Tea and Sympathy (1956)
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- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Homosexuality was a taboo subject in 1956 Hollywood. So it was a challenge for screenwriter Robert Anderson to adapt his hit Broadway play about a sensitive prepschooler called "sister boy" by his peers, and the lovely housemaster's wife who realizes she must offer more than tea and sympathy to help the boy prove his manhood. The frankness may be muted but the power remains in this stellar film. Under Vincente Minnelli's direction, Deborah Kerr and John Kerr reprise their Broadway roles as older woman and younger man in poignant performances that reveal the compassion and the torment of being human. Their stage costar Leif Erickson joins them in counterpoint as the emotionally clenched housemaster. - Actors:
- Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, Leif Erickson, Edward Andrews, Darryl Hickman, Norma Crane, Dean Jones, Jacqueline deWit, Tom Laughlin, Ralph Votrian, Steven Terrell, Kip King, Jimmy Hayes, Richard Tyler, Don Burnett
- Directors:
- Vincente Minnelli
- Producers:
- Pandro S. Berman
- Writers:
- Robert Anderson
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Lesbian & Gay
- Collections:
- A History of Gay Cinema: According to Hollywood, Getting to Know: Jack Nicholson, Roger Corman's Poe Cycle
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Reviews (1) of Tea and Sympathy
One Lump or Two? - Tea and Sympathy review by griggs
The title sounds like a soothing cuppa. The film, however, scalds. Vincente Minnelli shoots it in gorgeous CinemaScope colour, then lets a boys' preparatory school tear a sensitive teenager to shreds.
Tom's offence is liking folk music and sewing with the faculty wives. The boys brand him "Sister Boy", and the adults either look away or join in. Thanks to the Production Code, nobody says the word everyone's thinking. Still, Minnelli nails the petty tyranny of a place where a haircut or a hobby can become evidence against you.
Deborah Kerr is superb as Laura, the housemaster's wife. She's kind, sharp and married to a man who has invited the boys along on their holiday. Kerr makes every glance look like a small act of defiance.
The trouble is the remedy. Tom is seventeen, Laura is married, and the film treats her offering herself to him as an act of mercy. I squirmed. The sentimental reunion framing sweetens it further.