Billie Morin
This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
atlasmb
The lives of a woman and man intersect at a New York hotel in this sentimental story from 1964. Glenn Ford plays Harry Mork, a traveling salesman who has decided to slow down and settle down after years of schmoozing, boozing and extracurricular intrigues. Geraldine Page plays Evie Jackson, a small-town postal worker who annually visits the big cities for the industry convention and a chance to let loose a little and take in the sights.Evie is the person who has never met a stranger. Outwardly she is an eternal optimist and delights in knowing everyone's names, as if that knowledge makes them friends. Under the surface, though, she might be "Miss Lonelyhearts" from Hitchcock's "Rear Window" in a few years, if her life situation doesn't resolve into a satisfactory conclusion. Ms. Page's portrayal of Evie is so fascinating that she dominates the film. Frankly, my attention is always riveted to the screen when this film plays, even though I know how it turns out. As others have pointed out, this is a performance worthy of an Oscar.The screenplay is very well written, allowing the viewer to observe every aspect of the characters, learning their way of life, their fears, and even their hidden dreams. The acting is good across the board. The end result is very satisfying, especially for viewers who can identify with the emotional vulnerability of the two main characters.
discodollies68
I really found little to like about this film. Yes, it was well-written, but I couldn't get past the premise that it was just a bunch of horny, middle-aged people hooking up at conventions. Glen Ford, on his way to meet his fiancée, stops off to have some drinks at a former lover's apartment, and she seems to have no trouble suggesting they just keep it up. Geraldine Page, an extremely unlikeable, needy, busy-body flirts with absolutely every man she sees, married or not. The whole premise here was Glen Ford not being faithful and constantly weighing his options, while Geraldine Page tries her hardest to snag someone she believes has a wife. It wasn't funny to me in the slightest - I wanted her to shut up and for Glen Ford to man up.
drednm
Geraldine Page turns in a great performance as Evie Jackson, a middle-aged woman who seems to have missed the boat and fills her life managing everything and trying to make a home wherever she is. At a postmasters' convention in New York City, she treats the staff like long-lost friends while she evades a group of old maids. She says at one point, that after a woman has given up, she bonds with a group of spinsters and loses her identity.Glenn Ford is a rather desperate middle-aged man whose just gotten a promotion and will have an office in New York City. He's been a salesman on the road for decades and yearns to settle down. He's recently gotten engaged to a woman from Altoona, PA (Angela Lansbury) and plans to find an apartment in the big city.Of course these two lonely people keep running into each other at the convention hotel where they are both staying. Slowly they begin to be attracted to one another, but he's already engaged. To make matters worse, his soon-to-be step son (Michael Anderson, Jr.) has bailed from college and has basically moved in with Ford at the hotel. But Lansbury has misled him and he thinks the kid is 13. Plus he wants a home, but that's not what Lansbury has in mind.Page and Ford are just terrific in this on-and-off romantic story of two souls who finally find one another despite the pitfalls along the road. Lansbury is brash as the "other woman" and Anderson is OK in an odd role and subplot.Others in the large cast include Charles Drake as Evie's one-time boyfriend, Barbara Nichols as the sales girl, Patricia Barry as Ford's old girl friend, Richard Deacon as the convention runner, and Sandra Gould as his assistant. The pack of old maids includes Ruth McDevitt, Mary Wickes, and Alice Pearce. Neva Patterson is Page's oft-married friend. Lots of other familiar faces pop up: Hal Smith, Doris Roberts, Maxine Stuart, Patsy Garrett, Ralph Manza, and Steve Bell as Chester.Geraldine Page won a Golden Globe nomination for this film.
bkoganbing
Dear Heart finds Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page as a pair of late thirty somethings who find true love at a New York convention. The convention is one Geraldine's attending, she's the postmaster of her small Ohio town and it's a Postmaster's convention. By the way at that time these were political positions in every postal area of the USA so in 1964 Geraldine would have to have been a good organization Democrat in her town.Glenn's a traveling salesman, greeting cards is his line and he's spent his young years just on the road and now wants to settle down. He thinks he's found what he wants in Angela Lansbury, a widow with a son from Altoona.Almost a third of the film goes by before Ford and Page even meet and we get a good background into their character. Makes what happens in the film almost inevitable. Although this is far from the exotic setting of The African Queen, Dear Heart is like that film showing that love can certainly come at any age. And in this case from unexpected quarters where you least expect it.The code was still in place or the postmistresses played by Ruth McDevitt, Alice Pearce, and Mary Wickes would be far more explicitly lesbian. The three of them eye Page as possibly a member of the fraternity. As for Page she gets an offer from Charles Drake with whom she had a fling before she found out he was married and a more crude offer from Ken Lynch in the hotel elevator.The very lovely title song of the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. A whole flock of people recorded it back in the day, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, and Jack Jones come immediately to mind. It lost to Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins, but while that song is known it certainly can't be separated from the film it came from. I think Dear Heart has more staying power.And I think the film Dear Heart has a lot more staying power as well.
