Elizabeth Taylor in "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" (1958)

Elizabeth Taylor in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (image from JSR Pages)

REVIEW:
Elizabeth Taylor married Mike Todd in Acapulco in February 1957, just 3 days after her divorce from Michael Wilding. Todd was 24 years older than her, but for Elizabeth Taylor, Todd was the only man who was fit to her temperament. In August 1957 Elizabeth Taylor gave birth to Liza Todd. Mike Todd was the famous movie producer of "Around the World in 80 Days" and the inventor of Todd AO system. On March 22, 1958, shortly after the start of the production at "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof", the couple's private jet - "The Lucky Liz" - crashed near Grants, New Mexico and all its passengers were killed. Among them: Mike Todd...Only by chance Elizabeth Taylor stayed home, knocked out by a fever. Her happy marriage to Mike Todd ended tragically after only 418 days. Yet, with all this tragedy, Elizabeth Taylor returns to the set. What has emerged is one of the best movies ever made​​.

Makeup artist William Tuttle was supposed to do nothing because he had the chance to work with the natural beauty and sexuality of the lead actors, Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, that were shining by themselves. But after the tragic death of Mike Todd, Tuttle had to remove all signs of pain and desolation from the face of Taylor. The fact that on screen Taylor was able to be quite different from the real life Taylor is proof both of the actress' talent and of the entire team of the MGM production.

"Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" was an adaptation of Tennessee Williams's tragic play. Initially, M.G.M. wanted James Dean in Brick's role, the former American football star that became an alcoholic after the despair caused by the death of his friend Skipper. His passion for alcohol was induced both by his feelings for Skipper and by his wife's betrayal, the beautiful Maggie, who cheated on him with...Skipper. But the scriptwriting took so long for Tennessee Williams, that in the meantime, James Dean died in a car accident and the role was played by Paul Newman, a new young star, who will also take over several roles initially planned for James Dean. This delay led to the replacement of Grace Kelly, who meanwhile married and became Princess of Monaco. The script was sent to Elizabeth Taylor, who was fast to sign in. She had just finished "Giant" and "Raintree County", and urged by her third husband, Mike Todd, Taylor was eager to strengthen her position as a serious actress. Todd managed to negotiate a new contract with MGM, where it was stipulated that Taylor owed them only one more film and then she was to become independent! Unfortunately, this contract was a "gentlemen agreement" that was not recognized by MGM after Todd's death.

Todd's funeral took place in Chicago and were a nightmare. Tens of thousands of fans crowded the cemetery, hoping to be close to the famous widow. After the funeral, Taylor locked herself in her house, and director Richard Brooks filmed everything he could shoot without Taylor. One afternoon, three weeks later, Taylor visited the set and asked if she could return to work. "I think Mike would have wanted me to finish this movie" said Taylor. Brooks arranged to start shooting immediately. Seeing how much weight she had lost and knowing that Taylor refuses to eat, Brooks ordered real food to be brought on set to shoot a scene where dinner was served. Then he ordered another double and another double again to be taken, forcing Taylor to eat.

Despite her personal pain and despair, Taylor plays with passion and manages to give one of her best and most famous of her roles. But, at the time when the film came to be released, Taylor was already facing another problem. In post-production, three months after Todd's death, Taylor fell in love with singer Eddie Fisher, the best friend of Mike Todd. The scandal was huge. Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher divorced. Eddie Fisher's career was destroyed. Instead, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" became a mega hit at the box office. When Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award, Debbie Reynolds said she would no longer attend the ceremony. Ironically, both Taylor and Reynolds began to be paid increasingly better for their films. The only one who took the blame from the public as well as from the industry was Fisher.

"I do not live with you" says Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor) to Brick (Paul Newman). "We occupy the same cage, that's all". The tough emotional situations and dialogues of Tennessee Williams's play, that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955, are like a tropical storm with outstanding performances in this film. Its taboo subjects made it number one in the 1958's box office. Paul Newman received his first Oscar nomination for the role of the former sportman, Brick. In a role that marked the transition to her professional maturity, Elizabeth Taylor received her second Oscar nomination. The film was also nominated in other six categories at the Oscars. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is downright an incendiary film.

FILM TITLE
"CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF" (U.S.A./M.G.M./1958)

PROMO
"One pillow on her bed and only one desire..." (M.G.M.).

OVERVIEW
A distribution with "heavy" names from Hollywood at the peak of their glory and beauty. Maggie is the "cat" in the title, a beautiful, charismatic and ambitious woman. She is Brick Pollit's wife, and the "hot tin roof" is the tense situation from a 50's Southern traditionalist family. Brick is a former successful athlete, now an alcoholic slacker, but also Big Daddy's favorite son. Big Daddy, a rich Southerner with dictatorial tendencies, has cancer and has very little time to live, but Gooper (his elder son) and his wife (Mae) are doing everything to hide the true situation. What Gooper does not hide is the fact that he wants all the inheritance for him, but Big Mama can not accept this reality. A sincere affection for Big Daddy is coming from the "black sheep" of the family, Maggie and Brick. The atmosphere generated by the lies and by the conflicting interests of each member of the clan are doubled by the sexual tension between Maggie and Brick, the latter being unable to touch his wife. The quarrels between the two and the bitter reproaches they make to each other, as well as the interference of a selfish and insensitive character such as Big Daddy, all these trigger the drama. The end is apotheotic and the characters manage to elicit their masks and the spider web of lies unravels. Avoiding reality, a characteristic for southern society, is no more a solution for survival. Although the truth may, in the words of Maggie the Cat, be as dirty as a lie.

CAST
Elizabeth Taylor (Maggie Pollitt), Paul Newman (Brick Pollitt), Burl Ives (Big Daddy Pollitt), Jack Carson (Gooper Pollitt), Judith Anderson (Big Mama Pollitt), Madeleine Sherwood (Mae Pollitt).
DIRECTED BY
Richard Brooks.
SCREENPLAY
Richard Brooks and James Poe, after Tennessee Williams's play.
PRODUCED BY
Lawrence Weingarten.
COLOR
Metrocolor.
DURATION
108 minutes.
GENRE
psychological drama.
PRODUCTION DATES
between March - May 1958.
RELEASED
September 1958.

NOMINATED at
- Oscar for Best Actress (Elizabeth Taylor), Oscar for Best Actor (Paul Newman), Oscar for Best Director (Richard Brooks), Oscar for Best Screenplay (Richard Brooks, James Poe), Oscar for Best Cinematography (William H. Daniels), Oscar for Best Film;
- BAFTA for Best Film, BAFTA for Best Actress, BAFTA for Best Actor;
- DGA For Best Director;
- Golden Globe for Best Film, Golden Globe for Best Director, Golden Laurel for Best Actor;
- WGA for Best Screenplay.

AWARDS
- Golden Laurel for Best Actress (Elizabeth Taylor).

TRIVIA
- Before he died, Mike Todd had managed to negotiate with M.G.M. so that after "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", Elizabeth Taylor would do one more film under contract. Mike Todd was going to produce himself all the films of Elizabeth Taylor. After his death, M.G.M. did not recognize the "gentlemen agreement";
- Due to censorship, all references to homosexuality in the play and all the obscene words were removed (the play refered to the homosexual relationship between Brick and Skipper);
- Lana Turner and Grace Kelly were considered for the role of Maggie;
- Burl Ives (Big Daddy) and Madeleine Sherwood (Mae Pollitt) have resumed their roles played on Broadway in 1955;
- Veteran film director George Cukor refused the project because all the references to homosexuality were removed;
- Tennessee Williams wrote the role of Big Daddy having Burl Ives in his mind;
- In the 50's, the serious drama movies were filmed in black and white, but the director convinced M.G.M. Studios that the violet eyes of Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman's blue eyes had to be filmed in color;
- The film has returned seven times more money than was invested in it;
- Elizabeth Taylor received $100,000 and Paul Newman only...$25,000. However, for Elizabeth Taylor was a salary decrease, considering that for "Giant" she had received $175,000;
- The staff at M.G.M. knew that during rehearsals Elizabeth Taylor did not show her emotions. Paul Newman, who was only at his second lead role in a movie, asked Richard Brooks: "That's all Liz can give?". The director replied: "Wait till we start filming and you'll be shocked".

Watch TRAILER here.