Greek Tragedy

Film: Mourning Becomes Electra
Format: Internet video on laptop.

No matter what, there’s no drama like family drama. Everything is far more intense when it comes to family. I guess that’s why there are so many movies about screwed up families: the drama almost writes itself. This is especially true in Mourning Becomes Electra. The story, originally written for the stage by Eugene O’Neill, plays out very much like the Greek tragedy on which it is based. This is a surprisingly twisted film with some very disturbing and creepy Freudian elements that, based on the name, should be expected.

Set the Way-Back Machine for the end of the American Civil War. In New England, the Mannon family awaits the return of both General Ezra Mannon (Raymond Massey) and son Orin (Michael Redgrave) with the news of the end of the war. Awaiting them are daughter Lavinia (Rosalind Russell) and wife Christine (Katina Paxinou). Lavinia is engaged to local Peter Niles (Kirk Douglas) but has been canoodling with ship captain Adam Brant (Leo Genn). As the film begins, Lavinia discovers that her mother Christine has also been spending time with the not-so-good captain.

Nursed Back to Health

Film: Sister Kenny
Format: Turner Classic Movies on rockin’ flatscreen.

We live in many ways in the best possible time. Sure there are tons of problems around the world and it seems like many of them will never be solved. Some of those problems have the potential to kill us all, but we’ve weathered storms before. Medically, though, we’ve come a very long way. It’s been a long time since most people have had to worry about polio, which was the stuff of nightmares just a couple of generations ago. Sister Kenny is a film about polio and specifically about a radical treatment for polio victims. The film is based on the real life and experiences of the real Elizabeth Kenny. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it honestly plays like the truth.

In the years just before World War I, Elizabeth Kenny (Rosalind Russell) has become a nurse. Her friend and mentor Dr. McDonnell (Alexander Knox) would like her to work at his hospital, but she decides instead to live back at home in the Australian outback and be a bush nurse, tending to the local people who have no other medical care. Dr. McDonnell predicts she’ll last six months, but we flash forward to the people in the area throwing her a party on her third anniversary. During that party, she is called away for a case of a new illness that she has never seen. She sends off a telegram to McDonnell and waits for an answer. The diagnosis comes back as infantile paralysis (i.e. polio). Not knowing what to do, she treats her patient with hot compresses and then works their muscles once their muscle spasms have subsided.