Kim Novak made a tremendous impression as the heroine of "Picnic". Looking cool, lush and marvelous in lilac as she walked through her films expressing polite interest and a terror of emotional reactions toward the situations which arose
"Picnic" follows a brawny wanderer who causes sexual havoc one summer in a small American town
Holden was the charming drifter who arrives, on one hot Labor Day, to a small Kansas town, to look up an old schoolmate, Alan (Robertson), who is the town rich-man's son and from whom he hopes to obtain work
Alan is kind at firstuntil Madge, Alan's fiancée falls for Hal
"Picnic" was quite compulsive despite some overacting
Betty Field was excellent as Madge's warm and protective mother who fears for her daughter's happiness if she passes up her rich fiancée
Madge's teenaged sister (Strasberg) longed for beauty and sympathy
Her good-hearted neighbor, Verna Felton, was gently compassionate
Robertson was handsome but presumptuous and arrogant
O'Connell was delightful as the confused and unsure cigar-chomping salesman
Rosalind Russell was the easily frustrated and inconsistent spinster who loses her self-control while drunk and practically accosts Hal on the dance floor, destroying his shirt
When Hal rebuffs her, she storms off in anger; later she begs her shy boyfriend to marry her
Beautifully photographed, "Picnic" will remain always a loved romantic film, largely for the high chemistry of its two stars, Holden and Novak
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