marry a good Italian girl is a forlorn hope that she will not be sidelined.

Another interesting aside is the relative ages of life in the 1950s. Marty is middle-aged at 35 and his girlfriend an old maid at 29. His mother in her 50`s believes her life to be over. Tell that to any 50-year-old these days!

Video

A pretty poor transfer of a quite a tatty print-it is just not good enough.
I do not know what possesses the companies that have cupboards full of little treasures not to spend some time considering what to do with them. Everything is shoved out on to disc and chucked into the bargain bin. With such a huge market of film buffs there is a lot of scope for issuing a good copy-otherwise as far as I can see it is a waste of time. The disappointing reproduction is unfortunately the standard.

Audio

Just about clear but I was convinced that the lip synch was out just a touch and it became rather like trying to watch a dubbed foreign film with the resulting loss of concentration.

Features

Nothing except the theatrical trailer which the studios believe we are fascinated with. Another missed opportunity to set the film in the context of film history. Perhaps a documentary about Ernest Borgnine would have been appropriate, well anything really.

Conclusion

This film is yet another example of an issue that ignores its potential market. The disc quality is disappointing, there are no extras, and the sound reproduction is poor. The film itself is an enjoyable comedy/drama that addresses issues of loneliness and old age. The subject matter is still relevant today but the botched issue is a huge letdown.