Trilogy (film)

Trilogy
Film poster
Directed by	Frank Perry
Produced by	Frank Perry
Written by	Truman Capote Eleanor Perry
Starring	Martin Balsam Maureen Stapleton Mildred Natwick Geraldine Page
Music by	Meyer Kupferman
Cinematography	Harry Sundby Joseph C. Brun
Edited by	Sheila Bakerman
Production company	Francis Productions
Distributed by	Allied Artists
Release dates	1969 (1969)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Trilogy (also released as Truman Capote's Trilogy) is a 1969 American drama film directed by Frank Perry. It was listed to compete at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival,^[1] but the festival was cancelled due to the events of May 1968 in France.

Capote narrates the three-part film and co-wrote the script with Eleanor Perry. It includes an adaptation of one of Capote's most well-known short stories, A Christmas Memory.

The cast includes Martin Balsam, Mildred Natwick, Geraldine Page and Maureen Stapleton.

Plot

The first story, "Miriam," is about a former governess, Miss Miriam Miller, who is aging, lonely and no longer able to find work. One day, at a New York movie theater, she encounters a young girl, also named Miriam, who then repeatedly turns up uninvited at Miss Miller's apartment, angrily smashing a vase and going through the older lady's jewelry case, asking if she can keep a valuable brooch. Miss Miller goes to neighbors, telling them of a girl who refuses to leave her alone. A quarrel develops, during which Miss Miller accidentally pushes the girl through an open window. But when she enters the next room, Miriam is still there, and it becomes apparent Miss Miller could be a victim of her own delusions and imagination.

Part two, "Among the Paths to Eden," takes place in a cemetery. Ivor Belli is visiting his wife's grave when a lonely spinster, Mary O'Meaghen, strikes up a conversation. They share an appreciation for singer Helen Morgan and memories of their past lives. Mary then invites Ivor to dinner, but he declines. As he leaves the graveyard, Mary then approaches another lonely man.

The final story, "A Christmas Memory," concerns a young boy named Buddy and the tender recollections he has of a poor childhood and the holidays he spent with two aunts and Sook, a considerably older, beloved female cousin. After wrapping fruitcakes as gifts and chopping down a tree, Buddy and Sook spend a last Christmas together, opening gifts and flying kites together, before Buddy's departure from home to attend a military school. Melancholy overwhelms him at the memory of Sook's passing and how they never saw each other again.

Cast

• Beverly Ballard – Nina
• Martin Balsam – Ivor Belli
• Truman Capote – Narrator (voice)
• Lavinia Cassels – Aunt
• Jane Connell – Mrs. Connolly
• Susan Dunfee – Miriam
• Phyllis Eldridge – Woman in Automat
• Josip Elic – Haha
• Niki Flacks – Clerk in Shop
• Lynn Forman – Woman in Car
• Win Forman – Storekeeper
• Carol Gustafson – Miss Lake
• Richard Hamilton – Man in Automat
• Christine Marler – Aunt
• Donnie Melvin – Buddy
• Mildred Natwick – Miss Miller
• Geraldine Page – Sook
• Robin Ponterio – Emily
• Brooks Rogers – Connolly
• Tony Ross – Dwarf
• Maureen Stapleton – Mary O'Meaghan

Reception

Howard Thompson of the New York Times was impressed: "...[The film] quietly says and conveys more about the human heart and spirit than most of today's free-wheeling blastaways on the screen. Delicately, it towers."^[2]

See also

• List of American films of 1969

References

External links

• Trilogy at the Internet Movie Database