I was around 10 when this came out. I remember the subject matter really moved me (at least enough to remember the film 25 years later.) I would love to see it as an adult. I can't critique it fairly, but I would recommend it. Years ago, I tracked down Nancy Cartwright and sent her an email about this. She was very kind and we wrote back and forth several times. Although the details are sketchy, I remember she'd said that something good had come from this film. Something like they stopped doing a certain horrible procedure on the patients housed in state mental institutions. Lobotomies or something, I can't remember for sure. But it's cool to know that the film made a difference in something important, even if I can't remember exactly what it is.
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dribnif12 November 2007
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jbartelone26 January 2009Marion Rose White is a true story of a woman who is institutionalized after her father dies because of her Mother unwilling to care for her. She is placed in a mental facility with abusive staff who try to brainwash her. A caring nurse sees that Marion does not belong there and gives her an evaluation to show the hospital staff that she is of sound mind. But another abusive nurse sedates her, so Marion flunks her competency evaluation. The story deals with the harsh realities of Marion and the treatment of the patients at the home. Female patients, including Marion, were sterilized so they could not have children.
A very chilling moment is when the mean head-nurse (Nurse Hartman) throws Marion into a darkened cell for punishment. (I can't remember what she did) But there is a "crazy lady" who is prone to violence in the cell called "Black-Out" Nurse Hartman says, "Black-Out wake up. Wake up! I'm being nice to Marion but she isn't being very nice to me!" Than Marion is pushed into the cell and all you see is total darkness. Than you hear Black-Out say in a haunting voice, "Not Nice?" I remember this scared me really bad, not only for the way she said it, but also unknown for what Blackout would do to her. Marion eventually communicates with Black-Out in song, surprising the staff. Questions arise, was Black-Out really violent? Or was she labeled as such because she lashed out at the harsh environment where she was placed? The message in this movie is clear. This hospital is not a pleasant facility.
The sad parts of this movie are very painful to watch. It seems that many of the patients never had any types of positive reinforcement or loving communication to bring them in contact with the outside world or enhance their social skills. The one compassionate nurse, when her job is threatened, Marion shows great inner strength in defending her against the cruelty of the system, and there is plenty of it in this movie, including a troubling scene of the head doctor promising a special treat if Marion will come out of a closet. The "Special Treat" is a straitjacket.
I would like the IMDb administration to set up a message board for this movie because it left a very strong impression on me even though I have not seen it since its original 1982 airing. A good comparison to this film is the 1990 TV movie starring Fred Savage in a broken down nursing home, run by an abusive staff, called, "When You Remember Me?" Both movies are very good.
Solid acting and a good cast would make Marion Rose White worth seeing again. I recommend this film. -
hawktwo7 December 2000I came across this movie while channel surfing one night on a Cable station that runs mostly infomercials and "Love That Bob" reruns. This movie has been poorly preserved or was cheaply shot to begin with. The scenes, including the sunny outdoor ones, are very very dark. The interiors for some scenes can barely be made out. The sound track is corrupted. I kept watching because one of the shadows seemed to resemble Valerie Perrine. She wasn't in shadow at the time, but the poor quality of the projection made her appear very dark. Nancy Cartwright (more known for her cartoon voices; most notably Bart Simpson's) stars as Marion Rose White. Marion's father has died and her mother (Valerie Perrine) has difficulty handling Marion. Marion's near blindness makes her clumsy and she is extremely awkward in any situation thus getting her kicked out of all schools -- public and parochial. In desperation, Mom has Marion committed to a school for the feeble-minded. Katharine Ross is a nurse who sees immediately that Marion is quite intelligent. She recognizes Marion's abilities, but is unable to save her from the harshness of the institution.
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richard.fuller129 November 2001This was based on a true story and was to deal with mental patients who were fixed to never have offspring. I read an article about Ms. White and what occurred to her. She said she regretted never repairing the damage with her mother, who had institutionalized her. What I recall of it was Marion Rose White, as portrayed by Nancy Cartwright. She had killer lines throughout the entire film. When the man in charge of the hospital is trying to lure Marion out of a locked room where she has gone with a pair of scissors, he promises her "a special treat". Marion finally emerges when kind nurse Katherine Ross is threatened with being fired. Marion sees a straight-jacket held by an orderly and replies "Is this your special treat?" the supervisor asks Marion would she want to have children like this as he points at mongoloids around her. She answers what if she did? That wasn't his decision to make.
Another standout moment is when Marion is thrown in the padded cell with Black Out, the mean nurse's form of punishment. Black Out is an obviously deranged black woman prone to uncontrollable violence. Marion breaks out into song. "But we'll travel along, singing a song, side by side," sparing herself what could have been a severe beating, much to mean nurse's surprise later on.
Valerie Perrine brings Marion a doll after Marion's surgery to sterilize her. Marion looks at the doll and says "You take away my babies, and bring me this?" She then throws the doll and orders her mother out of the room.
Marion is doped up to make her fail her evaluation (She is shown an illustration of an umbrella and asked what it is for. She replies to catch the rain in.) I will never forget Katherine Ross kicking that mop bucket later on. -
jamaleeevans11 May 2020I saw the movie obce and then spent 20 years looking for it! Wonderful movie!!!!
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jjlilj16 February 2001About 10 years ago I saw this movie as part of a College course on the impact of Darwin. Natural Selection led to the idea of Eugenics, sterilizing the unfit, unpopular since WWII because it was the centerpiece of Nazi ideology. This movie is about Eugenics in America before that. Of course, it is wrapped in a made for TV package but the nastiness of Eugenics comes through. Notable for being based on semi-forgotten American History, other than that its average made for TV.