1987's "The Whales of August" was originally a David Berry play that was viewed by producer Mike Kaplan in 1981, only optioning its screen rights once his friend Lillian Gish agreed to star. Insisting on top billing was the indomitable Bette Davis, as irascible off camera as on, the two actresses cast as widowed sisters from Philadelphia who continue to spend their remaining summers at the same seaside cottage in Maine for 60 years (the unspecified year is 1954, as confirmed in the play). Davis (at 78) plays the blind, elder Libby, while Gish (at 93) plays the younger Sarah, trying to keep the peace between two very disparate personalities, and aided in her efforts by neighbor Tisha (Ann Sothern). Into this quiet atmosphere arrives Nikolas Maranov, played with great charm by Vincent Price, a Russian expatriate who still carries an emerald given to him by his mother in 1910, once belonging to the late empress. He admits to being set adrift many times over the years: "but I have always stayed afloat!" Cinephiles will enjoy this film more than casual viewers, hardly a box office success but a wistful look back at a lifetime spent on the movie screen. Price most of all is the revelation, a lighthearted rogue who lives upon the generous nature of others, a freedom that Gish's Sarah envies: "I have spent my life visiting friends."
Review of The Whales of August
