Paddy Chayefsky's monologue-heavy lambasting of the Sex Symbol mythology stars Kim Stanley as a troubled young woman from Maryland who comes to Los Angeles in the 1940s to work as an actress and becomes a star. Queasy, peculiar melodrama seems to blame show-business for the girl's plight, but we can clearly see from the beginning she's an extremely insecure person, able to attract people but not capable of keeping them. Stanley does everything she can with this role, but she looks much more mature than the men she's paired up with, and Chayefsky does her a disservice by having everyone talk about what a talent she is but never letting us see for ourselves. It's a busy, chatty movie that tries on different themes like pieces of wardrobe before discarding them (and most of the male characters follow suit). Patty Duke (pre-"The Miracle Worker") has a nice bit playing Stanley's Emily Ann as a grade-schooler, and the black-and-white cinematography by Arthur J. Ornitz is quite good. Not a success, though with flashes of interest throughout. ** from ****
Review of The Goddess
