Watch Come Back, Little Sheba For Free

Strong and Moving!

I wanted to but couldn't!

The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

The main interest of the film is its keen insight into the reality of alcoholism once it gets cured while the permanent risk of a relapse keeps hanging over you until it drops, which it doesn't always do, but it certainly does sometimes, like here, when the tenant of the Delaneys allows too much liberty to a playboy friend, which starts Burt Lancaster off into a terrible misdirection. The trigger was pulled, and the gun just went off.It's definitely Shirley Booth's film, but Burt is superb supporting her. She makes a pathetic wreck of a woman with a marriage on her hands that couldn't be avoided only because it went wrong from the beginning. Burt is not equally pathetic, after all, he took his responsibility and married her and stayed faithful, but it's a pathetic tragedy of an aborted marriage nonetheless, but they make the best of it and actually succeed.The other actors all play in the shadow of this relationship, which is gloriously documented and dissected indeed. The lost youth, the failed motherhood, the AA obligations, the bottle in the cupboard, that must not be touched... It's a wonderful chamber play totally indoors and void of all glamour and Hollywood tinsel but perfectly real - and tremendously exciting, because you are all the time afraid of what will happen, the sleeping volcano of Burt Lancaster erupts in every film, and so it happens. That's because every film of his is worth seeing and more than once.

Playright William Inge had something of a penchant for the catalyst, employing them to good effect in Picnic, Bus Stop and, of course, in this play. Whilst Tennessee Williams is arguably a better dramatist he doesn't always translate to the screen as well as Inge who had four solid successes with the three mentioned above plus The Dark At The Top Of The Stairs, even Ted Williams didn't hit like that. It is, of course, Shirley Booth - in her film debut - who carries the film though Burt Lancaster is solid in support playing much older than his real age. Trivia buffs will relish the fact that Humphrey Bogart lobbied for the part of Doc and was nearer to the correct age than Lancaster; this is only trivia if you know that Booth made her stage debut in 1925 opposite Bogie. This is a fine film that stands up well after more than sixty years.

Look Carefully at the scenes involving the automobile, in some scenes the passenger side front windshield is missing to allow for better filming without glare.Beyond this, the movie is a fine example of real film making. Shirley Booth is incredible. At the ambassador east hotel in chicago, they named all the booths after famous celebrities. One of the booths is simply named: SHIRLEY.I seem to recall that DOC is actually a chiropractor though he wanted to be a medical doctor.There is a non musical version of "HELLO DOLLY" called, "THE MATCHMAKER" and Shirley Booth is wonderful in this film too. Far better than Barbara Streisand in the musical version.

The film's odd combination of staginess and 1950s sexual mores and social conventions makes for a mildly interesting but very dated take on marriage, aging, alcoholism, and sex. The dialogue is talky, overly expository, and not terribly involving, and the Alcoholics Anonymous subplot feels awkward and tacked on. The absurd prudishness of Burt Lancaster's character, emblematic of 1950s social norms and ideals, is so central to the storyline and his character that it really brings the film down. The hysterical aversion to sex he exhibits makes Lancaster's lifeless, incoherent performance even worse. Shirley Booth gives a good, if broad, performance as Lola. Her physical and vocal mannerisms are often grating, but her pathetic loneliness and clinginess is moving. The lack of chemistry between her and Lancaster is difficult for the film to overcome, but Booth emphasizes her character's nostalgia and vicarious nature in touching ways. Terry Moore gives a solid performance. She brims with empathy for the semi-pathetic Delaneys, while at the same time emphasizing the greenness and playful sexuality of her character, the consequences of which startle her when Turk (Richard Jaeckal) goes a little too far late one night. Moore does a great job of balancing the sweetness and respectfulness of her character with her youthful sexuality, serving as a perfect foil to Lola. The role is limited, but it's an admirable performance. The film is only somewhat interesting overall, although certainly worth seeing at least once for (some of) its performances and for a window into the 1950s.