'PERIOD OF ADJUSTMENT'.....TENNESSEE WILLIAMS' 'WHITE CHRISTMAS'.....

Period Of Adjustment (1962)     A Tennessee Williams romantic comedy?   Taking place on.....Christmas Eve?

               Say whaaaaaaaaa????

               Only in the 1960'a could such a film exist......when almost anything could win a greenlight from a major studio......

                 Don't turn your noses up, though. There's a lot of thoughtful, poignant stuff going on here in between the gag lines........astute observations about the role-playing married couples must navigate....... as if they're travelling in a tossed and turned canoe trip down the churning rapids... .....

                   A newlywed southern belle (Jane Fonda) turns hysterical as her marital fantasies are quickly destroyed by her problematic  Korean war vet groom (Jim Hutton).

                    Starting with his first wedding kiss, Hutton's proved he's a boorish, insensitive testosterone-fueled dolt. He's completely oblivious to his high-strung bride as anything other than a trophy he picked up during a hospital stay for a nervous condition. (She was his nurse).

                  On a an emotionally bumpy, bumptious honeymoon trip, the two end up visiting Hutton's fellow Korea vet buddy (Anthony Franciosa) on Christmas Eve  The holiday also marks the collapse of Franciosa's marriage to his boss's daughter (Lois Nettleton)........a union that finally snaps under the strain of Franciosa's refusal to play the part of emasculated son-in-law to Nettleton's dictatorial, controlling dad (a miscast John McGiver, too patrician for a role that calls for a Big Daddy' like Burl Ives or Ed Begley.....)

                   As  anyone can predict, the rest of of film concerns this dysfunctional quartet working out their various quirks, anxieties and personalities in order to arrive at some fundamental truths........and repair their damaged marriages.......

                    But then remember this came from a Tennessee Williams play......so the self -revelations here are far more serious and true-to-life than what you'd encounter in a typical 60's rom-com....

                     Hutton discovers that he can't maintain his position as a perfect male 'superman', impervious to life's ups and downs....(and coming to grips with the PTSD that's left him with shaky hands)  And Franciosa comes to realize how much he loves the 'plain' Nettleton, whom he may have at first  married for financial security.......

                     Or as Tennessee Williams puts it......"the human heart could never pass a drunk test.....take it out of a body, tell it to walk a straight line.....it couldn't"

                      You can search all you want for a line that knowing in a 1960's Hollywood sex comedy........but we doubt you'll find it......

                     The four performers are at the very top of their talents here.......with a special nod to the clearly beautiful Lois Nettleton..... forced to pretend she's a homely woman to fit the contours of the plot.....

                     And we can't help loving a Christmas-themed movie where the neighborhood carolers get hauled into the police station for guzzling too many egg nogs offered by appreciative families....

                      Now that's truly a Tennessee Williams Christmas......3 stars (***)