Penelope has one of the busiest posters in American film history. Once you see the movie, you’ll realize that it’s the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel robs banks. Except Midge Maisel was funny and had a bigger career than her husband. Most of the film is look at the well-dressed Natalie Wood have a mild identity crisis and turn to crime.
Natalie Wood has never looked more amazing. However, the movie is insane…but not in a good way. Based on a book that none of us have read, the film spends 98 minutes trying to convince us that Penelope’s criminal tantrum matters. Growing distrustful of women stealing glances from her husband, alongside his pressing work issues…Penelope fights back.
Penelope fights back by dressing up and robbing banks. She’s an old lady, she’s sneaking out in designer clothes and generally trying to distract from her cries for attention. This is immediately followed by scenes where Penelope looks back at the times where Jonathan Winters tried to rape her and her husband ignored her. It’s crazy how little value she puts on herself.
It seems like every key moment in Wood’s life is dictated by how a man responds to her. Naturally, this leads to a finale where Wood gets all of her victims together in one spot. She tries to return their stolen goods, but everyone ignores it as the insurance payout was worth more. Peter Falk bumbles through the scene as the clueless cop, but it never adds up to much.
The Blu-ray comes with an Edith Head featurette and a trailer as the special features. The A/V Quality holds up to the Warner Archive standard. Check out the screenshots we captured for you to view. Plus, that DTS-HD 2.0 mono track keeps it all upfront. Gotta love the classic Wood.
[…] Warner Archive Blu-ray is the first home video release to properly present John Huston’s original vision of the […]