Come Back, Little Sheba is a 1952 American drama film directed by Daniel Mann in his directorial debut and produced by Paramount Pictures. The script was adapted by Ketti Frings from the 1950 play of the same title by William Inge. Starring Burt Lancaster, Shirley Booth, Terry Moore, and Richard Jaeckel, the film tells the story of a marriage between a recovering alcoholic and his frumpy wife, which is rocked when a young college student rents a room in the couple's house. The title refers to the wife's little dog that disappeared months before the story begins and whom she still openly grieves for. Booth, who had originated her role on Broadway and was making her film debut, won Best Actress honors at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.
Plot
Doc Delaney is a recovering alcoholic married to Lola, a frumpy, middle-aged housewife. Doc had once been a promising medical student, but dropped out of college when Lola became pregnant with his child, marrying her because her father had thrown her out of the house. The child later died, and Lola was unable to have any more children. Doc spent the years drinking away the pain, in the process ruining his career and wasting his inheritance. Doc, now sober for one year, is polite but distant toward his wife, while a lonely and unhappy Lola sleeps late, dresses sloppily, and does not keep a tidy house. Every day she goes outside to call for her lost dog Sheba, whom she dreams about.
To make some money, Lola rents a room to Marie, a college student brimming with youthfulness and sexuality. One day Marie brings home Turk, a star on the track team, to model for an ad she is creating for a local athletic competition. Turk is wearing his track outfit which shows off his physique. Lola encourages the couple in their modeling session, but Doc, who walks in to find Turk under-dressed, thinks it borders on pornography. Doc disapproves of a hustler like Turk taking advantage of a virtuous young girl like Marie, but Lola defends him, pointing out that Marie is engaged to another young man, Bruce, who is away but due to return soon.
As Marie's infatuation with Turk grows, Doc becomes agitated. Lola reminds him that Marie is much like she had been in her younger days, before she became "old, fat, and sloppy". Doc calms down, but still voices his disapproval of Marie seeing another boy while Bruce is away. One night, Turk and Marie return from having a few beers, with Turk having every intention of spending the night. Doc sees them together and, deeply upset, goes to the kitchen and looks at his bottle hidden in the cupboard. When Turk tries to force himself on Marie, she asks him to leave. His departure is unseen by Doc, who comes back to see the light go off under Marie's door.
The next morning Doc takes the whiskey he has not touched for a year from the cabinet and disappears for hours, missing the elaborate dinner Lola has planned for Marie and Bruce. Lola sets the table with the fine china she received from Doc's mother when they married, cleans up the living room, and changes into a fancy dress. Early the next morning, Doc returns in a drunken rage, lashing out at Lola that she is as much a slut as Marie and threatening her with a knife. Lola manages to call two of Doc's Alcoholics Anonymous friends to take him to the hospital. Doc chases Lola into the kitchen and tries to choke her, then passes out. The two men arrive and take Doc away. Lola goes to the hospital where Doc is being treated and spends the night with him.
The next day, a shaken Lola returns home and calls her parents asking to stay with them while Doc is gone, but her father still refuses to welcome her back. Her mother offers to come stay with Lola, but Lola turns her down. Marie sends her a telegram saying that she and Bruce have married. A few days later, Doc returns from the hospital, apologizes to Lola for his behavior, and begs her never to leave him, vowing to be more attentive to her. Lola promises to stay with him forever; he is all she has. As the two begin to rekindle their marriage, Doc notices how Lola has renovated the kitchen and she tells him how she has found closure in accepting Sheba's death.
Cast
- Burt Lancaster as Doc Delaney
- Shirley Booth as Lola Delaney
- Terry Moore as Marie Buckholder
- Richard Jaeckel as Turk Fisher
- Philip Ober as Ed Anderson
- Edwin Max as Elmo Huston
- Lisa Golm as Mrs. Coffman
- Walter Kelley as Bruce
Production
Development
The film is based on the Broadway play Come Back, Little Sheba by William Inge, produced by the Theatre Guild. Paramount Pictures purchased the rights to the play for $100,000 plus a percentage of the film's profits. Ketti Frings wrote the adaptation.
Burt Lancaster lobbied for the part of the middle-aged Doc though he was only 38 years old at the time. The Akron Beacon Journal noted in its review that the local theater delayed screening the picture until after the awards season, in order to take advantage of the resultant publicity. The Spokesman-Review said the film was an example of "intelligent movie-making when Hollywood forgets mass appeal and makes a story because it is a good story or a good play. It is poignant and powerful and more than a picture, rather an experience that proves to be deeply moving". However, this review felt Mann's direction was "uneven", with the scenes between Doc and Lola coming across as more natural and convincing than those between Marie and Turk. It speculates that "possibly he [Mann] just gave Miss Booth her head and let her go, since she had done the role so many times on the stage".
250px|right|thumb|Lola (Shirley Booth) calls for Little Sheba.
Shirley Booth's screen debut won unanimous critical praise. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote: "Enough cannot be said for the excellence of the performance Miss Booth gives in this, her first screen appearance—which, in itself, is something of a surprise. Her skillful and knowing creation of a depressingly common type—the immature, mawkish, lazy housewife—is visualization at its best".
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asserted that Booth's "is the kind of a performance that strikes a match to the screen, and endows the profession of acting with a towering dignity. … [She] gives Doc's wife heartbreak and compassion, and encloses the part in a choking pathos. … Miss Booth is the real force behind the overwhelming tug and the blistering realism of 'Come Back, Little Sheba'".
The Akron Beacon Journal wrote that Booth "is the picture". It praised the "subtlety and depth" that Booth invests in her performance, making her character "both funny and tragic. Her ceaseless, child-like prattle almost drives the viewers mad, but her radiant love of people wins them back to her". Film critic John C. McCarten agreed with that sentiment, writing: "Her portrait of a loving, not too bright lady driving a sensitive man to drink looks so authentic it is unsettling". Writing in 1992, film critic James Monaco said: "Booth's brilliant work (she originated the role on Broadway) remains etched forever in the memory of anyone who has seen the film".
The Hollywood Reporter called Burt Lancaster's performance a "complete switch from anything he has ever done and easily the outstanding effort of his career". <br>
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| Best Foreign Actress
| Shirley Booth
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| rowspan="3"| Cannes Film Festival
| Grand Prix
| rowspan="2"| Daniel Mann
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| International Dramatic Film
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| Special Mention Award
| Shirley Booth
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| Directors Guild of America Awards
| Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures
| Daniel Mann
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| rowspan="2"| Golden Globe Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Motion Picture – Drama
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| Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
| rowspan="4"| Shirley Booth
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| Jussi Awards
| Best Foreign Actress
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| National Board of Review Awards
| Best Actress
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| New York Film Critics Circle Awards
| Best Actress
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| Writers Guild of America Awards
| Best Written American Drama
| Ketti Frings
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Other versions
A television version of the original play was made in 1977, starring Laurence Olivier, Joanne Woodward and Carrie Fisher. It was directed by Silvio Narizzano.
The play was integrated into a sketch on The Colgate Comedy Hour, starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Burt Lancaster.