First released in 1954 and based on a play by Clifford Odets, The Country Girl is centered around the production of a believably terrible stage musical called The Land Around Us.
Director Bernie Dodd (William Holden) is known for his willingness to take risks. One of his previous plays was about a punk-drunk boxer so he cast an actual punch-drunk boxer in the role. For The Land Around Us, Bernie wants to cast Frank Elgin (Bing Crosby), a former singing star who has fallen on hard times. Frank was once a hitmaker but, after the tragic death of his son, his career went downhill. He’s now lucky if he can get a job singing a commercial jingle. Though Frank aces his audition, the show’s producer (Anthony Ross) insists that Frank is just too unreliable and that everyone know that he’s now a drunk. Bernie, however, insists on casting Frank and Bernie, as always, gets his way.
Bernie grew up looking up to Frank and it’s hard for him to see that his idol is now struggling. Bernie squarely puts the blame on Frank’s wife, Georgie (Grace Kelly, wearing glasses and her hair tied back). Whenever Bernie sees Georgie, she seems to be criticizing Frank and micromanaging his life. Bernie tells Frank that Georgie is holding back his career but Frank explains that Georgie is unstable and that, whenever he’s tried to leave her, she’s responded by attempting to commit suicide. Bernie, who seems to have issues with women in general, believes everything that Frank says. Whenever Frank makes a demand during the rehearsal process, Bernie blames Georgie. Whenever Frank seems to be insecure about whether or not he can still be a star, Bernie blames Georgie.
Of course, Bernie’s wrong. As is obvious to everyone watching the film (and as should have been obvious to Bernie from the moment he first saw Frank and Georgie together), Georgie is the the only person who is keeping Frank from totally falling apart. If she seems to be demanding, she knows that it’s because Frank is so desperate to be a star again that he tends to let people walk all over him. If she’s overprotective of Frank, that’s because she knows that Frank is an alcoholic who blames himself for the death of their son. Frank is the one who tried to commit suicide, not Georgie. Georgie has dedicated her life to taking care of Frank and, if she is sometimes overly critical with him, it’s because she alone understands that Frank is throwing his life away.
It’s a sad film. Both Georgie and Bernie are almost fanatically loyal to Frank but it’s hard not to feel that the self-centered and self-destructive Frank doesn’t really deserve their loyalty. That we have any sympathy at all for Frank is due to the performance of Bing Crosby, who plays the role with just enough self-awareness that the audience gets a hint of the man Frank was before he turned to alcohol and self-pity. As usual, William Holden is well-cast as a cynical but ultimately kind-hearted character and he does a good job of hinting at what lies underneath Bernie’s rough exterior. Grace Kelly won her only Oscar for playing Georgie and she does a fairly good job, even if she does seem to be miscast. Georgie is far cry from the glamorous characters that Kelly usually played. Personally, I think she was far more Oscar-worthy in Rear Window, which was released the same year and featured Kelly in a far more interesting role. George Seaton directs the film as if it were a film noir, with Holden, Crosby, and Kelly often acting in the shadows. The Country Girl works best when it contrasts the artificiality of Bernie’s show with the real-life human drama taking place backstage.
The Country Girl was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress. While Grace Kelly was named Best Actress, the rest of the awards were won by On The Waterfront, with Bing Crosby losing to Marlon Brando.
Through the Shattered Lens 