POP FILTER

VS.

 

AUNTIE MAME

It’s the saddest story that Hollywood loves to exploit for comedic fodder, and for good reason.  Minor child gets orphaned and goes to live with eccentric relatives is a cliché that still produces some of the best fish-out-of-water stories, especially when you totally gloss over the tragedy of a child losing their parents super young and focus on all the fun craziness. Auntie Mame is all about the spectacle and very little about the emotional journey, but that’s ok because it leaves the whole movie open for Rosalind Russell’s sharp one-liners and fabulous wardrobe. In fact if you watch with the idea that the entire story exists merely as a framework for Russell to flit around the screen like the wittiest most debauched fairy godmother ever, then you barely even notice the weak plot and 2 hour 23 minutes running time.  It’s a hilarious and captivating movie, as long as you are a fan of classic film and can handle a slow and meandering story.

It’s 1928 and tiny future- banker Patrick suddenly loses his millionaire father, as previously stated he never seems very broken up about it so there is no need to go into it at all. The Will bequeaths Patrick (and apparently his Irish-indentured-servant, er nanny) to his crazy aunt in New York and includes strict instructions that involve a bank trustee in Patrick’s life to make sure he turns into a conservative and upstanding citizen rather than a madcap bohemian like Mame.  Mame is inexplicably wealthy and spends all her money and energy traveling and throwing wild parties for friends like drunken actors, foreign spiritual leaders and, gasp secret homosexuals! They never actually come out and say these people are gay but part of the film’s charm lies in how they use a clever turn of phrase and pointed look to make a dirty joke ambivalent enough for the censors of the fifties. Mame is flamboyant and larger than life; she is not a person who lives in the real world. She seems to float through life on charm and small talk with no real discernable skills or contribution to society yet somehow remains a very likeable character.  If you met her in real life she’d be absolutely insufferable; so shallow and self-satisfied, completely out of touch with reality but thinks herself knowledgeable and worldly. She is the reason the rest of the world hates Americans, yet when she loses everything in the stock market crash the servants just love her and her joi de vivre so much they all stay on for free and even pay off some of the household debts from their savings…pardon my mega eye roll.
Mame has to find a job and turns out to be spectacularly bad at everything. It’s always amusing to watch rich people attempt to work for their livelihood and this part of the movie resonated fairly well for the current times. Of course being the fifties, instead of discovering an amazing skill that turns her into an independent career woman she instead meets a wealthy Southern man who finds her flightiness utterly charming and wants to marry and take care of her forever…yawn.  Patrick is conveniently away at boarding school so Mame can spend years traveling around the world with her new hubby without worrying about that pesky ward of hers.  It’s very clear this is Mame’s world and everyone else, especially Patrick, are just allowed to live in it. She grows considerably distressed with how uppity and conservative he gets over the years but in no way changes her behavior to benefit him. Then her husband falls off a mountain and dies because the plot needs a widowed Mame to get involved with a sketchy writer when Patrick gets engaged to the most obnoxious girl ever and is suddenly all embarrassed by his aunt and upbringing.  This upsets Mame but she agrees to tone herself down and have Snob Girl and parents over so they can all be one big happy family. Well of course things get crazy and farcical and Patrick sees his new family for the racist elitists they are and breaks off the engagement.
The movie plays like a sweeping epic, but instead of a layered family saga told over generations it focuses on the trials and tribulations of a flighty New York socialite over 15 years which is both silly and  awesome. Throughout the film I was struck by how much time was spent on what I can only describe as sequences of fabulousness; lavish parties, the ever changing décor of Mame’s ostentatious (and ridiculously GIANT) apartment and of course the never ending parade of sparkly, feathered and all around gorgeous clothes. These were all details that in no way moved the plot forward but were given ample screen time, it’s something that simply wouldn’t fly in Hollywood today and one of the classic film elements I really enjoyed.  It was however fairly difficult to get on board with the moral quandaries of the twenties and thirties, so many misunderstandings and issues  just made no sense to me. I mean why is having a houseguest, moveable furniture or a large hanging mobile an indication of Mame’s moral failings? And I get that being an unwed mother was frowned upon back in the day but would you really be ostracized just because you happened to know one, poor knocked up Agnes Gooch can’t even get some charity? Here I need to point out that the hilarious Agnes Gooch absolutely must be the lifelong inspiration for Rachel Dratch, if inspiration means a complete plagarization of character. Seriously watch it and just try to tell me I’m wrong.
I had a great time watching Auntie Mame and loved everything about it, even the things I trashed. Rosalind Russell is amazing, the woman just oozes wit and fabulousness it’s really a tragedy she didn’t get more work or recognition. It’s a bubbly and epic farce with just the tiniest bit of message, and a message denouncing bigotry while urging audiences to live the hell out of life is rarely a bad thing.-AS