Commentary by Schickel + Hickman
This topic is briefly discussed within other threads on this page, but I thought I'd start one specifically for it.
After seeing this film a few times in the past, a friend and I decided to watch it last night with the commentary for a change. It started out okay. Richard Schickel's approach reminded me a bit of Tim Lucas whose commentary on Mario Bava films are always quite informative and very interesting. Schickel would give some personal background on the cast and crew, and intermittently keep us up to speed on the plot. Hickman, who played Cornel Wilde's little brother Danny in the film, at first gives us some insight on the world of child actors.
It is immediately obvious that Richard & Darryl recorded their parts separately, which were later spliced together to form one commentary track.
As the film progressed we noticed that Schickel seemed to disappear for long stretches at a time, only popping in now and again to keep us abreast of a plotline or some social aspect of the time. As the film wore on Hickman became the main speaker and he began criticizing his co-workers and crew. I realize his thoughts are all memories from a child's point of view, but his criticism, particularly of his co-worker's acting skills, started getting a bit tiresome. One moment he would recall how "gorgeous" Gene Tierney looked, then seconds later he would point out what an inept actress he thought she was. Early on Hickman mentions that he teaches acting, and by the last half of the film it felt like his commentary was a self-promoting info-mercial for his teaching school. It got to the point where my friend and I joked that at any moment we wouldn't be surprised to hear him say, "and YOU too can own my secrets of method acting for three low monthly installments of only $19.95!"
Hickman also states that while he did not follow Miss Tierney's career after "Leave Her to Heaven", he had "heard" she had spent some time in a mental institution. If you are a Gene Tierney afficianado like myself, you know that not only is this true, but that she eventually had a very hard time coping with everyday life. The birth of her developmentally disabled daughter and the pressure of her profession would not only lead her into being institutionalized, but also a victim of shock therapy which would erase entire periods of her life from her memory. This ultimately led to her dropping out of Hollywood completely by the mid 1950's, only to appear again in a few small roles in the 1960's.
I thought the commentary on this DVD started strong, but as Schickel's contributions dwindled halfway through the film, it left the door open for Hickman to basically vent his feelings on how tough it was being a child actor. This would have been okay if this were an A&E special on this specific subject, but I was looking forward to a little more information regarding the filming of "Leave Her to Heaven". And in this respect I thought the commentary on this DVD fell quite a bit short. If I really wanted to hear Darryl Hickman's repeated criticism of his fellow cast members' inability to "act" and the hardships of child actors I would read his autobiography. But after listening to his commentary track, I won't have to now.