The Actress

Based on Ruth Gordon's autobiographical play Years Ago, chronicling her youthful experiences as a would-be actress in New England just before World War II (Gordon, with her husband Garson Kanin, wrote many screenplays for Cukor, including this one), The Actress is a remarkable domestic comedy. The centre of the film is not so much Jean Simmons' Broadway hopes, but rather the slow growth to understanding of her father (Tracy), who in the course of the film re-lives his own youthful hopes, and for the first time realises the compromises he made for a settled, comfortable life. Beautiful performances.