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The Stripper

This final film by Jerry Wald is an unsuccessful attempt to convert William Inge's 1959 Broadway flop, A Loss of Roses, into a substantial and appealing motion picture. Like the play, the film has its merits, but they are only flashes of magic in a lacklustre package. Joanne Woodward's performance in a role expanded to focal prominence in the film is one of them.

This final film by Jerry Wald is an unsuccessful attempt to convert William Inge’s 1959 Broadway flop, A Loss of Roses, into a substantial and appealing motion picture. Like the play, the film has its merits, but they are only flashes of magic in a lacklustre package. Joanne Woodward’s performance in a role expanded to focal prominence in the film is one of them.

The story is set in traditional Inge country – a small town in Kansas – more specifically the modest residence of two characters into those humdrum lives comes Woodward, stranded by the abrupt deterioration of the little magician’s unit of which she is a part.

She is taken in by an old friend (Claire Trevor) now a widow who lives with her son (Richard Beymer), an ardent but inexperienced lad. There are attempts to make something of the mother-son relationship, but the two characters are never properly clarified, and remain two-dimensional. At any rate, Beymer fancies himself in love with the visitor and has a one-night affair with the fading, desperately accommodating and romantically vulnerable would-be actress.

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Histrionic honors go hands down to the animated Woodward, who rivets attention and compassion to herself throughout with a farceful and vivacious portrayal of the goodhearted but gullible girl. Beymer is adequate, little more, in the rather baffling role of the lad.

Lovely Carol Lynley is wasted in a thankless role which requires mostly a photogenic rear anatomy for walking away shots. Woodward’s rear gets a big photographic play, too.

Franklin Schaffner’s direction tends to be a bit choppy, uneven and, in spots, heavyhanded or unobservant. Jerry Goldsmith’s score has sparkle and character, and is obtrusive in a constructive manner – when a musical lift is needed to enliven the going.

1963: Nomination: Best B&W Costume Design

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The Stripper

  • Production: 20th Century-Fox. Director Franklin J. Schaffner; Producer Jerry Wald; Screenplay Meade Roberts; Camera Ellsworth Fredericks; Editor Robert Simpson; Music Jerry Goldsmith; Art Director Jack Martin Smith, Walter M. Simonds
  • Crew: (B&W) Widescreen. Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1963. Running time: 95 MIN.
  • With: Joanne Woodward Richard Beymer Claire Trevor Carol Lynley Robert Webber Gypsy Rose Lee

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Update: 2024-02-13

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