Aquí comprendo el punto de vista de Kazan pues su condición autoral ha quedado en segundo plano claramente pasando a ser un artesano a lo Richard Thorpe en la MGM solo que con mayor sensibilidad. Entiendo pues que no le tenga estima al film por no buscar un realismo crujiente (ojo, rodar en el sur temática tan delicada hubiese traído problemas grantizados) y doliente. No obstante, como film artesanal es un producto sólido y un acabado técnico e interpretativo muy estimable. ¿Poco naturalista? Sí, pero a cambio es un pulcro ejercicio de cine de género de la época bien manufacturado.
Ahora, relativo a la carrera de Jeanne Crain, y referente a su posible participación que mencioné en "La túnica sagrada", a la que
cinéfilototal creo que quitó posibilidades reales de éxito, me sorprende el retrato tan ajustado que se hace de su rostro en este poster como posible indicación de que en un primer momento sí que se contaba con ella:
En contraposición a éste otro, siendo ambos idénticos en su composición:
Lo que me ha llevado a descubrir en Film Score Monthly esta aseveración por parte de un
forero que veía en el primer poster a Judy Garland más que a Jean Simmons:
"The american poster of The Robe has always been a little strange.
Darryl Zanuck had originally cast Jeanne crain in the part of Diana. Miss Crain got pregnant (again ). Jeanne was famous for the number of good roles she lost because she became continuously preganant. Anyway, they painted Jeanne in her Diana makeup for the poster very early in the game to promote the film.
The British poster is like the American poster, except they finally replaced Miss Crains head with Jean Simmons."
Y habiendo encontrado este otro artículo, parece ser cierto que el estancamiento de su carrera podría tener que ver con sus frecuentes maternidades.
Irish-Catholic actress whose movie roles rarely did her justice
"
....she had acting ambitions and, while still at school, took a screen test for Orson Welles for the role of Lucy Morgan in The Magnificent Ambersons. In the event, the slightly older and more experienced Anne Baxter got the part, subsequently pipping her to the post twice more, in All About Eve (1950) and One Desire (1955).
"Crain's problem was that she was mainly perceived at Fox as just a comely juvenile, lacking gravitas, and as a result was also passed over in favour of Susan Hayward in With A Song In My Heart (1952) and of Jean Simmons in The Robe (1953)."
"In both Cheaper By The Dozen (1950), and its sequel Belles On Their Toes (1952), Crain was the oldest of Myrna Loy's 12 children, though she did the latter unwillingly after Zanuck refused to loan her out to Paramount for Carrie, opposite Laurence Olivier. There was another disappointment when she had to turn down a lead in Three Coins In The Fountain because her husband refused to let her go on location to Rome - though, in an attempt to compensate, he built his wife a studio in which to enjoy her hobby of painting."
Occasionally, however, she did get a chance to reveal her ability, as in Elia Kazan's Pinky (1949), playing a girl who has passed for white for years until forced to admit her roots. Kazan later commented: "It stirred up all kinds of hell, but it was a phoney picture. If I made it now, I'd never try to make the Fox backlot look like the South or use Jeanne Crain, the blandest person I ever worked with."
Tal vez Kazan se refiera al gentil carácter de Crain en la vida real, que no sería la primera vez que he leído algo parecido. De
Ann Blyth, (Alma en suplicio, Curtiz; Brute Force, Dassin; El mundo en sus manos, Walsh) ídem; parece ser que compartían señas de identidad, tanto en lo cinematográfico como en su vida personal.