VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

kidboots The one scene I could remember from seeing "The Goddess" just too many years ago was the "cat scene" where Patty Duke as the lonely, unloved little girl whispers to the cat "I got promoted today".She and her mother have come to visit Uncle George, her mother hoping to dump Emily Ann so she can get away and have some fun - "after all I'm only 26". Twelve years later (1942) she is still there - a religious fanatic and Emily Ann (Stanley) is the town "tramp" who desperately dreams of Hollywood fame. When she and some friends run across a drunk who just happens to be the mixed up son of a Hollywood star, she sees her opportunity but it only leads to frustration as the first part ends with Emily, a young mother, voicing the very words her mother said many years before - that she is not ready to be a mother and she just wants to have fun.I also was unfamiliar with Kim Stanley but by the end (on viewing it recently) I was wondering who was this superlative actress. Marilyn Monroe may have been the character's inspiration but as played by Miss Stanley that was unimportant. Her extraordinary performance made the role her own and seemed to encapsulate all the hard luck, unloved actresses - Monroe, Garland etc. I do agree Stanley did look a bit old but the magic in her performance was like a sky rocket, especially in the scene where she is describing her inner most dreams to a boy who has only asked her out because he thinks she is "easy" - "but I think Ann Sheridan is a true beauty, don't you think?". He doesn't care, the same as he doesn't care when she is explaining that the only reason she has that "reputation" is because she wants to be liked. Heart breaking stuff!!That's why I think the film works best in the first half. There was a continuity - the unloved little girl becomes the promiscuous teenager who then marries and becomes her mother all over again. Unlike her mother she does escape to Hollywood and the next part finds her an up and coming starlet contemplating marriage to an over the hill boxer (Lloyd Bridges is very good). The second part falls down a bit, suddenly she is the Goddess, at the top of her profession but already having suffered a severe breakdown and now has her mother living with her. Mother (great performance by Betty Lou Holland) is even more remote and now only has time for God but Emily doesn't care, only knowing that she needs a mother's love and security. When Emily finds religion and her mother leaves, that paves the way for a descent into madness.A very strong film remembered for Kim Stanley's powerhouse performance.

borromeot I'm a sucker for great, enormous performances. This is the ultimate expression of that. Kim Stanley was 40 years old when she made this picture, her first. Apparently Paddy Chaeffsky, John Cromwell and a group of brilliant actors decided to put their efforts together and create this vehicle for one of the greatest actresses that ever lived. I. for one, will always be grateful to them for their generous and visionary gesture. The film cost, 5.000$ but it's worth a fortune as the surviving (immortal) document of an unrepeatable personality capable and willing to drown into another. Although Marilyn Monroe was not only alive but at the top of her game at the time. This devastatingly sad story seems to reflect Marilyn's own. Kim Stanley is glorious, glorious! If you're interested in acting as art. You can't miss this extraordinary movie.

swinms I recently caught this movie on TCM and loved every second of it. Kim's accent gets a bit tiresome but the overall effect is great. Love the scene in which Patty Duke, playing The Goddess as a neglected child, pathetically tells her cat that she got promoted to the next grade in school. This movie contains all of the tried and true "money and fame aren't everything" requisites. I wish Kim Stanley had tried her hand at Tennessee Williams. She has that "Geraldine Page" affectation that Mr. Williams apparently appreciated. I remember her from "Frances". It's too bad she didn't do more movies. The Goddess is a wonderful look at late 50s Hollywood and the inherent danger in getting what you've always wanted.

bkc1019 As a child growing up in Ellicott City, MD. I was fortunate enough to be in this movie as part of the elementary school class. I remember doing the classroom scene and the school dismissal scene, over and over. But as the years passed, I have searched for a VHS copy of "The Goddess". Now that I have found it, I can obtain it for my children and grandchildren. Lloyd Bridges was one of the great actors of our time, but more importantly, a Hollywood role model as a family man. I guess this was the start of my "showbiz bug". Since that time I have been blessed in the entertainment industry. If you watch the movie "Urban Cowboy" and check out the soundtrack credits at the end, you will see a song called "Hello Texas"(recorded by Jimmy Buffett) which I wrote. Thank you "Goddess" for starting in me at a very young age, the love of the audience and the performance.