~ THE COURTING OF. Adam's Rib. ~ MARRIAGE i

Transcription

1 ~ THE COURTNG OF ~ MARRAGE i Adam's Rib Wha does he imagine a Punch and Judy show is, and why does he imagine his wife over o one? The film's darillg, complex capping of his quesion depends on seeing lu resemblance beween he ''1'Y~'!;''<:: ((,'( u'~.lnpf :::1(1(1" 'r~:1 fhe (urfain,< of {i fn(r

2 J, 5 if reversing he cond:'.:on of ~ ~e )!;ord of he in His Girl ~~~i;}~~..\ili~~~:;,;:::-~,.7';::"~ ~Frid{ly, he in Adam's Rib (19 19) are c 1 H "0phaicaliy a home a home. George Cukor horoughly deails heir inhabiaion of heir privae world for us--we are invied ino every room in heir wo-sory 2parmen, from living room and sudy and kichen o bedroom and dressing room and oahroom, and we winess every ineracion beween hem from sexual inviaions and drinking and cooking ogeher o massaging one anoher. OUf presence here becomes so naural, reurning each nigh, ha we recall wih surprise ha his is, wih one minor excepion, he only member of our genie in which we see he pair in heir own home a all. The excepion is The Awful Truh; i is a minor, if Significan, excepion since in i he man and woman ener he house separaely, each wih oher company; and upon finding hemselves alone hey alk a lile of wha Cary Gran calls--and wha any sensible person would call-philosophy; whereupon hey decide hey mus divorce. n "More of The World Viewed" nme he careful esablishing and rewarding of our inimacy wih he cf.'ll:ral marriage of Adam's Rib, singling ou paricularly he sequence in which he camera is fixed (as we in our places) on he pair's bedroom, now empy, save inermienly, of heir presences, and hey speak o one anoher from heir opposie dressing rooms, hers jus lef and ou of he visual framc, his jus "The effec is o increase our ini macy wih hese figures because heir invisible and pervasive presence o us pus us in he same rela 10

3 ADAM'S RB ion o each of hem in his passage as hey bear o one anoher."* Here is his film's allegory of he naure of viewing film. The sense of paricipaion or parnership in heir inimacy is essenial o he way he film works, because i is exacly his inimacy ha he woman pus on rial in aking her marriage o cour. We will no undersand her bravery (nor, hence, he man's) unless we know ha for her heir inimacy, heir privacy, heir home a home, is almos everyhing. No o call i or o ry o make- i-everyhing is doubless somehing ha makes i so good; hen faihfulness o i requires ha i be capable of being held a risk. Bu why now? We know Amanda Bonner (Kaharine Hepburn) akes he defense of a case because her husband, Adam (Spencer Tracy), as Assisan Disric Aorney, has been given he case o prosecue. Bu as she says, in expressing her decision o her secreary, he fac of her husband's having he case, or acceping he case, is "he las sraw on a female camel's back"; so he burden had been piling up. Wha is he naure of he burden? And along wha axis has whaever i is been piling up? s he las sraw some furher misdeed of her husband's, in paricipaing in a sociey's sysemaic wrongs? Or is i some furher misdeed of sociey's, in requiring her husband's sysemaic paricipaion? Somehow boh, since, as a successful American lawyer, she is hardly unaware of he muual implicaion in one anoher of he life of sociey and he life of he law, and hardly, in general, disapproving of ha muual implicaion. Bu heir muual implicaion means ha one is no beer han he oher, and he suggesion is clear enough ha he insiuion of marriage can be no beer eiher, ha i is par of ha implicaion. The quesion is wheher, and why, any of hem is good enough, inhabiable, bearable on a female camel's back. A condiion of heir bearable imperfecion is ha marriage can be aken o cour, ha i is subjec o debae. n describing wha Amanda does in challenging her husband on he case of Mrs. Ainger audy Holliday)-whom we have seen, in a kind of prologue o he film, shoo her husband (fom Ewell), having followed him o he aparmen of anoher woman aean Hagen)-as aking her marriage o cour, am assuming from he ouse ha he legaliies of he case remain obscure hroughou he film, srung, one migh say, beween Amanda's impulse o excuse Mrs. Ainger and her impulse o Th! World Vi,wd, enlarged ed., p jusify her. am assuming furher ha Amanda is no merely bringing charges agains her own marriage bu Simulaneously quesioning wheher cours, anyway as hey sand, are capable of assessing he validiy of marriage. Adam will, in he lecure o his wife ha our genre makes obligaory, begin wih he quesion "Wha is marriage?" and answer, "'s a conrac, i's he law," and go on o imply ha her disrespec for law will end by leaving nohing o respec. Bu he is, as she has deermined, really sore a her and says some hings ha his.mger wans o hear, such as ha he is no so sure he any longer likes being married o he so-called New Woman, and ha he is old-fashioned enough o like here o be wo sexes. These are, from him and o her, abou as diry as remarks can ge. And quie incoheren. How is she denying he legaliy of marriage? Of he Ainger marriage she will cbim he nex day (as if o parody Adam's lecure) ha i is sufficienly sacred o jusify, o proec iself by, assaul wih a deadly weapon. Or is Adam suggesing ha she is denying or beraying he legaliy of her and Adam's marriage? He knows her wei! enough o know ha all he proecion his marriage needs, L'om inside, is an assaul wih a licorice pisol. (The incoherence upon Adam's characerizaion of marriage as a conrac underscores explicily, in his laes of he definiive remarriage comedies, ha here is no such genre apar from wo social facs: ha divorce is regarded as possible, a morally and religiously accepable opion; and ha we remain unseled, accordingly, abou wha makes marriage an honorable esae. The genre of remarriage may be said o find he humor in his sae of affairs preferable o he humor derivable from a sae of affairs in which divorce is no a moral or religious opion, o he farce, say, in adulery. The word"conrac," a his climacic momen, o my ear names he social conrac ha was o express he consen ha consiues lawful sociey, he docrine ha replaces he divine righ of kings. Here again he fae of he marriage bond in our genre is mean o epiomize he fae of he democraic social bond, as more or less explicily in he arisocraic equaions of marriage and sociey in The Philadelphia Sory, or he equaion of vicim and wife and heroine in His Girl Friday, he linking of faes ha underlies, as argued, Milon's argumen for divorce. rephrase hese maers parenheically here because he recurren doub has sruck me again here, as i migh a any ime, wheher we fully recognize how remarkable he problemaic of hese comedies is. is no remarkable o be old publicly ha he

4 ADAM'S RB inegriy of sociey depends upon he inegriy of he family. Bu i is somehing o be old ha he inegriy of sociey is a funcion of he inegriy of marriage, and vice versa, where marriage is validaed neiher by a family nor by he law.} undersand Adam o feel (no exacly ha he legaliy of his marriage has been infringed bu) ha a bargain, le me SJY, of heir marriage has been broken-somehing like a bargain ha his wife will no oppose him publicly, professionaliy. Such an issue beween hem is almos he las m:~cr hey 35 z;e ells her wouldn' run,lgains him for a judgeship because he'd cry and she would have o respec his ears, even fake ears ("he old juice" he had called hem when were hers). suppose ha his side of his bargain is his suppor, publicly and privaely, in an imperfec world, of her feminis convicions. Then no only mus she feel ha his acceping he prosecuion of Mrs. Ainger is an original breaking of heir bar~~ain, she also anyway afer he fac, ha he bargain h,ld iself been a mouning burden, iself awaiing a las sraw. Because she is no reaed as a doll a home, she has been willing o conclude ha she has no been living in a doll house. Bu he absolue division beween home and world esablishes a lae version of Nora's sense of confinemen. Wha Amanda wans of he world ha as a professional woman she does no already have is evidenly for he world o know ha she is an equal a home, an equal in inimacy and in auhoriy. And evidenly she wans his knowledge because she wans no only somehing more in he world bu somehing more a home. She wans her husband's knowledge of her accepance ouside, of her public separaeness. ndependence inside and ouside reverse one anoher, hence require one anoher. So she brings inside and ouside ogeher, her marriage and he world, in he space of a courroom. Her husband says, in rying o dissuade her from aking he case, ha he's no going o le her urn a courroom ino a Punch and Judy show. Wha he imagine a Punch and Judy show is, and why does he imagine his wife migh urn a courroom over o one? This is a quesion for us as much as for him since he film Adam's Rib, which presens he ribulaions and rials of a marriage as a source of popular enerainmen, including he pair's slugging and kicking one anoher, iself akes on he color of a Punch and rudy show. Tha his is par of he film's self-undersanding seems o me declared in is animaed iles, and in is iner-iles (used mosly o inform us ha scenes o follow ake place laer ha evening), whose background is a curained sage, imagine a puppe sage. The film's daring, complex capping of his idea depends on seeing he resrmblance beween he Curains of a puppe sage and he curains of a four-poser in fron of which he concluding momens of he film are played and ino which he pair will disappear, pulling he cmains closed behind hem. The suggesion is ha he marriage bed is he final scling of a Punch and show, and ake he o sand for o ousiders, which is every~ir'6' or everyhing n his mos elaburae revelaion (lr he life of a pair a home, in which we fel privilegen o be behind he scenes celch nigh, apparenly sharing he residue's of one day and he erms of anwe wind up wih a curain drawn in (lur f Adam means somehing vaguer or more colloquial by accusing Amanda of looking o um he courroom ino a Punch and Judy show, say ha she wans o make some kind ;i1cc;",ery of he sanciy of he law, wha is he jusice of his charge? She is aggrieved and he doesn' see why; his no seeing why magnifies he grief, is par of he grief. The reciprociy of marriage makes i a ferile field for revenge, undersood as geing even or as eaching a lesson. Bu insead of aking privae revenge perhaps Doris Ainger was Amanda Bonner urns o he law; in his she is in he rue of he law. She sill wans a lesson o be augh, somehing she calls"dramaizing an injusice." She has o mean his as a jusificaion for risking Doris Ainger's using her problem as an occasion for opening a public issue o a public verdic. She is equally using ha problem, suppose wih less awareness, as an occasion for opening a privar hers wih husband, o a privae verdic. As said, his ambiguiy ensllres ha her legal arb'umen will remain obscure. The public demonsraion, for sociey's insrucion or self-confession, is a reasonably clear he effec ha women are he equal of men in inelligence, in accomin responsibiliies, and hence deserve equal righs. Her privae demonsraion, for her husband's edificaion, can only be deermined by her behavior in Before urning o ha behavior le us again 3:;k why i is now ha sh:' he issue wih her huss~nd in his way, which is o ask why i is

5 ADAM'S RB now ha she breaks wha called he bargain no o oppose him pub- This way of puing he quesion rules ou he simple answer ha an opporuniy has presened iself; ha answer simply denies ha a faihful bargain had been in effec. ake i ha she has discovered ha he wans his case, and wans i for privae reasons, hence as a demon 5raion o her. An explici par of her evidence would be his remark over he elephone, having called o ell her ha he has been assigned he Ainger case,'you're cue when you ge causy"-an aemp a leviy which succec~; merely in being dully dismissive. He realizes his, bu he doesn' wan o see ha his ime he is par of he cause. And undersand his waning of he case o be confirmed by her implici knowledge of him, he mode of wordless knowledge inimaes harbor of one anoher, inangible maybe bu as consequenial as bad moods. As she wakes him, in our opening view of hem, having received heir breakfas ray, wih he morning newspapers on i, from housekeeper a he hreshold of heir bedroom, she ells him he had been making sounds in his sleep; she imiaes hem for him, objecas somewher~ beween sounds of desire and of pain. She akes i ha here is somehing on his mind, in his dreams. And he images here sugges o me ha she undersands wha h~ has been moaning and groaning abou in his sleep o be wha is recorded in he newspaper sory she reads o him. He has said, "You always say ha always do" (make noises in he nigh), and she replies, "You always do, bu...," and hen insead of describing how his ime i was differen, as a proper narraive would, her eye his he newspaper as wih a force of revelaion. ( urns ou ha he sory is no in his newspaper; an)"vay no up fron.) A newspaper flung before heir door, picked up and carried wih he res of he ready morning comfors upsairs o he locked door of even deeper privacy, exposes he Bonner consiuion o he Ainger discomfiure. Somehing is being laid a heir doorsep, somehing from he dephs, social and psychic, he suff dreams and responsibiliies and enerainmens are made of. Adam and Amanda argue abou he significance of newspaper maerial from he momen, from before he momen, hey ou of bed; heir insincs are elicied on opposie sides of some line. Then when Adam is assigned responsibiliy for he case i is as if Amanda aribues o him a dream of he case, an unacknowledged in sinc or brief agains women as he source of wha he will call, in his cross-examinaion of Mrs. Ainger ha Amanda will inerrup, "your shrewishness, your domesic failure." He makes wha ake o be an equivalen charge agains Amanda lae in his lae lecure o her abou marriage, as he is packing o leave, when he asks her wha people waching hem hink of hem, and answers, "They hink we're uncivilized. Uncivilized," (Freud accuses women of hreaening civilizaion cenripeal ineres in heir own famil~adam's accusaion, on he conrary, seems caused by Amanda's cenrifugal ineres in civilizaion.) Adam paricipaes in he dream of he male o his exen shares his insincs, however refined his expression of hem, wih he likes of Mr. Ainger. To cones Adam's dream of wo.men, hence of her, Amanda has o confron her marriage and is world wih one anoher, o le hem rebuke one anoher (like America and American law). This requires ha her marriage and is world each be good enough and sound enough o profi from his exposure; heir accepance of he exposure will be he bes proof of heir value. The husband's exposure will require, as in he genre of remarriage i mus, ha he undergo a cerain humiliaion, a dunking of his digniy (he air going ou of Gable's ire; Gran's being dressed in a negligee or covered wih feahers; Fonda's repeaed falings; Tracy's dizziness and suering in cour). His capaciy o permi himself o seem ridiculous, wihou hereby losing his sense of worh, is o, wha gives him he auhoriy o lecure he woman, o be chosen by her for her insrucion. Call i his abiliy o learn, o suffer change. n showing ha he allows, and survives, he going ou of his ego, his abiliy proves his poency. am rying o find a cause of Amanda's acions ha r can believe in. To believe in her immediae parisan exciemen ("insincive" is he word she will use abou Adam's male brualiy) upon reading ha a woman sho her husband ("Kill him?" Adam inquires; "Nope. Condiion criica hough."), migh alernaively imagine ha she regards he siuaion of American women afer World War o be equivalen, morally and psychologically if no maerially, o, say, ha of souhern slaves before he Civil War, where one slave will readily be imagined o have such an insincive parisan reacion o news ha a fellow slave had snapped and revoled agains ye anoher ourage. A sympaheic

6 198 ousider migh well have an analogous reacion. Or migh ry imaginwih ha of a woman whose counry is under whose husband is be The fac is ha do no believe his is he are or American women, or were soon afer World War, and canno imagine ha Amanda Bonner believes i eiher. 1do no a ;ll mean ha he siuaion of women :fl America around 1950 or around 1980 canno from ime o ime,:irike rlile as ourageous, or insupporable. Bu his perc(';<:.:n, \vhich ake o valid, differs in wo froid he ourage of hose suffering he oppressions of slavery or of foreign or domesic occup<1ion: firs, he percepion is no sable, bu comes and goes, which means ha he siuaion is no simple bu mixed; second, he simulus for an occasion sruck by he of he siuaion may paraively rivial, a rude remark, or perhaps is on you, for no apparen reason, ha your culure assumes ha docors and nurses and secrearies are women---5omehing ha reveals a process of arbirariness and injusice. Me. Ainger--or of course Mrs. Ainger-may have had good cause for sraying from home; bu nohing is good cause for injusice. Bu why al all ry o ge Amanda's insincive reacion so ha i is realisically believable? Why no jus ake i as wha cerain criics call a "premiss" ha she did have he reacion, and le he sory ake i from here? Bu wha good is a premiss if i is no believable? am merely working ou he consequences of acceping i. hink ha an impaien sense ha am being oo lieral-minded or would amoun o a sense ha ough no o make cerain sors of demands on wha is afer all only a movie. Bu whaever he meris, or he meaning, of such a sense, i is irrelevan o he poin have jus now been addressing, which is abou my ineres in a passage of his movie, abou my experience of i, abou he par of my life have spen wih i. To consider wha i would mean, wha i would look like, o defend he aking of an ineres in one's experience, perhaps he bes hing one can (sill) call one's own, was a guiding ask of my nroducion. The ask deserves all he aenion i can ge, an essenial par of which, for me, is o le i quesion my progress whenever i mus--quesionwheher indeed he progress of my prose is everywhere faihful o is implici claim o be checking is experience, monioring is economy, a erm of 199 ADAM'S RB criicism accep as perinen o my ambiions. THE FORM he pair s conenion akes in he courroom is one ha pis he woman's aemp o make somehing public agains he man's aemp o keep somehing privae. The cause of he she wans, is his awareness of her. his acknowledgmen of in being in cour is o make somehing privae public, he away from he o heir accusomed privacy. He is sill a i on he las of he four days of he rial, as he calls her in open cour, leading o some confusion on h~ of he cour reporer. knows, he knows, we know a his poin, ha she has won, ha he is no able o figh her as an equal in public; and we know ha o demonsrae his is a once he form and he conen of he rial, her vindicaion, a once her public and her vicory. Bu he had made his mos memorable and charming effor in he direcion ~ack from he public o heir privacy early he firs day in cour, as he silenly invies her a he opposie end of he lawyer's able o accidenally on purpose knock a pencil o he floor so ha hev can have a momen o exchange wicked The naural, even he logical, enmiy beween he eroic and he legal, noed differenly when VValer Burns reminded Hildy of wha hey could have gone o jail for, is he explici of George Sevens's Talk of he Town, in which he wo pahs of feeling and of law arc presened (by Gran and Ronald Coleman) as equally aracive, ~, equally noble (if no equally respecable), bu as muually exclusive, beween which he woman (Jean Arhur) has o choose. Jus o make hings inescapably clear, he man of feeling is porray('d as an anarchis. The comedy of he romance of remarriage is he idea ha such a choice may no have o be final. An emblem of Amanda's response in kind o Adam's courroom.~ conduc, or her dramaizaion of he hing his conduc is a response o (her appeal away from heir privacy o he realm of he public, he direcion explicily renounced and explicily for bv Tracv Lord). is her cosuming of Mrs. Ainger in he ha Adarn had

7 ADAM'5RB Amanda's charge of him, boh in and agains his favor. She does no conceal he remendous pleasure she akes in his demonsraion. Ai leas wo doubs immediaely presen hemselves in he face of he a/femp o hink of fhe depiced home movie as a melodrama, firs wheher here is a narraive here a all, second, if here is, wheher i conains a villain, a despoiler of virue, wihou which here can hardly exis a melodrama, and hardly a virue, worh he name. he knew hey would be in cour ogeher. is, one migh say, her main exhibi on her side of he case, apar from Adam himself. was a genuine presen bu also a real enough bribe, buying her silence oward his work of prosecuion. She exhibis he ha, accordingly, as a rebuke o he bribe bu also because she is proud of her husband's way (as opposed, for example, o Mr. Ainger's way) of expressing himself o her. So ha when, in Adam's sammering summaion, he ears he ha from Mrs. Ainger's head and pockes i, enering as an exhibi he receip ha shows he ha was bough by him, he is exacly confirming THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES, in is form of a sruggle for recogniion, especially for he woman's recogniion, is he guide o he cinemaic presenaion of he courroom sequences, paricularly of he second day in cour, he longes, in which E';4lch of he pair of lawyers examines, sue. cessiveiy, Beryl Kane, Mr. Ainger, and Mrs. Ainger. The bale for awareness is pervasively depiced in eye-movemens, especially Hepburn's. n Amanda's examinaion Doris Ainger here is he following se of evens. Amanda says o her, of her discovery of her husband and Beryl ogeher, lil enraged you," upon which Adam inerjecs from behind her, "Objecion. Leading," whereupon we Hepburn's eyes dar lef, hen righ, as if glancjhg over each of her shoulders o inspec Adam. Then she walks as i were direcly away from him and wihou looking a anybody in paricular, asks, "When you saw hem hus embraced, wha happened?" bu he direcion of he remark, so o speak, has jus, been esablished by her eyes. The mulidirecionaliy of her courroom communicaion is as if diagrammed for our insrucion when, in he opening sho of her examinaion of Mr. Ainger, she is facing he jury, her hands on he railing of he jury box; addressing a quesion o he winess o her lef; bu carrying on a conversaion wih her husband behind her. is her show; her fuure happiness depends on eliciing he righ responses from each of hese audiences. Adam's reciprocal ask is skeched in such a se of evens as he following, sill wihin Amanda's examinaion of Doris. On Doris's closeup esimony ha as she kicked open he door wha she saw was her husband "Nuzzling ha all job," she hrows a glance ou oward he courroom, as if poining briefly wih her chin. is a convenional sign ha we are now o expec eiher a poin of view sho of ha all job or else a maching sho of her reacion o ha epihe. nsead Cukor holds he camera a momen longer on Doris, hen cus o an over-all sho (anyway clearly no a poin of view sho) of he whole courroom, wih no one in paricular singled ou or even clearly locaable. Then afer again his sho is held longer han our expecaions would predic, Adam rises o objec. read his pair of auomaisms as follows. The

8 THE COURTNG OF MARR/\GE 1 ADA~l'~; Rrs brief fe:::~'"u on h" c1ose-ui-' cf Dc<s's f.:cc' is long enough o call up an anxiey abou wha is o happen r.ex; his anxiey is increased by he succeeding fermaa over he vvho~' CiJurroUlT. Then when Adam rises o objec 'ry'e Hnd \-vards for cur a.n:\i(~{~,:. ;\clan"\ ~va5 fai!i~~g for J coupi!..~ of diffi(,-!~ : l'..:::~ncr;::s o pick 'dp :::5 (c:. Or beer, '/'i~ undersand bj he is losi;,g his sense of when i Cll!s 18 him o say sdmehing, of wha consiu~,':s ~ ~-1_le for hi:rl -lis dis(;:!::~.'..1jon generahy, of ':dur~;e, is ll~'j one par: :)r hirn ir;siss ha :-:2 c{::_: ~~ is i)i!c of 50nH~hlng iike 3ernped homicide Villi:" he par of him. ha is :)ound o hi,:: wife's par insiss " differer.::/. ~fgre specifically, so ~Jr.1S he is called lpo;, o answer h2r demon~r:,-1ion o hini, he is ~:...~ "55 f"7" \<vc:-ds si:lcc, L1S she s..1d o hij11 ll.e prr,.'i.:-)us l"';.igh,.she kno~.--;,;: :.,-, "1:-;re,>',,~..;:h i-~cr '~.::,r: /;.c~ions 'oj;' scni~hing o du ',vih hese m.::::~!s. 50,::',1[ does she 'Nan him o S2.;? Nohing SF'2C: ~,i, 8f nohing i:: ~'l~,:.~.::<. ~.:' ~wi:<g q:i(~ well y;bc ; :, ha hl~ llir;\.~:, Vv ha is on!i.: rrj:~d 1S r~i'-.. ::~, ~~fing!ng hern o C8Uf 1:r: he fjrs place, :Df!,~,!7:' ~ :~e \\'ill 5~"~y a1y:hin:~ :-:. all, \vhcher here is anyhing,1bou his siuai'm hd he can publiciy claim ccc1v;cion in. f no, [: ;,i i:i h",r vicory, whaever he depiced jury will say. CUKOR'S CNvlFRA T:iSTNCT,!nlike Hawks's, is o ;T',ave in response o a characer's aenion. n Adam's Rib we have in effec noiced wo variaions on his relaion. Firs, in he sho of he mosly vacan bedroom, flanked by heir conversaion, he cam~ra, wouid like o say, abides in response o is equal aenion (l each of hem. Second, we jus sa V he camera ake a posiion on a characer's behalf no aeouse i has been called upon by his aenion bu as if i is calling his aenion o he fac ha is is up o him o say somehing, o come o. noe ha in he Sequence jus discussed Adam rises ~o speak from behind Amanda, as i were ove', her shoulder, he direcion in which 5:':: l.,js been speaking o him. One migh consider wr:eher his should be read furher as his arising from her shoulder, as she from his rib. Assigning significance o he s.1ions aad he progressions of he camera, and o wheher is movemen in a given case is small or large, oward or away, up or down or around, fas or slow, coninuous or discor,inuqu5, is 30mehing mean by reading a film. requires acs of criicism ha deermine why he cinemaic even is wha i is here, a his momen in his film; hd deermine, indeed, wha he cinemaic 1~, quer.ccs rven :5. i\ CanH~rJ canno in general iu5 rlbic:e,)f progress, ):i:.~f oe co:-:. inuous or disconinuous; i has o "bide en 5u,ne~ing, <mel ll:uv;' or du;solvc fr01t solnehing o s0]:1ei.:-~i:-"'~j. ~.'~.:: ~:1~: ~.ind CJnno ;~1.~:":>:>.:~.:.~ jh5 hii...k or he eye ju~: sec! bl: has c :~.ii-'~ '..~: SCj~lv::~hing, look,d' :);:" r~)'" or :1:0.:::; fro1?l somehing. Phenumenoiogi"s '~~"'J~. of he mind, ii', l-a ~ ak~s 'Jbjecs, a5 inenional.! should li~<2 :C: ;;p2jk of he C("'d11,r-~~. i~: r.h :!~ i 3.~(2S subjecs, as infcc:onjl. (Bu ~-::2..:-:.' s> :~~ \ii1g in ;JlJL:"f~\::~:;:,: ~l '.;[ he ",:',:ire chjin of wish ilr.d 3rpar.l~ ;s,:~..:~ ;::',~ :;5 [[0;";1 dir;::::c( '.;.~. can12:"j o projeced image as ~he \vcr:<. Cf.1 :1:-r'i2ra is already :'Pf_ ~:(iil.~ of fi~~l as inflecional, or JLl., <15 pholc~~r,,~>'~':. _.\!!!T:'_TT'<1kc? '~V~-jO,-."~~~" o deiea his in.i1ecionaliy \vih \vish ~~: J2:':2 he CC.~"lLr:~.,. ".. :':::;::lgencc on u"';.e (~1d~,,,1 ll. ~ <i'rr'llng.:.1::.;';.. ',.',' : ~';~ ~~,~~:~~.;. "',,:.1 filr'!\ n1j.y accci"dingly ;Je SJid o requir~ u: -~.~ :..:.;::!~;:.:ing ~>le l1".'.ji".: :'~jon of h'2 ;':r~i11cr21, accou~-"~~llg for i~s f:i-;c:lc,j...: :-.; J.Tlod~nc~:'::c);~~. ~.., J. rrlogi~i2s iself.15 i 0", >~::3 ;.:.r~ ~1 ~~-','=':l " ~:,"l.s ::;E. -.,,/hy i b~~l(.ls /1;-:,] :"' ~, "\-' i 'rvarp~~ ~rvhen and as i~.:ices.. v/ha i is : ~:~pond.ir:.:~ ~o i."!." ~u~~ or o;.;,:..id:',"~.-"" '0 ~" -"~.. i) iself, i is he business of film criicisc' ~h;~~,.~( film criicism is in urn a rem.:;::, (ir ii;m hcc;:-',:hose busilw:;o, ".')('c' generally migh be described as speci~;::"g he exisence O[:~, ; ~~ ::n"!"l. is possibiliies and necessiies, how i un ~,,:: molvded ::1 ::.!,' "Ja/s criicism deermines i o be. Theory L: -', Jr:.!.~;":s o~h~r pir:'ces of!:j'..=si nes5, have o provide a characerizaion of "r,:1c'ivaion" he;'e hal will jusify or replace is anhropomorphism, >';Oile of his says ho.v Vie a:2 o grasp he relaion b?d~'.y'een fihn crii:=isit and :"l':~8ry, Of '~:-1 - '~~-~d (hey are separae sudies. do no wan o go again ino he conseq:ences of such po',vers of he camera for he concep of realiy, real i:: as ho:? address,)i he ph'j[ographic, which is he principal subjec of "i\ji(;r~ or r;,e V,jorld VieWEd" n he reading of Happened One Nig"i :haracerizcd he~e,~,..'ns,.' as he ranscendenal condiior.5 of vi",wi!lg iilm. A"d! know ha some who hink abou film hink r~;;~ ("en1 a fcccgn;ion of n,' powers of he camera o modify-from.<.':1dl i am Gd:<'"c" he cae",'r.:!'s inhecionaliy-i follows ha he C':::7:.-::,c d,:c::,wl pr~:;,enl us wih re,\jiy. have heard offered as proof enough of (hs obvic1.::;fc';s he hriiling refrain, "Things as hey are Jre cna:1gcd UpOil he bl,:l' guiar.".1'; hough somehing is obvious in hese wo!"ds, do; hough h:ir,1oin and beauy were somehing beyond he p'::is' of ~,;:i[ ",mbigcliy. \Vh,1 ar~ changed are exacly hings as hey Me', peri1;;lps as from ope hand u.,j,,~:,

9 ADAM'S RB anoher, or as from a srum o an ear. The changes upon a guiar are is progressions, is harmonic moions, changes upon iself. which, Sevens's words hus claim, sill ake as heir objec hings as hey are, which mus herefore be such as o lend hemselves o hese changes, be changed by hem, as by a serenade. This is no an affirmaion of, say, K.l1's ceding of hings-in-hemselves, bu a conesing of ha gesure. The las hing his poery akes for graned is he naure of iself as an he naure of is changes; he las hing a camera, or an ambiious suden of he camera, should ake for graned is he naure of he Camera. Perhaps i is, or in cerain hands is, more like a pichy viola, or a Beckmesserian lue. 0. L. Ausin was hinking, like Wallace Sevens's line, abou he inernaliy of words and world o one anoher when he asked, parenheically in his essay "Truh," "Do we focus he or he baleship?") WAS LED o hese speculaions, breaking off my deerminaions of he camera's inflecions or allegiances in he courroom sequence-an invesigaion ha my various examples of i are mean o sugges ough o be compleed for each of our films, sho by sho-by a hough concerning he mos exended sequence in Adam's Rib in which he camera declares iself, he shdwing of he home movie. n he course of depiche projecion of he home movie, is projecion all bu ges idenified wih he projecion of our movie (he one eniled Adam ';; Rib), is frame made almos o coincide wih our frame. To me his conveyed he hough ha he sudy of he camera canno be exhaused by he deerminaion, however complee, of wha was calling he moivaion of he camera, ha is by film criicism (so conceived), bu mus invoke he quesion of he exisence of he camera as such, ha is by he issue of wha called film heory. The reasoning or provenance behind his hough is as follows. The near coincidence of he wo movies implies ha he rol~ of he camera in he one is fundamenally no differen from is role in he oher. Bu since he moivaion of he camera's progression in he home movie is wihou ineres, or raher shows criical quesion o reduce o he heoreical issue of accouning for he camera's exisence, accouning for is presence alogeher, he heoreical dimension musin general, in films like Adam's Rib, remain an issue afer criicism has said wha i can. (fo escape criicism by in f, f voking direcly he heory of an ar can be aken as a moive of he modern in ar.) * The home movie in Adam's Rib is eniled The Morgage he Merrier: A Too Real Epic. Le us sor ou some similariies and hen some differences beween Adam's Rib and The Morgage he Merrier. firs, hey share he same principal acors and characers and cerain minor characers as well. Second, hey boh employ iner-iles in heir narra~ve coninuiy: Third, while he conained film exhibis "Censored" as an iner-ile and he conaining film (minus he conained film) does no, each exhibis essenially he same inciden of censoring, namely he man's suddenly grabbing he woman o maneuver her behind a door, ou of our sigh. Fourh, he quesion of he ideniy and role of he direcor is raised simulaneously for each film by he oher jus by heir being in his conainer-conained relaion o one anoher. The culural invisibiliy of mus J:-1oilywood direcors is being challenged by his Hollywood direcor in he ac of framing he projecion of a horne movie in which a direcor is no only apparenly invisible bu apparenly nonexisen. Tha hese films ask invesigaion of one anoher is declared ou loud when Kip (David Wayne), in his running commenary on The Morgage he Merrier, asks, "Who ook hese picures, your cow?" requires an ac of will no o ake he reference of Since i is my view ha, in wha call reading (a film), criicism and heory will evenually call upon one anoher, i should no be surprising ha in his book, primarily devoed o criicism, heoreical quesions keep presening hemselves, as in The World Viewed and is supplemenary essay, heoreical claims are always mean o be subsaniaed by acs of criicism. pu hese maers in a way and some ohers have found usable in "Wha Becomes of Things on Film?" Because no everyone will have ready access o he journal in which i appears (Philosophy and Lilralure, published by he Universiy of Michigan, Dearborn), should like o reproduce is final paragraph here: "The quesion wha becomes of objecs when hey are filmed and screened-like he quesion wha becomes of paricular people, and specific locales, and subjecs and moifs when hey are filmed by individual makers of film-has only one source of daa for is answer, namely he appearance and significance of jus hose objecs and people ha are in fac o be found in he succession of films, or passages of films, ha maer o us. To express heir appearances, and define hose significances, and ariculae he naure of his maering, are acs ha help o consiue wha we migh call film criicism. [You canno know he significances a priori, for example by consuling some code; inerpreaion is Then o explain how hese appearances, significances, and maul'!rings--hese specific evens of phoogenesis--are made possible by he general phoogenesis of film alogeher, by he fac, as more or less pu i in Th World Viewed, ha objecs on film are always already displaced, rouv (.e., ha we as viewers are always already displaced before hem), would be an underaking of wha we migh call film heory,"

10 ADAM'S RB ha quesion o be Adam's Rib as a whole, all of he "picures" i gives us o see. Fifh, while The Morgage he Merrier refers o a real even, par a leas of wha is filmed in i is a performance, mean somehing ha i iself recognizes as a performance. As one of he guess a he screening who also happens o be in ha movie, "We aced all his ou ber of course. 's no acual" (like ha line iself? like he screening? eceera). Sixh, he plos end in he same way, anyvvay in he same place, a he pair's place in Connecicu, and o ha exen have ScHoe seing. The profound difference cehvecn he coa,,;ning and he conained movie may be said o be ha relaion of con.1inmen Bu is i more profound han he similariies bchveen hem? The French ile have heard for wha have uescribed as conainmen is mise en ahfme, placemen in abyss; hink of his as endless displacemen, a good for he endless muual reflecions hese films creae for one an- know of wo examples given o illusrae he French words. One example is ha of he facing mirrors in old barber shops, each of which reflecs he hing he oher rehecs, and refleds he reflecions of he oher; and so o speak, one of hose reflecions is iself, each reflecs iself, as far as he eye and is ligh can reach, The phenomenon is fascinaing and he analogy is sriking bu, find, misleading, since he of he mirror-phenomenon is ha he conaining-conained relaion canno apply. The mirrors are equally originals. The oher illusraive example of placemen in abyss is ha of a conainer which presens a represenaion of iself, hence a represenaion of somehing presening a represenaion of iself (he Moron's Sal box). This much you can see; hen he mind is drawn in afer iself. Here he conainerconained relaion is preserved; he real box mus be han he represenaion i conains. Bu his way of preserving he asymmery of he relaion is essenially inapplicable o he conainerconained relaion of he films, since he smaller, conained film is no a represenaion of he conaining film., o go no furher, conains no And boh films are equally real, equally films; hey have, so o he same dimensionaliy. Neverheless he ile mise en abfme seems o sugges o some heoriss ha we know of some adeqllae explanaion or heory of his displacemen. My assumpion is ha everyhing we know of i mus be derived from is funcion in paricular films. 1 i The conaining-conained relaion makes he conaining film essenially more complex han he film i conains (since i conains somehing he oher cannno conain), bu we do no know wha significance aaches o his complexiy. may go wih his o say ha he home movie is mean for a privae audience and he commercial movie for a public, bu hen o consider his relaion is somehing we know o be a goal of he more complex movie as a whole. And again we do no know in advance Qf ha goal wha significance exends from his difference o, le us say, he naure of hese movies as movies. Then puing aside he greaer complexiy or elaboraion of characer, plo, and seing in he conaining film, and he differences of audience each film expecs, he remaining differences beween hem seem' o come down o wo: Adam's Rib ;1<1S beer producion values han The Morgage he Merrier (or, more sricly, beer values han he nonexisen home movie which he elaboraely produced ficional home movie we are shown impersonaes); and Adam's Rib is a alkie whereas The he Merrier is no. Finding he similariies beween he movies o be no significan han heir differences, wish o undersand Adam's Rib o be acknowledging he auonomy of he film i incorporaes, declaring i o be a complee (primiive) film on is own. n hus idenifying is own enerprise wih ha of The Morgage he A1mier, Adam's Rib is claiming he coninuiy of Hollywood sound comedy wih wo primary sources of he ar of film: wih he fac and he radiion of documenary film (of which home movies form a massive if peculiar species, and for which he home movie we are shown here suggess in urn a ficional basis), and wih he fac and he radiion of silen film, especiahy melodrama (where he ownership and securiy of a morgage can se he erms of characer, and seing), am prepared o draw he moral, anicipaed a while ago, ha no even wihin a film is as Significan as he even of film iself. Significan how? No auomaism, le me say, is as "cinemaic" as he auomaism of film as such. Since his moral can depend upon nohing beyond ing he revelaions of a film such as Adam's Rib as significan revelaions abou film as such, i is poinless, or raher oo poined, o rea he moral as a hesis, as hough somehing beyond a coninuing allegiance o one's own experience and a coninuing assessmen of one's commimen o a canon of films can yield a credible, or rai0nal, conclusion,

11 ADAM'S RB This sill seems o leave open he opion of denying he moral jus drew, he opion of affirming insead somehing o he effec ha he even or fac of film iself is no wha is fundamenal o he cinemaic, bu raher i is wha is done wih he facs of film ha is fundamenal. However, he apparen denial of my moral should be undersood o confirm i, or clarify i. For wha i means o say ha he even of iself is he fundamenal cinemaic even is ha wha he maker of does wih he facs of film (call his his or her syle) is o revenl ha even, o paricipae in discovering is unfolding significance, only he enire hisory of an ar could complee. Bu if am ha he accepance of such a view ress on experiences ypified by he muual assessmen of Adam's Rib and The Morgage he Merrier, i will be clear ha we will no always mainain a very srong convicion in his view, or his moral (hose of us subjec o hese convicions), indeed ha our ineres in he sa.e of his convicion iself wax and wane. find ha am a he momen ineresed o pursue ha muual assessmen far enough o see is unendingness. The Morgage he Merrier is a documen of marriage and of owneras oher home movies will be documens of weddings and deparures or of birhday paries or of oher arrivals. An implicaion is ha Adam '5 Rib is a companion documen of whaever is subjec will be found o be, say i is a documen of remarriage, and a furher implicaion is ha a documen of marriage will ake he form of a documen of ownership, or of inhabiaion (in capialis culure?). The reason for his conjuncion mus be, i seems o me, o remind ourselves ha we hink of marriage, or have hough of i, as he enering simulaneously ino a new public and a new privae connecion, he creaion a once of new spaces of communaliy and of exclusiveness, of a new ouside and inside o a life, spaces expressible by he privae ownership of a house, lierally an aparmen, a place ha is par of and apar wihin a larger habiaion. And here again, as always before, an explici economic issue poses iself ambiguously or inconclusively. You are free o inerpre he issue as showing ha only hose who have money enough o afford a privae dwelling, indeed wo privae dwellings, are in a posiion o pursue marial happiness. You are also free o undersand he economic issue as par, hence as rope, of a more general issue of human happiness, call i he ask or he cos of join inhabiaion, an essenial requiremen of which is he muual creaion of room, he resources for (economic, spiriua episemological, meaphysical, geographiremain incompleely chared. How could one expec, in a film abou marriage, anyhing more definie here? No doub one should no claim o be cerain ha ownership of privae propery is necessary o he possession of whaever privacy is necessary o human happiness. Bu am prepared o say ha o he exen ha we are able o le his be an empirical quesion, human hisory has no shown ha privae ownership (of somehing) is no necessary. One migh well say ha somehing sanding in he way of human happiness is a false privacy, or a false idea of privacy. Bu hen ha is a reasonable formulaion of wha have aken he argumen of Ad,un's Rib o be abou, he percepion ha leads Amanda Bonner o ake her happy marriage o cour. We could also formulae wha she does as risking he urning of hr romance ino melodrama. Tha he melodrama of he Ainger prologue, is gun and is ears, is mean a5 a hrea o he Bonner sory is shown by he fake gun and he fake ears which come ou o real effec in he Bonner sory. And is hrea is prefigured by wha described as he melodramaic opic of he home movie. A leas wo doubs immediaely presen hemselves in he face of he aemp o hink of The Morgage he Merrier as melodrama, firs wheher here is a narraive here a ali, second, if here is, wheher i conains a villain, a despoiler of virue, wihou which here can hardly exis a melodrama, and hardly a virue, worh he name. As o he second doub, i is sufficienly dissolved for me in remembering Adam's wice adoping he classical or cliche look of a he firs ime as he is abou o burn he paid-off morgage on a barbecue sand and holds a hodog under his nose as a villainous mousache; he second ime as he is abou o follow Amanda behind he door of heir barn and he sops o poin lasciviously in her direcion, in a silen, conspiraorial aside o he camera, ha is, o is audience. Bu can we seriously undersand Adam's and horsing around for a home movie o sugges ha he is somehow a real source of villainy, a melodramaic hrea o he romance of his and Amanda's marriage? undersand his o be, hough no exacly asserible, roughly he brief Amanda has agains Adam. And while no comprehensible as a charge in a cour of law, i is he charge she suggess agains him a home, again wice. The second ime as farce, as hey give one anoher

12 2.10 '" ADAM'S RB massages, Adam's urn a massaging concludes wih her declaraion ha she can ell he difference beween a slap and a slug, and ha i fel as if he fel he had a righ o hi her. He has behaved like--well no a villain exacly, bu like a bully, or a brue, someone equally unworhy of he favors of inimacy. The sequence ends wih her suggesion, "Le's,111 be manly," and kicking him, hus equaing maniiness wih bruishness hence being a man wih being a villain, The firs ime wih muual seriousness, as and Adam are making dinner avd asks her o give up he Ainger case. She says she wans o dramaize an like he Boson Tea Pary, and reminds him ha hey couldn' be so close if didn' agree wih everyhing she wans and ho!les and believes in, or unless she believed he did. Oherwise, he implicaion is, she would feel violaed by heir inimacies, he would be a cad o accep hem; he migh as well be demanding hem of her in reurn for he ren. To conrol he idea ha mugging and horsing around neuralize whaever offense he man may give, ha hey make his acions lighheared gesures ha anyone should be able o ake who can ake a joke, focus on he fac ha he is mugging and horsing around for he benefi of a camera. His asides conspire wih he camera and is audience, conspire wih, in a word, sociey. And his is he classical posiion of he charming, expansive villain (lago, Edmund). The declared presence of he camera demonsraes ha he villain is a role sough by he camera, one of is naural foods, hence ha he villain is himself vicimized by he camera's appeie, as his vicim is by his appeie, iself a an opposie range of he camera's. The conspiracy beween camera and sociey, serving one anoher's desires, has aken effec before he villain joins i, (1 do no wish, in rying for a momen o resis, or scruinize, he power of Spencer Tracy's playfulness, o deny ha someimes feel Kaharine Hepburn o lack a cerain humor abou hero coun he ill a lile oo ofen. Bu hen hink of how ofen have cas he world wan o live in as one in which my capaciies for playfulness and for seriousness are no used agains one anoher, so agains me. am he lady hey always wan o saw in half.) As o he firs doub in he face of hinking of he conained movie as melodrama, hence as hreaening he conaining romance wih melodrama, he doub wheher i exhibis a narraive progn'ssion, his depends on a working undersanding of narraive. Suppose one hinks of i.-i!! ~... i i i! J By he ar criics 1 h;lve leamcd mos from mean primarily Michad rried and, as a discourse in which somehing happens, in which here is an even ha makes a difference, and so enails a before and demands an afer, or say enails a comparaively unevenful conex of beginning and of ending. The form of n.uraive Kip's commenary Lkes is ha of he ravelogue ("Barn-kissing, an old Connecicu cusom"; "and as he somehing orr ino he sinking somehing we say goodbye o which allows a minimal difference beween he conex and he even ha sands ou from i, since he conex is exoic, hence from he beginning has he ineres of an even. Evidenly he mos imporan even of he horne movie is he very screening of i. The screening commences wih he crisis of Adam's spilling he ray of drinks upon hearing Amanda say o one of he judge guess ha she is o de- Doris Ainger, i concludes wih a cu, or really wih he more inimae conjuncion of a dissolve, o Adam and Amanda's bedroom and her shouing voice, flail righ, all righ, all righ! You've said he same hing nine imes!" So he mild fun of he home movie occupies he place of he even of difference ha sars a narraive, flanked by emoions of crisis and spanned by Kip's graing narraion. Wha, more concreely, consiues his even? There is, immediaely, he sheer self-reference of he conrapion of movie projecion isel generally by he very fac of depicing he home movie; more specifically, having all bu idenified is frame wih ours, by conaining cerain noable breakdowns o which he conrapion is subjec, for example, sprocke misalignmen, and a sequence misspliced upside Of he unending se of quesions abou he medium of film such self-references may call o aenion single ou here he quesion as o he naure of he surface of he medium. A wrier abou film who hinks o do jusice o he fac ha film is (presumably among oher hings) a medium may ry o hink of film.:s if i were essenially paining. One form of his aemp is or was o ake cerain conceps as deployed in cerain "formalis" ar criicism of he fifies and sixies as hough erms were simulaneously being defined for phoography and film as well as for paining (a procedure he ar criics have learned mos from mus deplore, since hey were as much a pains o disinguish he condiions of he various ars as he various ars hemselves were).* Such wriers abou film would someimes speak of somehing called "he hrough him, Clemen Greenberg.

13 ADAM'S RB surface of he screen." is worh saying ha his phrase has no clear meaning and hen going on o say, wha he home movie of Adam's Rib serves o declare, ha a screen has no surface bu is a surface. Any surface ha can hold he ligh of projecion is (can serve as) a film screen. This fac mayor may no have onological significance, depending on how one makes ou onological significance, bu i is wha makes possible he special closeness and special beween a film's depicing a projecion a film (he frame of he depiced film is hen less han he frame of he curren projecion), and a film's, so o speak, projecing a projecion (where he frames coincide), which jus comes o projecing ha film. (The phoograph of a phoograph, heir edges coinciding. is he same phoograph, in a laer generaion, i is a duplicae. A paining of a paining is no he same paining; i is a good or bad copy. As you can learn somehing abou paining by working alongside someone who can pain, so you can learn somehing abou aking phoographs by working alongside someone aking phoographs ha you care abou. Bu while for a significan hisory of paining you could learn paining in par by copying painings, a no ime in he hisory of phoography could you have learned phoography in par by phoographing phoographs, if his is differen from prining hem.) The shif from depicing o projecing a film-wihin-he-film is a clear acknowledgmen of he fac and he naure of film (for example, ha a film is somehing made for projecion and ha no every way of showing i couns as projecing i), as clear and significan in Adam's Rib as a similar pairing of auomaisms in Verov's Man wih a Movie Camera. Bu accuracy here is of he essence, and we can be more accurae. The sequence of he film-wihin-he-film in Adam's Rib is organized by alshos showing he home movie screen wih shos showing he home movie audience, never mixing hese subjecs. The firs wo imes he home screen is shown is screen is disincly smaller han ours; while our sho conains no oher equally disinc subjecs, he op border can be seen o be occupied by a srech of ceiling and he op segmen of a column which are par of he room in which he screening is aking place, visible beyond he depiced screen. n subsequen shos of his screen we have moved closer, nohing whaever is visible beyond he depiced screen, bu ye he frame of ha movie is no allowed quie o coincide wih ours. 50 i is no quie accurae o say abou he fimof Adam's Rib--somehing i would be accurae o say BUT WE SHOULD GO BACK o ha oher realm of circumsances ha con siues he even of he screening of he home movie, Kip's running narraion of i. His narraion cass him as a film criic, hence affirms ha wha he is criicizing is a film. George Cukor and his scrip wriers Garson Kanin and Ruh Gordon are having (-un here wih wo kinds of criics. Direcly, by showing on Tracy's glowering face how richly he auhor of brigh, wisecracks abou he senimenal vulnerabiliies of one's life deserves a slap in he mouh. Less direcly, by producing he sor of or village explainer, whose remarks cry ou for he wisecracks-he sor who says, "Of course we aced all his ou aferwards. isn' acual/' o which Kip rudely bu saisfyingly replies, "All righ big mouh, sele down." This is a reply, in um, made for cerain of oday's pedans, big-ime explainers, who offer o save us from falling for hings like filrr(s illusion of realiy (as if, for example, he phrase "illusion of realiy" is somehow clearer han he phrase "real realiy"). is o he poin ha his wisecracking criic is also porrayed generally as a moocher, mooching off oher people's paries as well as off privacies. ( don' know wha o make of he fac ha Kip is supposed o have wrien a bad Cole Porer son& beyond observing ha mooching nonnally demands some alen and a cerain bankable chann. Bu had a good Cole Porer song been aribued o him l compulsive pedan, abou a film-wihin-he-film in Man wih a Movie Camera-ha we are given a shif from he depicing of a film o he projecing of ha very film by idenifying ours wih i. Raher, in Adam's Rib we shif from a clear case of depicion o a posiion in which i is ambiguous wheher we are mean o undersand he film as depicing or as projecing he film i conains. This is as explici an acknowledgmen of he medium of film as he relaed shif in Man wih a Movie Camera, bu wha i acknowledges, when i,is expressed, may-be/however close in manifes echnique, unpredicably disan in laen conen. n Adam's Rib he acknowledgmen of he naure of movies is a roue for acknowledging he realiy of is acors, declaring he people in he home movie, Kaharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, o be he same as he acors in Adam's Rib who are waching hemselves, and who are playing he pars of people waching hemselves, in a home movie.

14 ADAM'S RB would have a harder ime characerizing him in he erms do.) draw he moral ha a criic of such films as Adam'5 Rib, as of such as The Morgage he lv1errier, is bound o be a criic of marriage, of marriage as projeced and criicized by he films hemselves. And his mus work o creae in Adam's eyes he connecion beween Kip and Amanda. We canno imagine Adam o ake Kip's aracion o Amanda seriousl: l ; he mus undersand ha Kip's is an aachmen, no uncommon around cerain srong, ir.eresing marriages, o he marriage iself, no o he woman alone. Neverheless Adam b'l",,~s in upon hem ogeher. hink he reason is ha Kip's mild show 1o :,: l'omosexual inge is mean o align wlrn r.mal~da's underlyin~: charge agains Adam's bruishness or caddishn2s.:i, ::~2 c:urge of villainy by virue of being a man. (This alignmen is broadly hined a a cou?le of imes. Afer singing his song for hem Kip says o Amanda, for Adam's benefi: "You've go me so convinced: may go ou and become a woman." This remark also serves o prepare laer :;peculaions abou sex reversals, which we '\vill come o in a mompn. Again, during Kip's narraion of he home movie, as Adam is capured kneeling winningly beween heir wo bulldogs, and as someone in he company exclaims somehing helpful like, "Oh, look. Dogs," Kip slowly couns hem: "One, wo, hree.") As if o comba he unanswerable brief of being a villain because a man, Adam porrays a male bully, hreaens double murder, and hen vicoriously mocks heir porrai of him, and by implicaion heir hrea o him, by eaing his gun. s his savoring his revenge, said o be swee; or is i successfully swa liov/ing his anger along wih his pride? LET us NOT UNDERESTMATE he deph of myh ouched upon in hese evens, in heir effors o skech he difference beween men and women. Adam aribues his success in geing wha he wans, geing Amanda back, o his abiliy o produce ears a will, ha i, o a cerain hearical alen. Bu we have also seen his hearical alen exercised in his enering menacingly wih a (sage) gun, which also go him wha he waned, Amanda's acknowledgmen ha, as he says o her, "No maer wha you hink you hink, you hink he same as hink, ha have no righ, ha nobody has he righ o break he law." And his meeing of minds more earnesly consiues, for boh of hem, his geing her Hafed, ls for deparfure, hey resume fheir advenure of desire, heir pursui of happiness. This pair is invening gallanry beween one anofher. back. Are we cerain, hen, ha his bruishness has played no essenial role in his riumph? Boh his gun and his ears play he role, demanded by male compeiion in he films of our genre, of he man's explicily making a claim upon he woman. (AnJ in wha genre is his momen no demanded of a romanic hero? n such a work as To Have and Have Nol, where i is he man who has o become reborn ino he world in order-sill--o prove or provide innocence, Bacall says o Bogar, '''m hard o ge, Seve. All you have o do is whisle." And she is righ, and sympaheic. is hard. n Hawks's earlier Only Angel5 Have Wings, Jean Arhur uses virually he idenical words o Cary Gran; and she is righ, j oo.) The man's ears play o he woman's maernal or enderer insincs, 1 he gun o her ougher, even vulgar, demand o be won. The poin of j he gesure of he gun is ha inimacy is no sufficien for marriage, J, ill

15 ADAM'S RB which requires beyond his he open declaraion of his exclusive privacy. Openness is required as a condiion boh of asking for he public sancion of he marriage, admiing sociey's sake in i; and of expressing he need for his sake, ha heir bonding requires a decision, or conrac, and power o have i enforced, ha i is no naural, no, so o speak, a family maer. The simulaneous esablishing and ranscending of inimacy, he ranslaion of inimacy, say as from srum o ear, is a.. ".. way of puing he poin of Adam '5 Rib generally, is inerpreaion of he dialecic of remarriage, why i is good o hink of he necessiy of remarriage as he necessiy of aking marriage o cour: you mus es i in he open or else muual independence is hreaened, he capaciy o noice one anoher, o remem ber beginning, o remember ha you are srangers; bu i is only worh subjecing o his examinaion if he case is one of inimacy, which you migh describe as he hrea of muual independence. Afer he rial, as Adam and Amanda are walking ogeher ou of he courroom, Amanda says she wishes i could have been a ie. And in a sense i has been a ie; she has won he day, made her privae poin public, bu he has won he nigh, made his public poin privae. is wha hey each mos waned of he world, of one anoher. Bu he resoluions, he vicories, are no sable, he ie is no ye, or no again, ha of marriage. Or say ha he separae vicories are oo sable. The conversaion has no resumed. When i does resume i will wind up on he opic of he difference beween and he sameness of men and women. We have seen he conversaion come o a hal in several sages, principally in he sequence in which Amanda comes home lae, wih a presen of her own, o a silen Adam and an empy cockail shaker. She follows him hrough each room of heir aparmen pleading wih him o alk o her; and when he does open his mouh i is o deliver himself of his longes speech, he haranguing aria abou marriage as a conrac. The use of words in his pair of incidens is capped he nex nigh as Adam's demonsraion and vicory wih he licorice gun becomes a mosly verbal brawl. An angel would have difficuly a his momen disinguishing heir lives from he lives of he Aingers; which is roughly o say ha for an angel here is no disincion beween comedy and ragedy. Their subjecion o human commonness holds an imporan piece of learning for he Bonners- ha while civilizaion has more o go on in heir forunae lives han in l he Aingers, civilizaion canno carry is own guaranee, eiher o las or o be worh he name. Tha here is no humanly envisionable conclusion o he conversaion of marriage seems o me he message of he myserious momen a which, as Amanda in her summaion is asking he jury o apply he same unwrien law o a woman as i would o a man, she direcs hem o imagine he principals of he rial riangle as reversed in sex. As she urges he jury o focus heir aenion on each of he hree faces in urn and o concenrae, as if hypnoizing he jury, he faces in um aler before our eyes. The immediae effec of he process is o seal once for au our idenificaion, as audience, as a jury, for whose insrucion and judgmen he enire film is pu forh. n aking he ransformaion effor as evidence ha no conclusion o he problem of marriage is envisioned, mean o imply ha he ransformaions are no successful, anyway ha hey do no do wha Amanda wans hem o do, namely help us imagine hese figures wih heir genders reversed. n fac he ransformaions are, find, groesque, parly no doub because he wo women are ransformed ino prey young boys and he man ino somehing older, harder, coarser. Here is a reminder ha he playing of one anoher by he sexes is no fully symmerical. Boys can play women (as in Elizabehan heaer) and women boys (as in opera), bu for a maure male o impersonae a female requires he masery of a significan ar; and know of no male impersonaors, none mean who are female. (The background disincions here are among male and female impressioniss, reacive heerosexual men, and wha you migh call imiaion or fake men. This las is a qualiy ha people, doubless mosly cerain men, may see in Hepburn, people who do no recognize wha she is and he dimension a cerain boyishness gives o her way of being womanly. Much of his is duly noed in Doris's remark during her inerview, in response o Amanda's offer of a cigaree, ha she doesn' hink women should smoke, ha i isn' feminine, ha Amanda should excuse her for saying so, and our having o go ahead and imagine Hepburn/Amanda reacing o he source of he deprived observaion, and allowing herself o excuse i.) The asymmeries here sugges ha Amanda canno ge wha she wans from her experimen, no a any rae by he means she llses. The camera's ransformaion of he sexes of he characers seems ome a violence done o hem, and o us in winessing i, and o Amanda in

16 .' asking i. She has, as Adam accuses her of doing, saged and cosumed Doris's performance in he courroom. Bu she has no presided over her ransformaion by he camera. She has only invoked a power beyond her conrol, and he resuls seem o me o show ha she is being rebuked for i. Raher han casing her as a surrogae for a film direcor, he acual film direcor is depicing limis o he powers of an acor. HAVE SPOKEN of Cukor's willingness o le his camera follow he aenion of a characer, like a good lisener, shunning imposiion here. Le me call such followings he changes of progression. Wha migh call he changes of ransformaion, he ranslaion a once, as a whole, from flesh and blood ino film, is somehing else. is source of he ca:ilera's original violence, hence of he film &;~cor's responsibiliies. Cllkor had sudied his explicily and J full lengh in A Woman's Face, of 1941, he year The Philadelphia Sory. (And again wih Donald Ogden Sewar as wrier, joined by Ellio Paul for A Woman's Face, perhaps because of he European seing.) The ransformaion of acress ino sar, as a version of he heme of he aleraion of imaginaion in The Philadelphia Sory, was somehing ouched upon principally respecing he relaion of acor o audience. The complemen or supplemen, respecing he relaion of direcor o acor, is he ransformaion of which A Woman's Face can be aken as a parable. is again a sory of a woman (Joan Crawford) drawn beween 'NO men (Conrad Veid and ha is o say beween her love for wo men. The choice in he romanic melodrama of A Woman's Face seems easier (graned a happy ending) han in he romanic comedy of The Philadelphia Sory since in he melodrama he oher man is openly presened as a villain. Bu his should be undersood as a piece of cinemaic code for a kind of love, agains which i is by no means easy o choosc'. (On~ of he innies of a small chain of inny momens in A Woman's Face is he woman's declaring in cour ha her feeling for he oher man was no love: " know ha now," says Joan Crawford.) And again he woman is o be ransformed, creaed, by he man, bom ino he world, bu his ime no from above he world bu from below i, no from cold beauy bu from seehing disfiguremen. The film sudies he opposed processes by which he ransformaions are o be eff~ced; i is his ha makes i a parable of direcing. ( darcsay i is his sor of ADAM'S RB sudy ha criics have responded o in calling Cukor a woman's direcor.) The villainous process is porrayed as somehing like hypnosis, or enchanmen, worked by a man of culivaed words, of demanding eyes and of a masery of moods, invoked by his viruoso heroic process is porrayed as plasic surgery, is compleeness of reconsrucion underscored by he surgeon's repeaedly he woman his Galaea. Cukor's accepance of he meaphor of plasic surgery for he work of his came~j seems o me he meaning of he se of momens in which he camera prevens us from seeing wha he resuls of he surgery have been shooing a an angle ha leaves an obsacle exacly beween us and he area of he disfiguring scar, and when he resuls are o be o he cour by her removing afer repeaed se-ups in 'Nhich he docor examines her face under he merciless ligh ha we see o be he ligh by which she is here being subjeced o he camera, we are shown her face in unobsruced close-up, in one of hose romanically li porrais, drawings in ligh and shadow, ha Hollywood was so good a in is high period of black-and-whie, glorying in he assured resuls of is own work. n conras o he heroic process of cinema, he villainous feels very like he process of heaer. The evil of he villainous procedure is ha while i promises he woman release i leaves her unchanged, above all sealed in he isolaion of her moral disfiguremen, appealing o he realm of he demonic and is vengefulness which she has leamed o call home. The good of he heroic procedure is ha he poin of he excruciaing physical pain is o leave he maer of spiriual change up o her; he docor repeaedly asks her wheher he has creaed a monser or a woman, appealing o he realm of her beer angel. This is why his direcion is herapeuic. The removal of he scar redeems he marked woman, poenially makes her innocen. The cre,1ion of innocence hrough he righ forgoing of virginiy--such is he fanasy around which more han our genre alone has formed iself. ( is no surprising o find i in Garson Kanin's Born Yeserday, filmed by Cukor in 1950; an advanced New Comedy. And hear film nair declaring is allegiance o he fanasy when in he closing momen of Rober Siodmak's The Killers, a bad, hyserical Ava Gardner kneels over he unconscious body of Dekker, as if o Lll1 he words back from he grave, "Say

17 ADAM'S RB Kiy is innocen. Say Kiy is innocen.") noe, for furher geographical reference, ha he roles of hero and of villain in A Woman's Face are given respecively o an'american and a European ype. Melvyn Douglas is sophisicaed, and in he ficion of he film is said o be Swiss, bu se nex o Conrad Veid and Alber Basserman he is as American as Berlin, Connecicu. War was here, or imminen, and Veid says somehing abou how he will use he forune Joan Crawford - is o help him inheri in he service of he new order in Europe, bu his is a opical cover for a preoccupaion in American ficion given is highes form by Henry James. Pu mi Mike (1952) is a genle, summery anhology of hese hemes of Cukor's as well as of oher possibiliies we have found in remarriage comedies. Like Born Yeserday i is wha called an advanced New Comedy, by which mean essenially wo hings. Firs, is srucure is o ge he woman away from a false or ouworn auhoriy (he by he help of a man who wans her o ake auhoriy over herself. Tha wha is wrong wih he senex is no a maer of his lieral age is emphasized Spencer Tracy's being called"old man" by he one he woman calls her "beau." Second, he film displaces virginiy well los wih, say, inegriy, or selfhood, as he goal of he drama, a new beginning. Pa and Mike makes his displacemen possible by having Hepburn call herself a "widow"-abou which Mike's sidekick (Sammy Whie) undersandably is puzzled:." Ain' ha like no married?" places hese issues in a conex in which an all bu lieral direcoral funcion is given o each of he wo men. Her beau is anxious abou how she will ac or behave or perform and wheher she is properly aired; Tracy calls himself her "manager and promoer," gives her principles for pacing herself, ries o remove obsacles o her coming hrough as herself, and reassures her wih a direcor's privileged words: "You're a beauiful hing o see--in acion." And he film fuses wih hese, furher, he feaure of he man from a lower class han he woman (always o be an issue for wha becomes of Kaharine Hepburn on film), her giving of herself o him by performing his remarkable fea of awakening her or freeing her. The issue of he creaion of he sar and he woman is dwel upon lovingly, repeaedly hrough a fairy ale se of hree quesions. Mike caechizes his oher sar, a prizefigher (he affecing Aldo Ray): "Who made ya'?" "You did, Mike"; "Who owns he bigges piece of ya'?" "You do, Mike"; "Wha'll happen if le go of ya'?" "'ll go down he drain"; "And?" "Never come back." A he close, Pa urns he ables by asking he quesions of Mike. He answers he hree all righ-hus acknowledging ha he sar she is is he cause of his being he manager he is, as well as vice versa-bu hen urns he ables back wih he ca~per: "And?" she coninues. "Take you righ down wih me," he rejoins. Or as hey have said hroughou: "Everyhing five-oh, five-oh"; or in he syle of Adam'5 Rib, "Equal in everyhing." do no know of a more coureous bouque of hanks from a direcor o his sar. And ye even here Cukor has allowed himself a jusifiable pride. While he camera spends in he film a disproporionae amoun of ime on Hepburn's physical accomplishmens, a disproporionae brilliance of acing in he film is T racy's, he good direcor's surrogae. Bu he of he ransfiguring of women, oward heir creaion or desrucion, deserves o be followed horoughly in Cukor's work. do no know, for example, wha would make i more obvious han i sands ha he opening elaboraion of he beauy esablishmen in The Women (1939) is an allegory of Hollywood sudio film-making (which is in urn an allegory of commodiy-making? or of he power of he invisible male world o urn people ino commmodiies? or of he power of he social as such?). And perhaps one will ake Cukor's explici reamen of Pygmalion and Galaea, in lvfy Fair Lady (1964), as more or less he sheer luck of he Hollywood draw. Bu here is Gasligh (1944), in in a conex spiriual subjecion, he heme of he good and bad pmvers is incorporaed ino one man, and inernalized by he woman, madness. (Gasligh can be seen as Cukor's response a once o Vicor Fleming's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) and o Hichcock's Shadow of a Doub (1943), sharing ngrid Bergman wih he former, Joseph Coen wih he laer.) More generally, and wih paricular graificaion o me, noe from a recen lae nigh showing of A Double Life (1947) ha he eam of George Cukor, Garson Kanin, and Ruh Gordon had placed he subjec of Ohello (whose presence of course one could hardly fail o remember if one remembered anyhing of he film) in conjuncion wih a sory of he failed aemp of a pair o remarry (which had no remembered). A more paricular applicaion of A Double Ufe o Adam'5 Rill is given in he complexiy of connecion i proposes beween he privae and he public life of a ~_~c~_ a pair working ogeher in he same Drofession. is DOSSDP

18 222 he personal sory of Adam's Rib o be he way he siuaion in cour affecs heir marriage, * whereas have claimed ha he emphasis is raher on he oher foo, ha he marriage effecs, or is expressed by, wha happens in mur; excep, of course, ha he dialecic has as ye no surcease, ha he marriage requires his public expression because i is already an expression of public maerial. And his cycling is he unmisakable paern beween he privae and he public in A Double paern affirms ~e doubleness of human life, of human consciousness, a dupliciy ha collapses only wih madness, or deah-i is wha he lunaic, he lover, and he poe imagine o compac beyond. These remarks abou oher of Cukor's films are ha;dly more han anoher se of reminders abou he work here is o do in puing ogeher wih my coninuing definiion of a genre comparable sudies of relaion among genres and of he connecion of boh wih he esablishing of he oeuvres of he direcors in play. am led o underscore here he abumen of films of remarriage wih films of he creaion of he woman (or he human) oher means. Here perhaps he single greaes insance is Hichcock's Verigo, bu here mus also be considered he whole range of works in which he procedure of he camera can be said o inspire a creaure wih human life from he beginning, or o deprive a creaure of i. The cenral case is Frankensein, hardly surprising since Frankensein was always a shadow of Pygmalion. Such a work as The Exorcis is significan here; in i he filmmaker virually idenifies himself wih Frankensein in synchronizing a voice for he possessed girl and in choosing eyes for her and in graning her her special powers of hurling herself and of projecing her vomi. The bad or dark side of he myh of film as furhering he creaion of humaniy is is revelaion ha our hold on our humaniy is quesionable, ha we merely possess ourselves, inhabi ourselves as aliens. The church migh accordingly involve iself no merely o oppose he Devil bu o oppose a possibiliy i iself helped o creae, in is conemp for he body. To coninue his line of hough, he hough ha a cerain line of horror films fann a shadow genre of remarriage comedies, i will be necessary o disinguish he specifically perinen films of horror from he ses of films merely mean o errorize us. am speaking of horror here as do As Gavin Lamber suggess in his On Cul:or (New York: Capricm'n Books, 1973), p. 200., 223 ADAM'SRlB! in The Claim of Reason, as a percepion of he insabiliy of he fac of human exisence, is neighboring of he inhuman, he monsrous. Acof he Living Dead would fi here while, for example, no. The comedy of remarriage is as much abou separaion from sociey, call i privacy, as he horror movie is; and as abou he esablishing of civilizaion as he Wesern is. ( here Nevill Coghill's suggesion in disinguishing Shakespearean and Jonsonian comedy, which cie in he reading of His Girl Friday, ha he Shakespearean is an or shadow of ragedy whereas he Jonsonian is no.) ACCORDNG TO MY UNDERSTANDlNG of he ransfigured sexes, hen, Amanda Bonner sands rebuked for invoking wha Tracy Lord had oled "he. wrong kind of imaginaion,"'for harboring privae rrwives for her public line of defense of her clien,.as if she has gone o such exravagan lenghs o imagine he impossible because she canno bear really o imagine he acual sordidness and dependence of Doris Ainger's life, he provocaion and reduced capaciy wih which she did wha she did. n he longes sho in he film, surely one of he longes unmoving shos in any commercial film since early silen days, as Amanda inerviews Doris in jail, everyhing lends auhoriy o Doris's recial-judy Holliday's viruoso realizaicd of he lines, Hepburn's and Eve March's aenion o hem, he camera's fascinaion; and here Amanda is fully ineresed in Doris's describing herself as "waching myself, like in a dream," and indeed warns Doris no o be oo sure wha she mean o be doing when sho her husband since he difference beween freedom and en years in jail is no laughing maer. Ye he firs day in cour Amanda challenges he firs prospecive juror on grounds ha his beliefs are prejudicial o he idea of he equal reamen of men and women before he law, which will be her whole line of defense. The line will involve her in more or obvious confusions, for example he idea ha a woman in a rance, ing up and down all day long elling herself no o do is legally (and morally) in he same as a man who has carefully planned o avenge himself for his wife's infideliy and who is full of he convicion ha he is his unwrien-as a husband. 1 {persons in hese posiions migh be equaed on he ground i

19 ADAM'S RB ha boh have gone crazy.) And she rises o break up Adam's cross-examinaion of Doris by saying ha he is "reaing her as some kind of lunaic [somewha closer o a genuine line of defense] whereas she is a fine, a healhy woman," bu hen in her summaion she appeals o a bi of anhropology abou cerain descendans of he Amazons o he effec ha hey have reaed heir men yrannically for so long ha he men have become weak and incompeen hrough long subservience. Bu my quesion is sill how he camera has yielded is rebuke, why he experimen yields a groe5~',~e resul. And my answer, having rehearsed Cukor's preoccupaion wih ransfiguraion, is ha he camera already, or naurally, capures he feminine aspec of he masculine physiognomy (and, hough am for some reason more hesian abou his, he masculine aspec of he feminine), so ha he imaginaion required is, if properly exercised, already sufficienly promped by he naure of projecing he human physiognomy o do wha Amanda is rying o ge us o will o do. Tom Ewell (ha is, Mr. Ainger), when we firs see him, primping a lile as he his he open air afer a day of office work, swinging his body happily as he buys a paper from a newsand and walks o he subway, appears, using convenional crieria, more feminine han he does dressed in woman's clohes, which bring ou (as hey are realized for his film) a coarseness and masculine villainy in his feaures. n conras, he wo women, appearing as vulnerable young male:;, have discarded he insignia ha made hem differen kinds of women and achieve before he camera a solidariy of effec ha Amanda had posied for women as such when she claimed ha"all women are on rial in his case." f his is he effec, Amanda's wish remains privae, for he visual solidariy of he women in he face of he man's bruish villainy is no her line of defense, which requires insead ha Beryl Kane be seen as a homebreaker. (The inuiion express of he camera as revealing he reverse sexual naure of is human subjecs goes wih wo oher inuiions have expressed abou he camera. Firs, in connecion wih The Philadelphia Sory, spoke of he camera as revealing an oherwise invisible self, and relaed his o is suggesion of he Blakean Specer and Emanaion. Second, in he Foreword o he enlarged ediion of The World Viewed, speak of he inheren reflexiveness or self-referenialiy of objecs fjlmed and projeced on a screen, of he luminosiy lendable o projeced objecs by heir "paricipaion" [a word mean o pick up Pla l f only Mrs. Ainger and her hree children bu Mr. Ainger wih hose f onic aspiraions] in he phoographic presening of hemselves, a presence ha refers o heir absence. wish o undersand as an analogue o his onological speculaion abou maerial obj~cs he speculaion abou human beings, hings wih consciousness, ha heir presence refers o heir absen, or invisible, or complemenary, sexualiy. The reflexiveness of objecs harks back, in my mind, o he earlier claim in The World Viewed ha objecs on a screen appear as held in he frame of naure, implying he world as a whole. The sexual reflexiveijess of human beings would accordingly sugges he individual as expressing humaniy as such, wha in The Claim of Reason call he inernal relaion of each human being wih all ohers.) We were led o he momen of sexual ransformaion as an expression of he break in he conversaion beween Adam and Amanda, which means heir exisence wihou heir ie of marriage. As hey arrive a!ieir realizaion of his condiion, collecing heir papers and leaving he courroom ogeher o go heir separa~e ways, all around hem a resumpion of conversaion is being pu ino effec in a manner unhinkable for Adam and Amanda. The reporers and phoographers, waning copy o accoun for wha hey have seen, have pu ogeher no four and hen Beryl Kane wih he five of hem, posing he six ogeher, all smiling, if uneasy, in a kind of family porrai. Here is a wacky, and no less genuine for being emporary, pursui of happiness, one uncomprehended by our laws. We are no, believe, happy wih he verdic of No Guily, or raher we do no know wha o make of i, wha i should have been. Bu we are happier wih he consequences of he verdic, seeing he children back wih heir parens, and we even paricipae J. lile in he conrived reconciliaions. Wha else, unil he world changes, would be a happier oucom'e? (A wacky, or impossible, soluion o he mysery of marriage-which found o be glanced a in he pair of closing sills of The Philadelphia Sory---is proposed in oher significan films, boh inside and ouside our genre. nside, Preson Surges, in The Palm Beach Sory (1942) muliplies remarriages beyond necessiy, or credibiliy; ouside, in Some Like Ho (Billy Wilder, 1959), Joe E. Brown acceps a male bride on he ground ha nobody's perfec.) Adam and Amanda walk ou wihou glancing a his uproarious scene; noably, i srikes me, wihou a glance a he children. ake his as a commen on he fac ha in risking Doris Ainger's freedom

20 ", Amanda was risking he happiness of her children, and surely i declares ha an unrammeled absorpion in he conversaion of marriage canno ake place in he presence of children. This is he las of he major remarriage comedies. The sordidness of unequal marriage a~ mosly i sands, no longer checked by larger family srucures, is no he joke i was fifeen years earlier in f Happened One Nighf. is loose in he world, a sociey's doorsep. SAD THAT when he conversaion beween our pair resumes i will wind up on he opic of he difference b::ween men and women. (The dialogue explicily adds iself up his way. "Hooray for ha lile difference" Adam will hurried:y say, we saw, a he conclusion. And during his harangue he had said o Amanda, "Vle'v::.1:-ad our lile differences, and 've always ried o see your poin of view." Bu wha? This difference is differen? Why? Because i is no discussible? Wha do~s (na mean? Saying hooray o he lile differences, in good faih, is saving hooray o exchanges abou hem, of hem.) Bu how does he conversaion resume? recommences, halingly, in he accounan's office, wih some exchanges abou money, which is firs abou wha he pair have placed moneary value on in he pas (inimae hings, like gifs of undenvear, and a silly -be on a subjec ha hey won' share wih he accounan), and hen abou he propery hey own in Connecicu, "free and clear," which inroduces Adam's ears ino he conversaion, which hen promps Amanda o seem o ake he iniiaive and make he proposal o leave hen and here for he farm. "You mean," Tracy responds hrough his crocodile ears, "and see he dogs?"-leaving no room for speculaion abou wheher children, or hence anyhing else, would be an accepable subsiue beween hese wo for he conversaion iself; nohing else is marriage. Once in Connecicu, hey inaugurae he rial as an accepable opic of exchange and hen a once move on o he new opic Adam says hey have o discuss omorrow, he judgeship he Republicans wan him o run for. She says she's real proud of him; he replies, acceping her offer of a handshake, ha he'd raher have her say ha han anyhing. The hrill of his exchange is is puing sexualiy in is place; ha is, is able o afford puing i in is place, in he confidence ha i has one. n ha confidence, Adam leaves he room o change ino his pa iii i a close-up of Professor Higgins's ha, seen from behind,~s he h~ls swiveled around and leaned back in his desk. chair, away from he reurning Eliza and from us, as if in order o display his ha, he ouline of he whole circle of he brim filling he screen. ( hink his image is aken over, in homage, by Cukor for his My Fair Lady; bu here my memory is less srong han my wish.) Since Amanda's remark upon donning he ha is o ask abou he Democras, we are eniled o ake is donning as a challenge, a show of independence, while a he same ime i reacceps his gif o her. Bu a challenge o wha? ndependence from wha? To and from he very fac ha a conversaion has resumed, and ha.vhile ha is cause for happi ness, ha happiness is no o be presumed upon? lines are o be drawn, or wha's a conversaion for? Somehing, hink, like ha. Wha more immediaely precipiaes her donning he ha, however-which is o say, wha changes her mind abou burning he ha, or burying he hache- is Adam's singing of he film's song off-screen, accompanying his puing on his pajamas. is he only new elemen in he siuaion beween his exi o ch<mge and her rerieving he hjl from he fire. suppose he song inspires her conenion because i sounds equally like a serenade and like a song of Le us ake a momen, before leaving he film; o recognize how weird a song Cole Porer has conribued o he proceedings. begins wih is "Farewell, Amanda," and afer bidding goodbye in hree furher languages i requess Amanda o remember, in her new life, h,1 wonderful nigh on he verandah. When a prime Cole Porer in an earlier j 1 ADAM'S RB jamas. Amanda sees in Adam's briefcase he ha ha he gave her she gave o Mrs. Ainger ha Adam ripped from Mrs. Allinger's head; sars o burn i in he fireplace, hen changes her mind and pus i on; warms her oes before he fire, hinking. She calls ino he nex room, "Have he Democras chosen a candidae ye?" Adam comes back slowly ino he room finishing buoning he op of his pajamas. "You wouldn'," he says, and convinces her for he momen a leas by showing her how her compeiion here would make him make himself cry. Afer his demonsraion, he noices ha she has her ha on so he pus his on, equal o he end, ready for anyhing. Sf'em o remember learning, bu do no remember where, ha he ha is an ancien symbol of libery. remember his in connecion wih he Anhony Asquih-Leslie Howard Pygmalion (1938), he concluding image of which is

21 228 ime sang of "i" as "grea fun," and as "jus one of hose hings," he allowed he singer o hope ha hey would mee now and hen, allowed hem o survive heir pleasure wih some humor, some syle, inac. Or when John Dryden wries "Farewell, fair Armeda" his lover undersandably akes his leave o die because love is unrequied. Bu Kip seems o be singing his serenade o one who is herself o die ("when you're sepping on he sars above"), apparenly he opporune momen for inspiring his declaraion. Maybe he jus means ha she is moving on o higher hings, and maybe he wroe he song o be sung by anyone bu himself, especially by Adam. Maybe i is for him o sing on Adam's beh.llf, like an invered Cyrano. He almos does. When Adam is abou o leave heir aparmen afer Amanda's homecoming o silence and his haranguing sequel, Amanda says, "Adam, don' you dare slam ha door," and when he does he spieful slamming ses off a conrapion of consequences (a sor of schizophrenic Rube Goldberg machine), an image of he cunning of hisory, or of he logic of narraive, he las consequence of which is he urning on of a record of Kip singing his song. The record player is under pressure and you can' ell Kip's voice from Adam. So Kip half ges he wish o provide Adam's exi music, confirmaion ha Adam mus confron him and Amanda ogeher. And in his vicory serenade Adam urns he ables, does some versifying himself. He sings he song 50 ha i begins wih he words "Hello, Amanda," and goes on o welcome her, or welcome her back, afer a bale he claims was fun. n he course of his rewriing he changes "when you're sepping on he sars" o "when you're gazing a he sars," a change ha brings Amanda safely down o earh, and while she mus appreciae his she may also resen i a lile, and resen a lile he bullying alen ha wress Kip's song, which was hers, away o his own purposes. Bu how could she no also admire i? is his final claim upon her, overcoming a once he bmishness of he gun and he childishness of he ears. She will yield o his achievemen of genle genialiy ("Hooray for ha lile difference!"), bu no wihou conesing i. Afer all, whose difference is i? Haed, as for deparure, away from us, hey resume heir advenure of desire, heir pursui of happiness, someimes alking, someimes no, always in conversaion. 11 THE [ SAME AND [ DFFERENT.. r The Awful Truh r r r Allsne will ell him, or WHm him of, visiing him a his aparmen, before becoming his siser, is ha his ancien poem o her, which she is ahoul 10 recile, will hand him ' ", r. l' l l' l l '.ll.l,'1",