User Reviews

A slice of Americana, a mood piece, a coming-of-age story about a little girl who wants things out of life, and one of the most emotional performances I've seen on screen that didn't require over-acting or scene-stealing by Ethel Waters. MEMBER OF THE WEDDING concerns one little twelve year old girl, Frankie Addams, who feels abandoned when her older brother gets married and decides to carry on with his life without her. She pours her heart out to the household maid Bernice who has a few stories of her own to tell.

For most of the story's length, MEMBER OF THE WEDDING is a two-character piece focusing on Frankie and Bernice. Frankie can't understand why the girls reject her as a member of their club and all but foams at the mouth. This and her brother's impending wedding rattles her: she also longs to get married and wonders when that day will arrive and goes on and on about the dress, how she'd look, how it would all happen.

All this time, Bernice serves as a buffer for Frankie's overblown emotions and takes on her precocious gravitas into her beautiful character like a sponge. Wise, all-knowing, the emblem of an Earth-mother, she has the experience to disclose to Frankie that her time, too, will come. Seeing Ethel Waters so alive, so tender, so humanely strong is a thing of immense beauty. It's one of those rare performances actors give -- it's as if she'd found a role that suited her bruised life and she embraced it the same way she lovingly embraces Julie Harris in one affecting sequence of this filmed play.

But she goes one step further, more than likely not aware of it. (I doubt Carson McCullers had this kind of reading of his lines in mind, but I'm sure he was overwhelmed.) Trying to bring some meaning into Frankie's anguish, Bernice recounts a moment in life when she was completely in love with a man named Luddie. They married, but he died young. The camera never once moves away from her face, looking into her own flashback in a complete, rapturous trance. As her face fills the screen and she continues telling her tale of how she looked for pieces of Luddie in other men -- "but they were the wrong pieces" --, tears stream down her face in a constant, liquid flow. All I needed to know about this woman is right there, in those five minutes as she opens up like a rose and blooms. At that moment, she is the movie in its entirety and I found myself weeping with her. I would have liked to have known Ethel Waters, and I wonder why she was overlooked by the Academy... but as usual, it's a mystery.

The same can't be said about Julie Harris. This is the third movie I've seen with her, and again she brings this abrasive overacting into her role. I know most critics love her rendition of Frankie Addams, but I felt she was literally shrieking her lines from the moment she came on screen to when she gives way to Waters and allows Waters her chance at the spotlight. While I don't deny she's had her career and is a great stage and film actress, she says nothing to me. She was nearly thirty when she made her debut on-screen and I couldn't believe for a moment she was a 12 year old girl. Even more, no 12 year-old talks in such heavy-handed tones. It's even more problematic when she punctuates her lines with triple exclamation points -- she actually makes Bette Davis at her most over-the-top seem like a zombie sleepwalking through her scenes. It probably worked well on-stage; on film it almost ruins it.

MEMBER OF THE WEDDING is one of the few movies that took on the place of minors against the world. Frankie, when she leaves home, finds herself thrown into a very adult world -- one that she couldn't possibly understand. Seeing that she encounters an American soldier who behaves quite badly with her is an issue Hollywood took a gamble on -- even today, underage kids being sexually solicited is a testy matter. It makes it understandable to have an adult actress play Frankie -- until LOLITA and TAXI DRIVER happened, that is. MEMBER OF THE WEDDING also gave black actors a chance to be anything other than the peripheral black character and have a storyline, even if tragic, but one that made them people instead of ornaments. Ethel Waters is needless to say brilliant, a larger and earlier version of Alfre Woodard, and the sole reason to watch this small but poignant movie.

As a grandparent, I found the character played so expertly by Julie Harris troubling and a portent of a child who would grow into a troubled adult life. Frankie is not just a pre-teen with growing problems but a tantrum throwing, usually unkind and totally out of touch with reality. I think a child psychologist would confirm that diagnosis. There is too little at the end of the movie that would change my mind about Frankie's future. Short periods of "normal" behavior are common to such troubled souls. The few minutes at the end of the film left me thinking "how did she become as an adult". Perhaps if Harris's character began the film with her describing her difficult youth and recognizing the impact it had, the film would uplifted me, instead of leaving me thinking Frankie would become one of societies lost souls. I can't help liking happy endings, especially when someone triumphs over the most adverse of difficulties.

For all of kudos given to Harris, I think Brandon de Wilde is overlooked. Unfortunately, his early death ended what could have been an outstanding career. I could not help but notice that this film also cast former child star, Dickie Moore, as Dick Moore. He was the drunk soldier who befriended Frankie, and then tried to kiss her against her will. What could have been a harmless first kiss also turned into a major problem for Frankie's loss of reality. Her attempt to go with her brother on his honeymoon was the most troubling revelation that Frankie was a troubled child who needed more than a short talk. Ethel Waters plays a great role too. She is one of those persons who has more wisdom than most college professors, without ever going to college. And not even she could help Frankie.

So what do you have? A movie the critics loved, but cash customers didn't. A really great movie is liked by fans and producers. Without cash customers, we wouldn't have any film; and without art, we wouldn't have great movies. For this reason, A member of the Wedding doesn't quite live up to my standards of success.

I've just finished viewing "The Member of the Wedding" (1952) on TCM.

Bernice Sadie Brown has family problems of her own. But as the cook & maid for the family she is the only mother-figure for Frankie. She cares for both the 12 year old girl & her 7 year old cousin John Henry.

Frankie appears to be an over-wrought, distraught adolescent. The only person she has to lean on is Bernice. This lady imparts much wisdom but is not being heard by the child. In fact Bernice is being shouted down by the 12 year old. But she is succeeding in loving her no matter what.

Frankie goes from being filled with angst to highly elated, then demanding & shouldn't be trusted alone in her wild behavior. She is all over the map emotionally. (Bi-polar disorder perhaps?)

Then she learns her brother Jarvis & his fiancé Janice are to be married. At this point things get worse. She decides to be not only a 'member of the wedding' but also a 'part of the honeymoon'. Wonder how far that's going to go?

To calm the anxious Frankie the night before the wedding Bernice, John Henry & Frankie snuggle together singing the old spiritual "His Eye is On the Sparrow". To me this is the most moving scene of the film.

The day of the wedding comes & Bernice is watching like a hawk & trying to second-guess Frankie while keeping the girl close! Any idea what's next? She's packed to run but how far will she get?

This movie was odd in that we find 26 year old Julie Harris playing a 12 year old. IMHO she looks too old & goes way over the top unless she is portraying Frankie as a child who needs emotional help. Even then I have a problem with the portrayal.

10 year old Brandon De Wilde is great as the 7 year old John Henry. (Had De Wilde lived I & many others agree he would have had an even more impressive acting career.)

Last but not least we have Ethel Waters (as Bernice) who, as is expected of her talent, is a real standout in acting & vocalizing. What more can we say about this lady? This is one of her last major roles & "The Member of the Wedding" is most impressive because of Miss Waters.

Other comments above analyze the good & not so good of this film quite well. ..so I will just hit a few notes here and move on...

Julie Harris's post World War 2 Acting School work - shows a bit too much. She is (to me anyway) overplaying the "Look at Me! I'm A Brittle Emerging Misunderstood Adolescent!!!

There's the scene where she jumps into--and refuses to leave-- the wedding car of her newly married brother & sister-in-law. Am I more annoyed at her for jumping into the car more...or for the clueless people (including Dad, Brother who just toss her out of the car--onto the ground & drive off)???

Ethel Waters - is always REAL - This is the mature actress whose real life career started several decades before...and who (per online bios) could bring her sometimes sad experience with men - children - to this role. Thus, this movie (as a whole) is less dated...because WATERS deals with this disturbed adolescent (& patiently listens to her rants--) through most of this film.

Yet this is still a quality film...Not enough action if you need to see buildings and people blowing up...and no CGI, etc. but still---Waters and the two kids.

..and Waters singing "His Eye is on the Sparrow""--can still be seen on YouTube clips!

In the deep south, Frankie Addams (Julie Harris) is a 12 year old tomboy who has no friends and is abnormally tall. She feels abandoned by her older brother who is getting married. She is desperate to leave her small town and travel the world. She spends her day in the kitchen talking to their cook Berenice Sadie Brown (Ethel Waters) and her little cousin John Henry.

The biggest issue with this movie is Julie Harris as 26 playing 12. She's acting the hell out of it and it works to some degree in the kitchen. As a sweaty three hander, there are some great interactions and her age does not interfere too much. It's harder to hide her age when Frankie runs away into town. Some of that section would be horrifying if an actual 12 year old played the role. She just looks like a young lady in her twenties when the men are being pigs. She does get an Oscar nomination for her troubles. Also, the movie should end when she returns home. That's the natural ending. Apparently, this is a novel and then a play and even a TV movie after this came out. Adapting into a ninety minutes movie often means cutting a lot of the fat. In this case, it may be worthwhile to cut off a limb. The part in the kitchen is well worth it and I wonder if a remake with a real 12 year old would be possible.

The most underrated American author of the 20th Century is Carson McCullers. If you look at the opening page of "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" you will be amazed how quickly everything becomes as vivid as a picture. If you read "Clock Without Hands" you will not even notice the seamless merging of things that are tragic and zany, and one of the most original ways a bigot could ever undo himself on radio.

"Member of the Wedding" was one of her few novels, and the only one she ever adapted into a play. Even though McCullers was very much like the character Frankie, there was nothing autobiographical in it, yet the need of Frankie to belong to a "we of me" was something the author searched for her entire brief life, and she never communicates that longing more powerfully than here.

Although the film has the three stars of the play, Ethel Waters, Julie Harris and Brandon De Wilde, in the same roles on film, it incorporates material from the novel--specifically, Frankie's disastrous attempt at a liaison with a soldier--and so feels cinematic. The play doesn't have Frankie having to be thrown out of her brother's and new sister in law's car; the film does, and it is all the more devastating because of it.

The "We of Me" speech, which Julie Harris was directed to deliver almost as a prayer, is something anyone who has ever experienced loneliness will be moved by.

Distubringly, people have a tendency to take what McCullers did and essentially rewrite it. That is what happened to "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter." As with works of Mark Twain or Mary W. Shelley, people feel an obligation to bring McCullers work "up to date" or "make it more dramatic." The sadness of this is it's not necessary. Novels like Huckleberry Finn, Frankenstein, or the Heart Is a Lonely Hunter have in them all that is needed for an effective movie. When this novel/play was put to the screen that same mistake was not made and we are all the luckier for it.

One minor bit of trivia: McCullers based the character of John Henry on author, friend, and fellow southerner, Truman Capote.

"A Member of the Wedding" is one of those which should be rated 40-to-10.......Director Zinnermann and screen-writer Edna Anhalt knew exactly what they wanted from this large cast, and guided it to perfection. It is a disturbing movie, but anyone who is over 50 will know that it portrays the way Life often intrudes into one's life, leaving a trail of sadness and confusion.

In my opinion, users "denscul" and "creolesugar" have written expert and cogent comments to which I can add little, except my personal opinion.

TO THOSE WHO THINK JULIE HARRIS OVER-ACTED: they apparently haven't experienced difficulty in their own lives (lucky they!), and have no idea how adolescence determines what kind of personality one will have...whether they can find their way through that "coming-to-life" period and come-out whole, or damaged, as the character Ms. Harris ("Frankie") played. I agree she was shrill, at times; however, I know 42-year-old people who are just as psychotic: they cannot "talk" when confusion grips them, they shout. I supposed that Ms. Harris was certainly over 12-years-old, but she was effective and convincing in her role.

BRANDON DE WILDE: that he played the role in the stageplay and did such a good job in "Wedding" guaranteed he was a skillful actor. He did other acting-jobs - some on TV ("The Night they Gave Babies Away") - underlining the tragedy, like James Dean, that he died at a very early age, in the same manner. In "Wedding," his role was fashioned after a young Truman Capote....cross-dressing, even in that era, wasn't as unusual as some may think. It seems to me some footage was cut between the time "Bernice" told "John Henry" to go inside, and his death. Bravo! and RIP, Brandon de Wilde. To see how this "gamin" grew into handsome manhood, check-out "All Fall Down".

ETHEL WATERS: unknown to many people, what a powerhouse she was in every talent she possessed. She didn't need a script, just tell her what the story was about, and her own life could provide her with a diamond-cut performance. The song she sang in "Wedding" - I sing because I am happy" - told of the richness and the difficulty of her existence, because she overcame the tragedy of discrimination. Brava! Ms. Waters....one of the best actresses ever, Black OR white.

Although some people want to say "that is the Southern way of life," it takes place that way all over the world. The message this movie projects is that we must try to swim through many sharks and become morally strong humans, against all odds......they are high unhappiness will interrupt at any unknown time.

Do yourself a favor and watch "A Member of the Wedding" again. It just may change how you feel about your own life. Consummate entertainment....

If you like screechy, overacted, talky, go nowhere movies, you'll like this one. Unfortunately, I don't like them. That's not to criticize anyone who likes this movie. There are different tastes and different movies to accommodate them.

Sure, 27 year old Julie Harris looks silly playing a 12 year old. Actors are often older than their parts.

And sure, suspension of belief can be seen as the basis of all art. That's not a mountain, that's a painting of one, etc, etc.

Sure, this is a play made into a movie with the original cast, so the play could be preserved for all time. That's certainly good.

Sure, Ethel Waters is a strong presence and wonderful to see and hear.

But, The movie itself is a piece of drek. Don't know what that means? Look it up.

Some people have pulled off this method acting quite well. Marlon Brando in his early movies. Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. There, Paul has spurts of talky, preachy, stagy one man shows. But he, the great actor he is, pulled it off. In Member of the Wedding, Julie Harris is endless with it and it's very offensive.

If this part had a 12 year old in it, why didn't they find a 12 year old to play it? I don't know what Carson McCullers was thinking, but the part she produced was a 20 something psychotic mental patient. As others observed, having a real 12 year old utter those lines and throw those tantrums would have been laughable. Even those tantrums are more like a 3 year old.

When she went out into the "cruel world": All it seems she did was go to a downtown at night. Similar to where she went to visit her father. Yet it was a big surprise that men wanted sex. Do men in downtowns only want sex at night?

I can suspend belief. I can accept middle-aged people playing kids, I can stand talky, preachy monologues. But I can't stand something going nowhere. Like I don't like music without melody. I didn't see any plot to this thing. The 12 year old didn't seem different to me at the end. Just as psychotic.

I would have preferred a Twilight Zone sort of thing, playing on the audiences' gullibility at suspending belief. At the end, it's revealed that she really is a psychotic 20 something escapee from a mental hospital, and every one else is playing along, because she's a serial killer or something. At least it would have made sense then .

In a way, this movie is contemporary. Remember the show "13 going on 30". About the social phenomenon of today's 13 year old girls looking and acting like they are 30? These days, no one would have the guts to actually cast a 30 year old as the 13 year old one. But back then, in Member of the Wedding, they actually did! Oh well, I've had more fun writing this than I did watching the movie. My apologies to those who like it. If it wasn't for diverse tastes, there wouldn't be any movies that I do like, like Howard the Duck. And talk about a talky movie going nowhere!

I'm glad I saw Harris in East of Eden (1954) before I saw her here. That way I know what poised, sensitive work she's capable of.

Frankie is a plain-faced southern girl who unfortunately exaggerates her adolescent problems, making her even more unattractive to others. As a result, she feels there's nowhere she belongs. And when she tries desperately to join her brother and his new wife on their honeymoon, she's accidentally dumped onto the road as the car leaves. Rejected also by her peers, her only solace comes from household helper Berenice (Waters) and little boy neighbor John Henry (de Wilde), hardly the acceptance from family (dad's uncaring) and peers that she craves. But then she appears to blame everybody but herself.

Clearly, this is a role that calls for some quiet sensitive moments of the sort that Harris proves so good at, e.g. East of Eden. Instead, Harris's Frankie amounts to a histrionic mess that undercuts not only the character but audience reaction to her. I'm guessing that Harris- - new to the movies in 1952-- was thinking live theatre, and thus exaggerates for the back row. Certainly director Zinnemann was not known for encouraging histrionics from his players. But whatever the source, the flailing arms and near shouting turn Frankie's character into an unfortunate caricature of a maladjusted adolescent. Moreover, it doesn't help that nearly all the screen time is confined to the echo chamber of the family kitchen

At the other end of the spectrum is the regally composed Waters as the housekeeper. It's she who not only anchors Frankie, but the movie as well. The trouble is that Harris's histrionics take attention away from the movie's one truly tragic character, namely Waters's compassionate Berenice. After all, she's the one who does her selfless best to counsel the troubled people in her life. Still, she can't keep her star-crossed brother (Edwards) out of trouble with the law; worse, her one moment of pressing distraction leads to tragedy for John Henry; and finally, she's left behind, while an eager Frankie and her family move to a new house. To me, that last scene, with the forlorn housekeeper sitting alone, humming her favorite gospel about God watching over the lonely sparrow, shifts the entire focus of the film in a surprising way.

Anyway, the movie produces mixed results, at best. It may be Waters's best performance, but, in my view, its certainly Harris's worst. Fans new to the actress, however, shouldn't judge her abilities by this one misfire.