Directed by:
Robert AldrichCinematography:
Charles LangComposer:
Hans J. SalterCast:
Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson, Vera Miles, Lorne Greene, Ruth Donnelly, Shepperd Strudwick, Selmer Jackson, Jim Backus, Maurice Manson, Bess Flowers (more)Plots(1)
Butch-bobbed, bug-eyed career gal spinster Crawford meets shy Cliff Robertson and grabs for love, gets a schizo. Released a year after the nihilist film noir classic KISS ME DEADLY, the film recaptured the twisted qualities of the human mind. Labeled a "woman's picture," AUTUMN LEAVES is an intense melodrama about loneliness, despair, and mental illness. Taking a pleasant romantic tale and plunging it into a whirlwind of schizophrenic violence has the same effect as seeing a hammer shatter a shiny piece of glass. Almost like a nightmare going on in Crawford's mind, the film's visual style gets more and more distorted and the lighting very harsh as Robertson's schizophrenia builds. Joan's performance is on the money and the Crawford cult will enjoy her "reading" Lorne Greene and Vera Miles as she chases them down the street ("And you, ya slut!"). The lady later said Robert Aldrich "likes evil things, twisted things." The title song, penned by Joseph Kosma, Jacques Prevert, and Johnny Mercer, was a big hit for Nat King Cole. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Joan Crawford
USA
Best movies:
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Cliff Robertson
USA
Best movies:
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Midway (1976)
Underworld U.S.A. (1961)
Vera Miles
USA
Best movies:
Psycho (1960)
The Wrong Man (1956)
How the West Was Won (1976) (series)
Lorne Greene
Canada
Best movies:
Producers' Showcase (1954) (series)
Roots (1977) (series)
Heidi's Song (1982)
Ruth Donnelly
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Shepperd Strudwick
USA
Best movies:
A Place in the Sun (1951)
The Red Pony (1949)
All the King's Men (1949)
Selmer Jackson
USA
Best movies:
Love Crazy (1941)
It Started with Eve (1941)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Jim Backus
USA
Best movies:
Crazy Mama (1975)
Deep in My Heart (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Maurice Manson
Canada
Best movies:
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
The Wrong Man (1956)
The Chase (1966)
Bess Flowers
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Rear Window (1954)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Arthur Tovey
USA
Best movies:
The Sting (1973)
Back to the Future (1985)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Hal Taggart
USA
Best movies:
The Graduate (1967)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Ethan Laidlaw
USA
Best movies:
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
Pressure Point (1962)
Paul Bradley
USA
Best movies:
Giant (1956)
Gilda (1946)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Cosmo Sardo
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
North by Northwest (1959)
Marjorie Bennett
Australia
Best movies:
My Fair Lady (1964)
Limelight (1952)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Tina Menard
Mexico
Best movies:
Caged (1950)
Captain Blood (1935)
Giant (1956)
Maxine Cooper
USA
Best movies:
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Autumn Leaves (1956)
Ralph Volkie
USA
Best movies:
Some Like It Hot (1959)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
White Heat (1949)
Frank Gerstle
USA
Best movies:
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Proud Ones (1956)
Bullitt (1968)