Bette Davis

Ernest Borgnine

Debbie Reynolds

Barry Fitzgerald

Rod Taylor

Robert F. Simon

Madge Kennedy

Dorothy Stickney

Carol Veazie

Joan Camden

Ray Stricklyn

Jay Adler

Dan Tobin

Paul Denton

Augusta Merighi

Mae Clarke

Don Devlin

Joan Bradshaw

Janice Carroll

John Costello

Tom Dillon

Marie Dixon

Jimmie Fox

Harry Hines

Jack Kenney

Sammy Shack

Robert R. Stephenson

Gore Vidal

Paddy Chayefsky

Richard Brooks

John Alton

William Shanks

John Truwe

Conrad Kahn

Hank Moonjean

Wesley C. Miller

Van Allen James

Ralph George

Edwin B. Willis

Sydney Guilaroff

Frank Santillo

Sam Zimbalist

Paul Groesse

Cedric Gibbons

Gene Ruggiero

André Previn

William Tuttle

Hugh Hunt

Drama

Comedy

Romance

The Catered Affair

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

United States of America

CinemaSerf

Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine are cracking in this really rather agonising drama of a couple who must reconcile their own (differing) aspirations for their daughter's forthcoming wedding with their reputations and their pocket books - and the peer pressures of neighbours and their soon-to-be in-laws alike. Initially, the young couple "Jane" (Debbie Reynolds) and "Ralph" (Rod Taylor) just want a simple ceremony to save everyone fuss, hassle and money. When his father offers them an apartment, and her neighbours start to wonder about the "haste" of it all, Davis ("Aggie") convinces thrifty husband "Tom" (Borgnine) that they must go all out on the wedding of the century. At times funny, with plenty of pathos and some super character parts from Barry Fitzgerald as "Uncle Jack" and cutie brother Ray Stricklyn as army-bound brother "Eddie" the story moves along at one hell of a pace. The star looks every inch the dreary housewife, Borgnine is super as the beleaguered cabbie husband who has saved all his life so as he can go into business on his own - and the kids all combine to convey the frustrations and expectations of this "big day" in a way that must make any impending nuptials scare the heck out of anyone. Great entertainment.

English

Catered Affair, The