In 2007, the Film Forum in SoHo presented a centennial celebration in the life of Barbara Stanwyck. It seemed that the life and career of this great star was being celebrated everywhere, with new biographies, films being shown on TCM and various tributes both in her native New York and in Hollywood where she worked and lived for 60 years.
Normally I like Richard Schickel's many contributions to classic film. In Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire, made in 1991, he looks at the career of this wonderful actress and strong woman.
Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991) *** (out of 4) Richard Schickel directed documentary takes a look at the life and career of Stanwyck who seemed to mirror many of her famous roles. This doc runs under an hour and tries to reach as many subjects as possible and does a decent job but a longer piece would certainly be better.
Choosing film clips from someone's career is a very exacting task if you want to show the actress at their very best.Unfortunately, although this has a nice narration by Sally Field and shows a good many Stanwyck clips, it concentrates too heavily on the melodramatic overwrought roles the actress specialized in for a long period of time from the late '30s to late '50s, with only a few clips showing her work as a comedienne.
A biography celebrating the acting career of Barbara Stanwyck is a very good thing. After all, she was a really great actress and dominated the theaters in the 1930s and 40s.
Fire and Desire captures the range of acting by one of, if not the best, brilliant actresses ever. Barbara Stanwyck was not afraid to show emotion, whether it was to cry or to act tough, and had a wry sense of humor in some parts she played.
