| The Caretakers | |
|---|---|
Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Hall Bartlett |
| Produced by | Hall Bartlett |
| Written by | Hall Bartlett Jerry Paris |
| Starring | Robert Stack Joan Crawford |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Lucien Ballard |
| Editing by | William B. Murphy |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | August 21, 1963 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Caretakers is a 1963 United Artists film drama starring Joan Crawford, Robert Stack, Polly Bergen and Janis Paige in a story about a mental hospital.[1]
The screenplay was adapted by Henry F. Greenberg from a story by Hall Bartlett and Jerry Paris based on the 1959 novel The Caretakers by Dariel Telfer. The film was produced and directed by Bartlett and co-produced by Paris. The Caretakers is reminiscent of a 20th Century Fox film set in a similar hospital, The Snake Pit (1948).
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Young, optimistic psychiatrist Dr. Donovan MacLeod wants to prove his theory that mental patients can benefit from group therapy. His method of treatment, with no violence or punishment, is met with a great deal of resistance from his unyielding and self-righteous head nurse, Lucretia Terry, who believes in traditional methods such as strait-jackets and padded cells for treating the mentally ill.
Head of the hospital Dr. Harrington is weak-willed. Terry's assistant, nurse Bracken, supports her superior's stand. After much trial and error and the harrowing near-rape of a patient, MacLeod's ideas prevail in spite of the opposition and meet some success.
Patients include a distraught mother, Lorna Medford; a former prostitute, Marion; a pyromaniac, Edna, and a former schoolteacher, Irene.
Co-writer/co-producer Jerry Paris also appears in The Caretakers as a passerby Lorna bumps into on the street.
Joan Crawford arranged for each day's scenes with veteran actor Herbert Marshall, an old friend who was in frail health, to be shot first, thus allowing him to finish his work early in the day.
Crawford was on the board of directors of Pepsico and Pepsi-Cola product placements include a scene at the hospital picnic, which features a wagon dispensing the soft drink.
Variety commented, "Miss Crawford doesn't so much play her handful of scenes as she dresses for them, looking as if she were en route to a Pepsi board meeting."
Bosley Crowther noted in the New York Times, "Altogether, this woman's melodrama is shallow, showy, and cheap - a badly commercial exploitation of very sensitive material."[2]
The Caretakers received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White:Lucien Ballard. It also received Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama: Polly Bergen, and Best Motion Picture Director: Hall Bartlett.
The Caretakers was released on Region 1 DVD on April 15, 2010 through Amazon.com as part of the MGM Limited Edition Collection.