Julia 1977

     This Oscar-winning drama is based on the writing of Lillian Hellman.  It depicts the relationship between two friends and its unexpected consequences.  Lillian is a renowned playwright and she reunites in Russia with her childhood playmate Julia.  Lillian is recruited by Julia to smuggle funds into Germany to aid the anti-Nazi movement.  Waiting in the wings is Lillian's lover and mentor, Dashiell Hammett and he is unaware of her dangerous assignment.

     Lillian Hellman's autobiographical story about memory and friendship gets the full director Zinnemann treatment.  Julia is a disaffected Anglo-American aristocrat, she strides into womanhood wearing golf shoes and a brave Redgrave grin.  She is swept up in the anti-Fascist movement and she persuades Hellman to smuggle money into Berlin.  Julia is a liability to any underground movement and she is murdered.  Hellman returns to Dashiell Hammett for comfort.  This is like a frontier drama with trains, the NY literary society and in the '30s.  Zinnemann concentrates on the Fonda-Redgrave relationship.  No credibility is given to Hellman's unlimited talent and her dominant personality.  Reverential to the end, a suggestion of homosexuality is laughingly tossed off in one glittering scene.  No one mentions that lesbianism is central to 'The Children's Hour’.  This is the play Hellman is writing while 'her memory returned again and again' to Julia?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

117 min, Drama directed by Fred Zinnemann and written by Lillian Hellman and Alvin Sargent with Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximilian Schell, Hal Holbrook, Rosemary Murphy, Meryl Streep, Dora Doll, Elizabeth Mortensen, John Glover, Lisa Pelikan, Susan Jones, Cathleen Nesbitt, Maurice Denham.

Note:  Imdb 7.2* out of 10* with 8706 reviews, Roger Ebert 2 1/2* out of 4*, Rotten Tomatoes 76% with 29 critics 71% with 2500+ audience scores, Metacritic 58 out of 100 with 6 critic reviews, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 288 reviews, Letterboxd 3.3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  The shadowy person sitting in the fishing boat at the beginning and end of the film is actually Lillian Hellman and Jane Fonda did the voice-over.  Early on, director Fred Zinnemann considered casting Meryl Streep in the title role.  Streep was almost totally unknown as an actress at this time, she had only one play to her credit and had never appeared in a film.  Zinnemann decided to cast Vanessa Redgrave instead.  Jane Fonda was originally cast as Julia.  However, when the producers had trouble casting the role of Lillian Hellman, they decided to recast Fonda in the lead.  During the casting process, both Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave’s names were mentioned as possible stars for the film.  The producers initially vetoed both actresses on the advice of the publicity department.  They feared that the absolute worst option would be to cast Fonda and Redgrave in a film together.  They were both known for their outspoken political beliefs.  In the end, both actresses were cast and the film went on to great critical and box office success.  RollingStone Magazine lists Jason Robards in the role of Dashiell Hammett as #22 in the list of 25 best Oscar-winning performances based on real people.

Mistakes:  At the beginning of the film, a calendar is seen showing the date as June, 1934.  Months later when Lillian is in Europe and she reads about the riots which lead to an injury of her friend Julia, the American newspaper she reads has a date of Feb, 1934?  The same locomotive is pulling the train from Berlin to Moscow even though it is a different train.  In addition, a single steam locomotive would never have been used from Paris to Berlin let alone Paris to Moscow.  During a sailing shot, as the boat carrying Julia and Lilian tracks away from the camera, the gunnel of the boat containing the camera crew is clearly visible for an instant in the lower left of the frame.