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A Cold Wind in August

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A Cold Wind in August
Directed byAlexander Singer
Written byBurton Wohl
John Hayes
StarringLola Albright
Scott Marlowe
CinematographyFloyd Crosby
Edited byJerry Young
Music byGerald Fried
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • July 26, 1961 (1961-07-26)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$163,000 USD[1]

A Cold Wind in August is a 1961 low-budget, drama exploitation film directed by Alexander Singer and adapted from the eponymous novel by Burton Wohl.[2] The film stars Lola Albright as a mentally unbalanced burlesque-show stripper in her 30s who becomes involved in a torrid romance with a 17-year-old boy played by Scott Marlowe. In reality, Marlowe was actually 28, only eight years younger than Albright.

Plot

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Iris, a woman with a background as a burlesque-show stripper, is visited at her New York City apartment by her estranged husband. He requests that she star in an upcoming show in Newark, New Jersey for which he is obliged to supply performers. She resists the idea, as she maintains her privacy by not working in shows in the New York area. However, her husband is desperately in need of assistance. While she has no romantic feelings for him, expressing puzzlement as to why she ever married him, she is friendly with him and feels sorry for his predicament, so she agrees to consider it.

In the meantime, Iris meets Vito Perugino, the 17-year-old son of the superintendent of the apartment building, and experiences an instant and powerful physical attraction to him. In their first meeting, she is shamelessly flirtatious. In their second, she completes her sexual seduction of him, marking the start of a passionate affair. Iris unexpectedly finds herself also experiencing an emotional attraction, and a relationship that she had originally intended to be brief turns serious. Vito asks Iris "to go steady" with him, and although she laughs at the phrase, she happily accepts.

After Vito's jealousy causes trouble, Iris attempts to withdraw from him, but the attempt only serves to make her miserable. She finds herself obsessed and wanting to return to him and resume a sexual and emotional satisfaction that she has never experienced with any other man. She returns to Vito and they begin to patch their relationship, declaring their love for one another, but Vito is still unaware of her occupation, believing her to be a model or actress.

When Iris performs in the Newark burlesque show, one of Vito's friends sees her and informs Vito. He initially refuses to believe it, but he attends the next night's show and sees for himself. With his youth, Vito lacks the ability to cope with the destruction of his idealistic view of Iris, and an explosive argument ensues.

After a week, Iris contacts Vito, hoping to reconcile by inviting him to her apartment for dinner. But upon his arrival, she quickly realizes that his interest in her has waned. Although he is no longer angry with Iris about her occupation, the discovery and argument lessened his passion for the relationship.

Continuing to be sincere in his feelings for her, Vito acknowledges what Iris has sensed. He is sorry and tries to console her, telling her that he wishes that the argument had not happened. Iris assures him that her love for him is genuine. Vito leaves, on his way to a date with the new object of his romantic attention, a girl his own age, and Iris is left alone sobbing.

Cast

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Release

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A Cold Wind in August was released on July 26, 1961 in theaters.

Reception

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Frank for its time in its depiction of the sexual relationship between Vito and Iris, A Cold Wind in August was produced and marketed as a low-budget exploitation film.[3] But unlike most entries in that genre, the film managed to find something of a positive critical following.[4] It received positive reviews from the New York Herald Tribune,[5] Variety[5] and Saturday Review's Arthur Knight.[5] Robert Osborne has called it one of the best of all films exploring the theme of a May–December romance,[6] echoing Lloyd Shearer's contemporary opinion that it was "probably the best treatment of a youth's affair with an older women Hollywood has ever produced."[1] Pauline Kael called it "shrewdly conceived and well-acted" and praised Albright's performance.[3]

More negative were The New York Times, asserting that the film "confused art for blatant sex,"[7] and Time, labeling it as a "nutty melodrama."[5] In 1985, a different reviewer in The New York Times lauded Albright's acting in the film.[8]

At the time of the film's production, Albright said that she believed it to have been her best role.[9]

Home video

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A Cold Wind in August was released on DVD on March 29, 2011.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Shearer, Lloyd. (1961, October 29). "Lola Albright: A cold wind has made her hot at the box office", St. Petersburg Times
  2. ^ Wohl, Burton (2009). A Cold Wind in August (Paperback ed.). Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse. ISBN 978-0595530380.
  3. ^ a b Kael, Pauline. (1982). 5001 Nights at the Movies, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ISBN 0-8050-1367-9
  4. ^ (1961, November 13). "'Wind in August' Rescreening Now in Two Theaters, Los Angeles Times, page C15
  5. ^ a b c d Stafford, Jeff. "A Cold Wind in August", tcm.com
  6. ^ Osborne, Robert. (2010, September 4). A Cold Wind in August, Turner Classic Movies
  7. ^ Weiler, A. H. (1961, July 27). "A Cold Wind in August", The New York Times
  8. ^ Thompson, Howard. (1985, October 5). "CRITICS' CHOICE; CABLE TV", The New York Times
  9. ^ Smith, Cecil. (1960, April 17). "Lola Sees Role as Best Ever", Los Angeles Times, page E1
  10. ^ "A Cold Wind in August". MGM Home Entertainment. Beverly Hills, California: MGM Holdings. 29 March 2011. ASIN B004RPQSXC. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
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