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The Member of the Wedding

Play trailer Poster for The Member of the Wedding 1952 1h 31m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 14 Reviews 56% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Bookish tomboy Frankie Addams (Julie Harris) doesn't get along with the rest of the girls in her tiny southern town. Depressed, socially isolated and perched on the verge of adolescence, Frankie takes refuge with the family maid, Berenice (Ethel Waters), and pals around with her young cousin, John Henry (Brandon de Wilde), while secretly fantasizing about going away with her brother, Jarvis (Arthur Franz), and his new bride, Janice (Nancy Gates), on their honeymoon to Alaska.

Critics Reviews

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Bosley Crowther New York Times 03/25/2006
3.5/5
The story is pleasantly enacted and the scenery and skiing are superb. Go to Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader 01/01/2000
Dull and droopy -- a stage transplant that didn't take. Go to Full Review Manny Farber The Nation 11/24/2020
Though the Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers's prize-winning play about the last days of childhood, betrays its stage origin on the screen, it has been made into a somewhat amusing, and moving, sometimes improbable picture. Go to Full Review Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 09/30/2020
4/5
Zinnemann manages to retain McCullers' narrative poetry in this sterling adaptation, and remains one of those aching, forlorn vintage classics worthy of greater renown. Go to Full Review Clyde Gilmour Maclean's Magazine 12/03/2019
The camera's cruel literalness makes it all too obvious that talented Julie Harris is a mature actress, rather than the agonized southern adolescent she portrays. Despite the film's evident sincerity, it is too thin dramatically. Go to Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row 06/04/2019
3.5/4
The film often betrays its stage roots, with its single setting and long stretches of dialogue, but Zinnemann wisely steps back and allows the actors to carry it. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Linda H Jan 2 Not everyone will "identify" with this movie.....but it is a masterpiece of the kind of movie which transports one in time.....and also dramatizes a universal feeling of the young teen girl in a certain type of location and time. It will emotionally affect anyone with deep feelings and sympathy ....and yeah...this is not everyone's cup of tea. The deeper your feelings go, the more you will appreciate this movie. Linda See more steve d 07/21/2020 It has not aged well. See more 10/12/2016 serious and obvious flaw in miscasting a mature Harris as the edge-of-puberty protagonist, which over-eggs the stereotype of how young girls can be fond of melodramatics. perhaps the producer and director (big names kramer and zinnemann) didn't care to push two child actors in the same production, though dewilde's work is remarkable for his very first film (granted, his initiation in the role had come in the stage production). his work redeems the film, with of course the remarkable ms. waters. zinnemann redeems the film with irony, and making ms.waters the focus of the ending, a subversive touch. 'john henry' starts the hymn 'his eye is on the sparrow', waters makes it magical, yet henry's prolonged, painful, and fatal illness (off camera in the manner of classic tragedy) makes him the sparrow no one watched. the ending's focus on bernice exposes how the love and care she devoted to john henry and frankie made her no less marginalized to the families she worked for. See more 12/17/2013 The actors make the most of a rather plodding story. It is surprising that this film received all the honours that it did. It was behind its time. See more 09/12/2012 Some good acting by Ethel Waters in this slice of life and coming of age drama. The usually superior Julie Harris is shrill and annoying trying to be convincing as a 12 year old. See more 09/12/2012 harris' shreaking hysterics give me a headache See more Read all reviews
The Member of the Wedding

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Cast & Crew

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Fred Zinnemann

Director

Ethel Waters

Bernice Sadie Brown

Julie Harris

Frankie Addams

Brandon De Wilde

John Henry

Arthur Franz

Jarvis

Nancy Gates

Janice

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The Member of the Wedding

The Member of the Wedding (1952) The Member of the Wedding (1952) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Bookish tomboy Frankie Addams (Julie Harris) doesn't get along with the rest of the girls in her tiny southern town. Depressed, socially isolated and perched on the verge of adolescence, Frankie takes refuge with the family maid, Berenice (Ethel Waters), and pals around with her young cousin, John Henry (Brandon de Wilde), while secretly fantasizing about going away with her brother, Jarvis (Arthur Franz), and his new bride, Janice (Nancy Gates), on their honeymoon to Alaska.
Director
Fred Zinnemann
Producer
Stanley Kramer
Screenwriter
Carson McCullers, Edna Anhalt, Edward Anhalt
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
Stanley Kramer Company
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 30, 1952, Original
Runtime
1h 31m
Sound Mix
Mono, Stereo