User Reviews

The Rockingham Tea Set referred to in the title is a set owned by some new employers of practical nurse Grace Kelly who was cast in one of the many television dramas she did before becoming a film star ever so briefly.

As the tea is served Grace relates in flashback the story of the bad time she had as a nurse for paraplegic Louise Allbritton. Allbritton's role was that of a bitter woman who was paralyzed and taking it out on the immediate world which includes her loved ones and any hired help like Grace that's around.

The duel between Kelly and Allbritton is what's featured in this television drama. I can't reveal too much about how it ends, but here's a big old hint, think about the plot for the Otto Preminger classic, The Man With The Golden Arm.

This television drama was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner who would go on to win an Oscar for Patton. I can't help thinking that the petty cash account for the Patton production probably is what the whole budget of The Rockingham Tea Set was. But live television drama was a great training ground for those who worked behind the camera as well.

To say CBS's "Studio One", a dramatic anthology series filmed live for television in New York City, was tightly-budgeted is an understatement. The creaky sets and unattractive furnishings are one thing, but the scattered camera angles and nervous performers are really something to see (and to cherish, though not always for positive reasons). This adaptation of an overreaching story by Virginia Douglas Dawson wants to be Gothic stew, romantic melodrama, and ghost story all in one--and credit should be given to the production team for at least giving it a go. Grace Kelly is 'introduced' playing the part of a young nurse recounting an experience caring for an invalid woman that ended in the patient's demise--through no fault of her own. Though directed by Franklin Schaffner, and featuring a cast of no-doubt-seasoned pros, this presentation is incredibly stilted. One must assume these episodes were put together extremely fast, with little time to smooth out the rough edges. As for Kelly, she does a solid job under the circumstances. The most telling moment of Grace's ability comes in a second-act chat with the Plantation Mammy-sounding maid: about to launch into a lengthy speech, Kelly is nearly interrupted by the other actress, but eases her way around the confusion and plows forward. It's one small sign that this lady for ready for bigger things.

Does anyone want to hear Grace Kelly talking without her incredibly irritating accent? With all the live television plays she made before she switched to feature films, I was only able to get my hands on one of them. In The Rockingham Tea Set, she had a normal speaking voice! I was shocked, and while the tv play from "Studio One in Hollywood" wasn't good, it was amusing to see and hear.

Grace stars as a nurse who gets hired to care for an invalid woman, Louise Allbritton. Louise was in a car accident with her fiancé, Richard McMurray, and has been paralyzed ever since. Richard is devoted out of guilt, but when he starts to see her treat her new nurse with mean, passive-aggressive arguments, he starts to rethink their relationship. Yes, it's shades of things to come: Grace Kelly stealing someone else's man.

If you watch this tv movie on YouTube, it won't be to see some great acting. It's as if a group of high schoolers were auditioning and it was taped so you'd understand why they didn't get cast. It won't be to get engrossed in an interesting story, since it's predictable and simple. It's just to see Grace Kelly before she was famous. If you're not a fan, you can skip it.