Bette Davis

Lillian Gish

Vincent Price

Ann Sothern

Harry Carey, Jr.

Margaret Ladd

Mary Steenburgen

Tisha Sterling

Frank Grimes

Lindsay Anderson

David Berry

Alan Price

Julie Hewett

Jocelyn Herbert

Nicolas Gaster

Alan Bell

Mike Kaplan

Toni Trimble

Bob Fox

Carolyn Pfeiffer

Sosie Hublitz

Shep Gordon

K.C. Fox

Rudy Dillon

Mike Fash

Drama

The Whales of August

Nelson Entertainment

United States of America

CinemaSerf

When I see this, I cannot help but wonder how much actual acting Bette Davis and Lilian Gish (who made her first film in 1912!) were doing, and how much of their performances were but second nature for two elderly ladies who were simply being themselves in this screen adaptation of David Berry's play. The sisters, now spinsters, spend their summers away from the heat of Pittsburgh in a small cottage on an island off the coat of Maine. Davis ("Libby") is blind and reliant on Gish ("Sarah"), her slightly more nimble, certainly more amenable sister as they live out their lives contemplating what has gone before. Vincent Price adds some delicate diversion to the dynamic, sparingly, as a local gentlemen who, having escaped from revolutionary Russia, has his own stories to tell too. It moves very much at it's own pace, evoking quite poignantly the day-to-lives of the women as one of them is clearly suffering the effects of senility tempered with odd spells of lucidity that demonstrate the fragility of life and of the aging process. You won't need a tissue, but you might want to pick up the phone to your grandmother afterwards...

English

1987 The Whales Of August Official Trailer 1  Nelson Entertainment