Director Daniel Mann's 1952 drama COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA stars Shirley Booth and Burt Lancaster as Lola and Doc Delaney, a couple who share a 25-year marriage to which each contributes a problem: he's a recovering alcoholic, and she has terminal nostalgia. The film's theme, that people can neither forget or relive the unfavorable parts of the past nor bring back its best parts, so they must live in the present, is aurally illustrated by the use of both background orchestra music and tunes that emanate from Lola's sewing-room radio.
During the opening credits, the orchestra plays a wistful melody that seems to call "Sheba...Sheba..." "Sheba" turns out to be Lola's runaway dog. Early in the film, Lola tells a neighbor that every time she sees a little dog running down the street, she thinks it's Sheba. She also dreams frequently of unsuccessfully searching for Sheba. At the film's end, Lola tells Doc she dreamed of finding Sheba deaad in a muddy field; in the dream she wanted to stay by the body for a minute but Doc said they had to move on. When Lola finishes describing the dream, she announces that she will stop calling Sheba; as she talks, the title theme plays again but sounds more cheerful and hopeful, no longer saying "Bring back my past" but "I now realize I can't turn back time; maybe the future will be better--better than now, at least!"
As for the radio's contribution, Lola's favorite music is from "her" era, the 1920's. Whenever she hears the Charleston, she gets up and dances, usually asking Doc, "Remember when I was the prettiest girl, the best dancer?" and regaling Doc and Marie (Terry Moore), the pretty young boarder who moves into Lola's sewing room) with a flood of memories. Once Doc responds by calling her the "It" Girl, after the star (Clara Bow) of the 1920's movie of that name, but he usually tries to bring her back to the present because HIS memories including boozing away his med-school tuition and making his life what it is, and although he's been in AA for a year, he can't reverse time or regain his money. The slower '20's tunes usually dampen Lola's mood again, because they summon romantic memories that sadden her because her marriage's romance seems to have died and she wishes she could revive it. When this becomes unbearable, she changes the station or asks the person closest to the radio to find "peppier" music--this is as close as she can get to turning back time. Even the 15 minutes of "jungle rhythm" she listens to while Marie is out is called "Taboo," as if she's not allowed to relax and escape her routine--or the present. This point is emphasized when Marie returns and switches to her favorite music, pulling Lola away from the past yet again.
The background music suits the action. Besides the "happy" melodies on sunny mornings such as the days of Marie's arrival and her fiance's visit, and the suspenseful strains when Lola searches for the whiskey bottle Doc has kept in the cupboard since joining AA, the "Sheba" theme varies with Lola's mood: a plaintive call when she's depressed or worried about Doc, and more optimistic when she tells the neighbor she hopes to find Sheba soon--even as the neighbor advises her to give up. The ending "Sheba" theme is the happiest it's ever been, but softer because it's the beginning of Lola's acceptance of the present and how she can make it happier for Doc and herself; not a happily-ever-after ending, just one that says such an ending is possible eventually.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: VHS Video Occasion: Good for Groups Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
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