David Allen "The Catered Affair" (1956) Is Wonderful....Acting, Writing, Direction...Wall-To-Wall Quality Thru and Thru!Bette Davis stated this movie was the best she ever did, and her favorite. I can see why.I'm a collateral relative of Bette's (also of 8 other famous movie actors, FYI), and have studied her career.She did this movie before the strange horror movies she did in the 1960's (e.g "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" etc.), way before she acted in "The Whales Of August" (1967) old ladies waiting to die movie with Lillian Gish, who was over 90 in 1987.But in 1956, Bette Davis wasn't yet doing freak, or unusually old age character movies. She was still normal. Depicted as married to Ernest Borgnine (a fellow Best Actor Academy Award winner), depicted as then young Debbie Reynolds' mother....letting Debbie know at the start of the movie that marriage is no joy ride (how true, how true....I was married 3 times.....well, the first week all 3 times as a joy ride, but after that...? Damn!)Bette Davis, Debbie Reynolds, Ernest Borgnine, Barry Fitzgerald, Rod Taylor, screenplay by Gore Vidal based on a Paddy Chaevsky play.....all presented only one year after Chaevsky's and Borgnine's triumph with "Marty" (1955) starring Ernest Borgnine, who won the Best Actor Academy Award for that movie.Both Gore Vidal and Ernest Borgnine passed away recently in 2012, almost 60 years after the 1956 "Catered Affair" movie was released.Wonderful Bette Davis is long gone by now, then young, sweet Debby Reynolds is now past age 80.......These incredible people were part of s simple black and white movie about working class Irish-Americans in NYC in the early 1950's worth seeing and worth thinking about.Movies like this one, based on stage plays, show off good acting and thoughtful ideas.....gimmicky visuals and other eye candy are not the main thing......the actors and the writing, and the ideas of the gifted authors (Chaevsky and Vidal here) carry the whole thing, with the help of understated but still highly skilled direction (Richard Brooks directed this movie, and did a great job).My breath is taken away.SEE this old movie, Americans and others living in 2012 and beyond.It sets a standard almost never achieved in the present era. It was done, created in a Golden Age now past by people mostly angels by now, or soon to be.----------------------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for movie credits, biography, and recent (2012) photos of Tex Allen. Email Tex Allen at [email protected] other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments (paste this address into your URL Browser)

crimmins325 Back in '56, i saw "the catered affair" but remembered nothing about it, so it was with deep anticipation last night when i saw it on TCM. I have not enjoyed a film more than this one. First of all, the professionalism of the four main actors shines through; all the more when one realizes that the part of a lower middle- class Irish-American Bronx couple of the fifties is not one that one associates with Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine. Borgnine, a superb actor of Italian background, takes on the part of an Irish-American cabbie with no trouble at all. Davis, whom i have always associated with parts as scheming southern belles, or rich women with some sort of evil agenda, carries off her part superbly, even though the Irish accent is not too discernible. The Irish temperament is very discernible. Miss Reynolds, here again an anomaly, a musical star taking on a straight dramatic role...no problem. Fitzgerald, well, here we have him acting an avuncular part that no one would be surprised by. it's easy to see Mickaleen O'Flynn or Fr. Fitzgibbon from earlier parts...no change. It's not surprising that this was miss Davis's favorite film; her crying scene was worth the Oscar by itself. I appreciated local on-site locations showing the Bronx courthouse with the old Yankee Stadium, replete with the original light stands in the background and the Bronx Concourse hotel (i had my own wedding reception there). The church shown appears to be St Raymond's on Tremont ave. a tremendously entertaining film that runs the gamut of all emotions; some laughs, some tears.

wes-connors "The Catered Affair" was the movie adaptation of a Paddy Chayefsky's TV drama, which starring Thelma Ritter and Pat Henning. I'm guessing this was made due to the success of Ernest Borgnine's "Marty". The film is interesting in its depiction of a different time, when the ceremonial aspects of weddings were very strange. Today, I doubt these people would go on and on about such trivialities. But, then, there were certain "ways" people married.There are some terrific "period" scenes. The Hurley's home is a real time trip. Great kitchen! I loved the scene when Bette Davis takes in the frozen laundry from a clothesline outside her window. Ms. Davis totally commands the film - at times, her presence is overbearing. Her performance is excellent, but sometimes veers very close to going over-the-top. Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds, and Barry Fitzgerald hold their own in Davis' presence.I believe, due to the presence of Bette Davis, the film should have been altered to focus more on her character. Reworked, this could have been Davis' "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" You really have to pay attention to get what the film is really about - there is one instance where Davis' own wedding is explained. There should be more about both Davis's dwelling on the past, and Borgnine's hopes for the future. ******* The Catered Affair (1956) Richard Brooks ~ Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Debbie Reynolds

sharkey197 In a world where weddings have gotten out of control, this film shines like a diamond. The people here are so real to me, they are so typical of the working class Irish of the time that I felt immediately close to them. Some has been made of the lack of communication between them, but these sort of people never talked about their feelings. Which is why the acting is outstanding, because they had to convey with a look or glance a whole range of emotions.Bette Davis is brilliant and Ernest Borgnine is outstanding. Watching his horror as the cost of the wedding mounts up, I wanted to clutch my own checkbook. While the prices seem small to us today, back then, it was a lot of money for that class of people. Debby Reynolds is wonderful and I only regret she didn't go on to do more drama. She was completely at home in it.I never fail to cry at the end. As two people who have lived together for years come to value each other and begin again. It's a wonderful message--hey, it's not the sort of wedding you have; it's what you bring to the marriage after the guests leave. In our age, we seem to have forgotten this.