Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

From the Terrace Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 3, 2016

John O’Hara’s reputation is somewhat incredibly bifurcated in the annals of American literary criticism. Some rather well known writers have proclaimed O’Hara as one of the greatest American authors of his era, while others have routinely dismissed O’Hara as barely better than a pulp fiction hack. Several of O’Hara’s books and/or short stories provided the basis for well known properties like Pal Joey and Butterfield 8, the latter of which was disparaged by star Elizabeth Taylor as being basically “trash” despite the fact that it won her an Academy Award for Best Actress. That same disconnect may be in evidence for some viewers of From the Terrace, a pretty sudsy entry which beat Butterfield 8 to the big screen by a few months in 1960 but which according to some online sources only did around half the business the Taylor vehicle did, despite offering the blandishments of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, along with an eclectic and generally impressive supporting cast. The film will probably remind many of some of Douglas Sirk’s output from the 1950s, in general substance if not exactly in tone and/or style, and it’s kind of interesting to note that director Mark Robson was at that point relatively recently coming off another quasi-Sirkian affair, the 1957 adaptation of Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place . (There’s a bit of synchronicity here, as O’Hara evidently once took Yale to task for owning stock in ABC, citing the irony that the tony Ivy League school was “supporting” television blather like the small screen version of Peyton Place.)

What’s kind of surprising about Ernest Lehman’s adaptive screenplay is just how little story O’Hara’s source novel provides. Oh, sure, there are lots of building blocks here, and tons of information, information that’s frequently presented in brief expository slogs that reveal various histories and back stories. But in terms of basic plot, On the Terrace is at its core nothing more than the tale of an unhappy marriage. Or, perhaps, marriages if one begins with the parents of returning World War II vet Alfred Eaton (Paul Newman), rather than Alfred’s ultimate betrothal to society debutante Mary St. John (Joanne Woodward).

The “informational” aspect of the screenplay is on hand from the first scene, when the traumas of Alfred’s alcoholic mother Martha (Myrna Loy) are on display, along with the less than nurturing ambience fostered by Alfred’s mill owning father Samuel (Leon Ames). Even more “information” is imparted courtesy of a brave chauffeur who upbraids Samuel for not loving Alfred (who’s due back momentarily from the war) because Samuel was so bereft over losing his other son to spinal meningitis. The fact that little tidbits like these are dealt with so discursively while at the same time in so weirdly specific a fashion may provide a few narrative hurdles for some audience members to overcome.

While those tidbits continue to accrue across much of the rest of the film’s first act, the main story comes into focus once Alfred meets and is more or less immediately smitten by the gorgeous if rather hoity toity Mary. Unfortunately for Alfred, Mary is “spoken for” courtesy of her impending nuptials to Dr. Jim Roper (Patrick O’Neal). There isn’t much suspense about what’s ultimately going to happen, and sure enough after a bit of wooing and interstitial melodrama, Mary and Alfred are a couple, with Alfred supposedly on the fast track to corporate success despite having jettisoned his family legacy at the mill.

Even more melodrama ensues when Alfred’s partnership with his buddy Lex Porter (George Grizzard) doesn’t pay the dividends Alfred would like, but a kind of bizarre vignette where Alfred gets to literally act the hero sets the young man up in a more storied corporate environment, and things would seem to be set for something approaching a happily ever after title card. However, Alfred’s incipient ambition makes him a less than attentive spouse, and due to some machinations of a co-worker (a perfectly despicable Howard Caine), Alfred ends up spending quite a bit of time away from Mary in a rural environment where he meets pretty young Natalie Benziger (Ina Balin, both a Golden Globe winner—for Best Newcomer—and a Golden Globe nominee—for Best Supporting Actress—for this role). Romantic sparks fly, though Natalie is cautious due to Alfred being married. Some relatively turgid hysterics finally gurgle up once Alfred returns home to the revelation that Mary has been cheating on him with Roper.

There’s not much question where all of this mishegos (a technical term) is heading, and in fact From the Terrace probably could have easily jettisoned at least 20-30 minutes of its unwieldy two hour plus running time and gotten to the expected more or less happy ending a lot sooner. Performances are what help to elevate this glossy soap opera, with Woodward getting to vamp it up as a machinating woman whose allure turns out to be a double edged sword. The real emotional center of the film is undeniably Balin’s Natalie, though, and the film really sparks to affecting life when she’s on the screen.

From the Terrace Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

From the Terrace is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is a nicely organic looking presentation, with a lush palette that may fall prey (rightly or wrongly) to some of those who complain about a supposed bluish tint to some of Fox's catalog Blu-ray releases. As I mentioned in the The Best of Everything Blu-ray review, some of this perception can easily be attributed to elements like production design (note the prevalence of blue in the Eaton home, especially in things like curtains and upholstery), costumes (see screenshot 2), or even that most blue of all things—Newman's eyes. However, to my eyes the palette looks generally accurate and quite beautifully saturated a lot of the time. The grain field is rather coarse looking at times, as can easily be seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, and is also just slightly variable at times, some of which I attribute to second unit and/or location photography conditions (as in the rescue sequence). Close-ups support commendable fine detail. Elements are in excellent condition.

From the Terrace Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From the Terrace features a nice sounding lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, one which capably supports the film's sometimes florid dialogue and the sweeping score of Elmer Bernstein (also available in an isolated score track). The film doesn't offer a ton of opportunity for huge spikes in dynamic range (aside from a couple of Bernstein cues), but within the kind of tamped down ambience the film exploits, all elements are delivered cleanly and clearly and with excellent prioritization.

From the Terrace Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Fox Movietone Newsreel (480i; 00:52) shows Ina Balin at one of the previews for the film.


• Original Theatrical Trailer (480i; 3:12)


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

From the Terrace Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

From the Terrace may not have the literary ambitions of, say, the film that co-starred Taylor and Newman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but it wants to exploit the same kind of overheated interaction between spouses that the Tennessee Williams property did. More restrained, and without the provocative subtexts that often inform a Douglas Sirk film, From the Terrace is probably best enjoyed as a glossy, patently artificial melodrama that may not have much connection to the hoi polloi rank and file, but which offers a decently incisive look at an ambitious young man who finally realizes that climbing the corporate ladder may not bring him happiness. Performances are great all around, and a wonderfully luminous Balin makes the film quite moving at times. Recommended.