Della (1964)

Director:

Robert Gist

Writer:

Richard Alan Simmons (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Della Chappell (Joan Crawford) is a very wealthy and incredibly reclusive woman. When a big company wants the land Della lives on...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Della Chappell
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Diane Baker	...	Jenny Chappell
Charles Bickford	...	Hugh Stafford
Richard Bull
Paul Burke	...	Barney Stafford
Richard Carlson	...	David Stafford
Marianna Case	...	Addie Stafford
Keith Green	...	Boy
Tom Greenway	...	Mr. Bennett
Walter Woolf King
Otto Kruger	...	Walter Garrick
James Noah	...	Chris Stafford
Voltaire Perkins	...	Herb
Barney Phillips
Robert Sampson
Jan Shepard	...	Secretary
Sara Taft	...	Mr. Kyle

Also Known As:

Fatal Confinement

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Four Star Productions

Do not expose this review to light.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(I don't think anyone else has detailed the plot with any emphasis, so for the benefit of people who haven't been able to see this movie I'm going to tell just about everything. This is considered a rare film, apparently. This isn't a review--it's a step-by-step description of what happens in the movie. Brace yourself, or stop reading if you like surprises.) This strange little movie was originally conceived as a pilot for a weekly show called "Royal Bay"--Joan Crawford would have made occasional guest appearances. It didn't work out that way, and the pilot was expanded into a movie. (It still runs rather short--about seventy minutes.) Joan plays Della Chappell, a disgustingly rich woman who lives in a disgustingly huge house with her daughter Jenny. Neither Della nor Jenny go out in the daytime. As one would assume Della has earned a reputation as a nut, and Jenny is pitied as a mother-dominated loser. Barney Stafford, a lawyer in town, has been selected to try to convince Della to sell part of her land holdings to a large corporation. He relishes the job, as he thinks Della is holding Royal Bay a little too tight, and he believes that he can wrest part of it from her. (Not Joan Crawford, Barney dear. Nobody wrests anything from her unless she wants 'em to.) She asks him to come to her house at around two in the morning to discuss the land deal. Right off the bat she says no to the proposal, but she invites him to change her mind. She has tons of paperwork that her grandfather had written up, and he might find something interesting in there. However, there's a catch--he can't take any of the papers from the house, so he must remain there until he has sorted through all of them. Not surprisingly, he runs into Jenny, who is immediately smitten with him. She doesn't explain why she she and her mother hide in the house, but she gives every indication that she doesn't like it. She also implies that her mother is the cause of it.

The land sale deal doesn't go through as planned due to Della's reluctance, but Barney Stafford continues to visit Jenny. He reveals to his father, a former friend of Della's, that he is intent on "rescuing" Jenny from her mother and taking her away. Barney's father tells him not to meddle in things he doesn't understand, thus implying that maybe there are reasons for Jenny and Della's idiosyncrasies. Barney is hotheaded and impulsive, so he disregards his father. He has other reasons to distrust Della--namely, she has made an unprecedented visit into town to his office. She openly attempts to purchase him under the guise of paying a retainer, even to the point of taking out her checkbook and asking his price. Barney is angered by this, and even more determined to rescue Jenny.

Barney arrives at the Chappell residence on his white horse, so to speak, to whisk Jenny away to friendship and happiness. Della is enraged by this, but Jenny is determined to go. Once she reaches the door and opens it, she is racked with pain and unable to leave the house. Barney believes it to the work of Della, and his hatred of her grows even more. In the meantime, Della reveals her other reason for going to town. Sensing Jenny's unhappiness, her mother attempts to placate her with a gift--a pearl necklace. It doesn't work. Finally, Della realizes she must tell Barney the truth about their reclusiveness. Jenny has a rare skin condition which makes her incredibly vulnerable to sunlight (like Nicole Kidman's kids in "The Others")--any prolonged exposure could kill her. Because Della wanted her daughter to feel normal, she hid herself from sunlight as well. Knowing that Jenny would have difficulty finding a friend, Della tried to buy Barney, only he proved to be too stubborn. Seeing that money doesn't work, Della tries another route--she asks him, as opposed to ordering him. "I am asking you to be her friend," she says. She has a lengthy talk with him (actually more "at" him) in which she actually says please, something she isn't accustomed to doing. Barney reveals his selfish side and refuses. Now there is more than a little animosity between Della and Jenny. Jenny sees Barney's leaving as orchestrated by her mother, and she decides that she won't stand for it any longer.

Jenny wants to leave, and she sets her mind on it. After a disagreement with her mother, Jenny races outside to her car and recklessly races away. Della chases her, but Jenny's illness and her anger hamper her driving considerably, and she is killed in an accident. Della witnesses everything. Later, Barney visits Della to apologize for everything, and is surprised to hear that Della has changed her mind regarding the land deal. Her only stipulation--she wants the corporation buying the property to build something for children. After Barney departs Della realizes the depths of her loneliness and runs from window to window, tearing open the curtains to let the sunlight in. All in all, an interesting but short viewing.