Valley of the Dolls (1967)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

Jacqueline Susann (novel)
Helen Deutsch (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 February 1968 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Music | Romance

Tagline:

The nation's most startling and hotly discussed best-seller now on the screen with every shock and sensation intact

Plot:

Film version of Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel chronicling the rise and fall of three young ladies in show business.

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Show Business | New England | Hollywood | Broadway

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Barbara Parkins	...	Anne Welles
Patty Duke	...	Neely O'Hara
Paul Burke	...	Lyon Burke
Sharon Tate	...	Jennifer North
Tony Scotti	...	Tony Polar
Martin Milner	...	Mel Anderson
Charles Drake	...	Kevin Gillmore
Alexander Davion	...	Ted Casablanca (as Alex Davion)
Lee Grant	...	Miriam Polar
Naomi Stevens	...	Miss Steinberg
Robert H. Harris	...	Henry Bellamy
Jacqueline Susann	...	First Reporter
Robert Viharo	...	Director
Joey Bishop	...	MC at Telethon
George Jessel	...	MC Grammy Awards

Also Known As:

La vallée des poupées (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
O Vale das Bonecas (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Bebekler vâdisi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Das Tal der Puppen (West Germany) [de]
De val naar de top (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Dockornas dal (Sweden) [sv]
Dukkernes dal (Denmark) [da]
El valle de las muñecas (Spain) [es]
La valle delle bambole (Italy) [it]
Nukkelaakso (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements involving substance abuse, some sexual content, partial nudity and language. (2006 re-rating; rated GP in 1971)

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (2006 re-rating) | USA:GP (1971 re-rating) | Singapore:PG | Norway:16 | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Germany:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

48th Street Playhouse, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Red Lion

Trivia:

An original, unused theme song was written by novelist Jacqueline Susann and Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When a drunken Neely plops down on a chaise at Lyon's house, one of the bows on her shoe comes flying off.

Quotes:

Helen Lawson: [singing] It's my yard So I will try hard To welcome friends I've yet to know! Oh, I'll plant my own tree. My! Own! Tree! And I!
[pause]
Helen Lawson: Will!
[pause]
Helen Lawson: Make!
[pause]
Helen Lawson: It!
[pause]
Helen Lawson: Grow!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "X-Rated" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Theme from Valley of the Dolls

Don't Let This Happen To You

Viewers who like this film like it mostly because it is such a campy mess. Its main entertainment value lies in the unintended humor that results from cinematic incompetence. The main problem is the screen story.

For one thing, the character arc of Neely O'Hara (Patty Duke) is totally not credible. She's a singer who can't sing. Yet, she inexplicably goes from rags to riches on her singing ability alone. In the process, her personality morphs from sweet young thing to jaded and embittered has-been who barks and scowls at everything and everyone. Pills or no pills, her transformation does not ring true.

In addition, the film's poor plotting renders a story that is at times muddled. The plot darts and flits from one girl to the next; it spurts and sputters in a disconnected sort of way, without viable transitions. And some scenes are included evidently just to convey story exposition. A big part of the on screen time for the Jennifer character (Sharon Tate), for example, consists of three separate, and awkward, phone conversations with her mother. Other methods of explaining detail and advancing the plot would have worked better.

And the film's dialogue is campy, simply because it contains almost no subtext. It's so in-your-face, so lacking in subtlety, that some of it just reeks of junior high school theatrics.

Aside from the screen story, the overall acting is not very good. Patty Duke, in particular, is just downright awful. She shouts, she screams, she exaggerates her facial expressions in ways that are totally out of sync with the dialogue and the plot.

And the film's musical numbers are something else, especially when Susan Hayward attempts to lip sync a ghastly song called "I'll Plant My Own Tree", surrounded on stage by brightly colored fake leaves that whirl around her. The sequence is made even more ludicrous because the audience cheers wildly at the awful performance.

I guess I can't really fault the visuals, since bright colors were so trendy in the 1960s. Still, the visuals do make the film look dated. Those garish costumes and hairdos, that garish makeup, and that garish decor provide just one more reason to sneer at the film.

The only thing worthwhile here is the appearance of lovely Sharon Tate. And the film's sad theme song is professionally done. Otherwise, apart from its unintended humor, "Valley Of The Dolls" is suitable mainly as a lesson for aspiring filmmakers. In a book on film-making, this film could head the chapter: "Don't Let This Happen To You".