THE WHALES OF AUGUST: Blu-ray (Alive Films, 1987) Kino Lorber

Director Lindsay Anderson’s The Whales of August (1987) is just one of those solidly acted movie blessings that, in hindsight, I just wish could have been done ‘that much’ better. Heavily influenced by the success of On Golden Pond (1980) and immeasurably blessed, not only by David Berry’s popular and pre-sold stage production, but monumentally to feature four living legends of the movie screen, with a combined total of 300+ years acting experience between them, not even this pedigree can salvage The Whales of August from devolving into a wordy ‘conversation piece’ the likes of which a director like David Lean would have undoubtedly classified in the ‘little gem’ category. I don’t rightly know what it is that the picture lacks – though lack, it does. Directors George Cukor and Joseph L. Mankeiwicz were famous for creating ‘talky’ masterpieces confined to a handful of sets (All About Eve 1950, and My Fair Lady 1964, immediately come to mind); the theatricality ingeniously overcome by directorial pacing and carefully contrived tricks in the editing room to move the action along. But ‘Whales’ doesn’t really have this advantage, despite being shot entirely on location.

Make no mistake, here. The Whales of August is an understated, gently acted and even more gingerly directed quality affair. But it somehow trips on its own narrative impetus, unable to carry the audience’s attention span from points ‘A’ to ‘B’ and beyond. Instead, the staging and screenplay just feel like one unending scene, intermittently interrupted by some utterly gorgeous, but arbitrary inserts of the Maine coastline. These have been impeccably lensed by cinematographer extraordinaire, Mike Fash. Whatever aesthetic quality is owed ‘Whales’ is due to Fash, who worked under inclement weather conditions and the irascible nature of Bette Davis (a force of nature in her own right) to will these images to life, using nature’s exemplary palette to offset the pallor occasionally netted in performance to lag behind each actor’s strengths. We can forgive the duller moments here, largely suspended, even mesmerized by the likes of Davis, playing blind woman, Elizabeth Mae ‘Libby’ Logan-Strong, and Lillian Gish, then aged 93, appearing remarkably spry as her devoted sister, Sarah Louise Logan-Webber.

Bringing up the rear, as Letitia ‘Tisha’ Benson-Doughty - the opinionated one, is Ann Sothern, who came to the project third best perhaps, but being the only alumni to receive a Best Actress Supporting Oscar nomination (losing out to Olympia Dukakis in Moonstruck). Sothern’s acting is hardly in a class on par with either Davis or Gish. But she nevertheless, holds her own between these two titans. Gish’s temperament, more patient and abiding to directorial influences, proved the necessary counterbalance to Davis’ generally caustic and hyper-critical assessment of the process by which ‘Whales’ came into existence. Davis hated the remoteness of the location – an island, requiring daily sojourns of 45 min. to arrive on set. She also demanded ‘top billing’ – her competitor’s spirit leaving Gish deflated and remarking to Anderson, “I just can't deal with that sort of thing. I don't care what they do with my name. If they leave it off, so much the better. It's the work I love, not the glory.”

Neither Gish nor Davis had made a movie in some time prior to ‘Whales’; each eager to work again, though arguably not with each other. Davis barely spoke to her costar between takes; her cold shoulder treatment empathized by Gish, who chalked it up to the aftereffects of Davis’ debilitating stroke. “That face,” Gish explained, “Have you ever seen such a tragic face? Poor woman. How she must be suffering. I don't think it's right to judge a person like that. We must bear and forbear.”  For her part, Davis was frustrated with Gish missing her cues, “Miss Gish was stone deaf. She couldn’t have heard the cues if I’d shouted them through a bullhorn.” Perhaps, but Gish was later to slyly admit her ‘missed cues’ were something of a passive/aggressive rebuttal to Davis’ mistreatment of her – making Davis wait for her reactions and leaving Lindsay Anderson as the ‘lion-tamer’ between them. Professionalism takes many forms, however, and no one working on ‘Whales’ was to have an unkind word about this tight-knit ensemble. Vincent Price was the most conciliatory about the honor of working with Bette Davis again. Price had appeared briefly opposite her in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939); thereafter, keeping up appearances socially. Price regarded Gish as a ‘real lady’ and Davis, an uncompromising technician in her craft. There are virtues and shortcomings to both these assessments.

Indeed, in reviewing their respective performances, Gish’s is the more restrained, confined to subtler reaction shots that Lindsay Anderson was to comment on, in dailies also screened by Davis. Rather put off by his high praise, Davis reportedly glared at Anderson, adding, “So, Miss Gish is doing a terrific job on her close-ups. No kidding…she invented them!” Reportedly, producer Mike Kaplan was responsible for Gish’s participation on the project, enamored with her performance in 1967’s The Comedians, and aspiring to work with this immortal who began her career all the way back in 1912. At the same time, Kaplan had seen the Trinity Repertory Company’s production of The Whales of August and thought there could be no finer Sarah Webber than Gish. An audience was arranged and Kaplan went to work convincing Gish to play the part.

While the stage version had employed performers much younger than their alter egos, the movie version cast pretty much to type. Stars under consideration at first included Kate Hepburn, Shirley Booth, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred Astaire, Joel McCrea, John Gielgud and Paul Henreid. For one reason or another, all turned the picture down. Indeed, age had been unkind to most; but also to Davis who, by 1987 had suffered the indignation, not only of a series of strokes, leaving her listing to one side and with a speed impediment, but also the absurd cruelty of a ‘tell-all’ hatchet job written by her daughter, B.D. Hyman. Davis never forgave B.D. her candor and, on the set of ‘Whales’ was frequently envious of the rather devoted relationship co-star, Ann Sothern had with her daughter, Tisha Sterling (cast as ‘young Tisha’ in the picture’s brief, and all but meaningless sepia-tinted prologue).

Unlike On Golden Pond, or even Driving Miss Daisy, each begun their shelf life as a play before acquiring even more emotional cache as movies, The Whales of August on film shows intermittent signs of creakiness in its stagecraft; director, Lindsay Anderson unable to keep the understated pacing fresh and invigorating. Perhaps owing to the location, there are few tracking or dolly shots; most of the action comprised of static tableau; stationary two-shots intercut with one or two establishing shots to show off Jocelyn Herbert’s production design, and, of course, a myriad of close-ups, with the actors merely talking to one another in scene after scene.  Again, Joseph Mankeiwicz used to make the same sort of picture, yet with far more imaginative use of the cinema space and camera angles. Herein, Anderson’s setups are fairly straight forward to downright pedestrian. The cutaways to Casco Bay and Cliff Island’s natural splendor do not serve any transitional narrative structure either. Instead, they recurrently divide, not between scenes (or rather, play ‘acts’) but conversations between characters.

The Whales of August begins with a sepia-tinted prologue circa 1912; young Tisha, Libby (Margaret Ladd) and Sarah (Mary Steenburgen) are seen frolicking along the desolate coast of Cliff Island. Libby and Sarah’s summer house, a stark wooden structure nestled a stone’s throw from the cliff, has been in the family for generations. The girl’s, in their white linens, delight themselves with the adventures of youth, inquiring to the strapping Mr. Randall (Mike Bush as a young man/Frank Pitkin as his elder counterpart) in his rowboat, if he has seen the annual migration of the whales. There really is no point to this prologue as we are never entirely introduced to any of these younger incarnations; the camera, remaining at a distance and dialogue, rudimentary at best. We advance to ‘the present’ – or rather, the mid-1950’s. Time has withered these beauties into remote sticks of brittle and decaying kindling.

As Libby (now played by Davis) explains to her sister, “Sarah, you and I are from such rare stock…and we’ve precious little time left.” Indeed, Libby is bitter; at some point, having been stricken with blindness from cataracts and under the care of her sister. Mercifully, Sarah (now played by Gish) does not harbor an angry bone in her body. Indeed, even as Libby chronically criticizes Sarah for her ‘conversations’ with a portrait of her dead husband, also her constant need to be doing something – “busy, busy, busy…always busy,” and further denies Sarah’s request to have a picture window put into their parlor for an unobstructed view of the ocean, Sarah is patient and compassionate. Life on the island is not without its virtues; the gorgeous vistas and sunsets, presumably depicted at the height of summer. Actually, The Whales of August shot mostly from Labor Day through October, with temperatures dipping down in the evening, to cause infrequent bouts of freezing rain and sleet, dampening everyone’s spirits.

The ladies are visited by handyman, Joseph Brackett (Harry Carey Jr.), their good friend, Tisha (Ann Sothern) and Nicholas Maranov (Vincent Price); an elegant sponge, whose latest live-in acquaintance has only just unexpectedly died. As the woman’s granddaughter intends to sell the home, Maranov, a Russian expiate, is in quiet desperation as he searches for another place to momentarily call his home. Libby wisely deduces Maranov has set his sights on Sarah’s loneliness as his easy mark. Sarah is no fool. Yet she agrees to entertain Maranov for the evening. He has been fishing all morning and will arrive later that evening to prepare them dinner from the catch of the day; a meal Libby absolutely refuses to eat. Meanwhile, Tisha confides in Sarah; perhaps, the time has come to find ‘a home’ for Libby where she can receive the care she needs without being so burdensome. Sarah loves her sister, but has to agree. Sarah’s cantankerous nature has worn her down.

Libby suffers a nightmare during her afternoon nap, incurring Sarah’s momentary wrath when listening to her jabber about death and wishing to die. That evening Sarah and Libby quarrel again over Mr. Maranov’s arrival; Sarah demanding Libby dress her best for the meal. At the last possible moment, Libby complies. For the briefest of conversations, it looks as though Libby will behave herself. But then Maranov makes a calculated move to woo Sarah with tales of his Russian past. Libby calls his bluff, informing him that while she is sympathetic to his need to find a new home, she can most assuredly concur theirs will not be offered for him to remain. Sarah is embarrassed by Libby’s forthrightness. But Maranov agrees with Libby, informing Sarah her sister has wisely found him out. He will not burden them further.

After an affectionate acknowledgement of thanks for the time they have afforded him, Maranov makes his noble exit. Their paths shall not cross again. The next day, Libby awakens reinvigorated from a good night’s rest. Hence, when Mr. Brackett arrives again to check up on them, it is Libby now who suggests they would be willing to entertain having a picture window installed in their parlor, to provide an unobstructed view of the sea. Hurrying out beyond the veranda to see if the whales have returned, Libby and Sarah make their way to the cliff’s edge; Sarah disappointed not to see the one-time plentiful whales bathing off the coast. “They’re all gone,” she sadly declares. But a hopeful Libby gingerly coaxes, “You never can tell. You never can tell.”

The Whales of August is a fond, but only occasionally poignant investigation of the ravages of age befallen the human spirit. Time has eroded youth, if not the conviction of these time-honored sisters. Nothing but death can part them now. Theirs is a bond unbreakable, and there is decidedly strength in knowing this; derived from Sarah’s ability to forgo a possible winter romance with Mr. Maranov and remain the spinster devoted to her sister’s care until life has passed one or the other by. Ironically, Bette Davis, some twenty-years Gish’s junior, though easily looking every bit as old, was cast as the eldest sister. And Gish…well…no one viewing her performance in this movie would give her 93 years. She is as unfettered in her mannerisms and bright-eyed optimism as that girl of twenty-one we briefly glimpse during the movie’s prologue. While none of the backstage animosity between Gish and Davis showed up on the screen, Lindsay Anderson would later speculate the problems he had on the set were the result of not only different temperaments, but divergent work ethics. “Lillian's first instinct is to try to give the director what he asks for. Her professional attitude comes from those days with 'D. W. Griffith'. Bette tries to dismiss the director.”

The Whales of August had a lengthy gestation period; roughly five full years before Anderson could raise sufficient funds to produce it under the ‘Alive Films’ banner; reaching a distribution deal with UA, and later to be acquired by MGM. It’s a sad state of affairs indeed, the old MGM no longer holding the rights to its one-time formidable library of classics; sadder still its subsequent asset management – mostly derived from UA and Orion catalogs – has been left to decay and molder with the past. Not exactly certain why The Whales of August merits a very fine restoration and remastering effort (while movies like The Alamo remain in limbo and in a delicate state of disrepair) but we won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. MGM’s efforts to preserve The Whales of August for future generations has yielded a superb looking 1080p transfer, easily one of their best efforts to date.

The opening credits appear slightly soft, and the brief sepia-tinted prologue suggests some curious color bleeding anomalies (the sepia tint is not uniformly distributed). But once the movie segues into full-blown color, the image is a sight to behold; rich and saturated, with gorgeous hues, accurate flesh tones, astonishing amounts of fine detail, and superb contrast. Honestly, there is nothing to complain about here! The DTS 2.0 is adequate for this primarily dialogue-driven outing; Alan Price’s underscore sounding great too.

Kino Lorber and MGM have conspired on a slew of extras to augment this 90-min. film. We get vintage interviews with Bette Davis, Lillian Gish, Vincent Price, Ann Sothern, Lindsay Anderson, Harry Carey Jr., Mike Fash, Jocelyn Herbert, and, even more recent interviews with actresses Mary Steenburgen, Tisha Sterling and Margaret Ladd, and producers, Shep Gordon and Mike Kaplan. There are vignettes devoted to the location, the score and finally a superb audio commentary from Kaplan, moderated by critic, Stephen Farber. If you are a fan of The Whales of August, MGM and Kino Lorber have delivered the pluperfect example of a Special Edition Blu-ray, despite it not being marketed as one. Curious, indeed…but very wonderful to see! Bottom line: highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

5+