THE GODDESS is not exactly a great film but it is a very interesting one from the point of view of the Hollywood Star System. The production had obviously a very limited budget and the Paddy Chayefsky script could have been altered to better fit Kim Stanley's screen persona (the actress is obviously too old and does not have the beauty to convincingly play a poor young country girl who becomes a highly successful movie star), but in the end that matters little. Kim Stanley's performance is so brilliant, so complex, so achingly true, that one forgets the film's limitations and what remains is a feeling of deep awe in face of so much talent. This is quite possibly the most harrowing, emotionally devastating acting job I have ever seen, along with Liv Ullman's performance in FACE TO FACE. How wonderful to be able to see it over 50 years later! And what a pity that Stanley was not in films more often!
Review of The Goddess
