Hormonally imbalanced, Splendor in the Grass swoons from dreamy highs to tragic lows over the course of its 124 minutes. Watching the film is like spending a weekend with a lovesick teenager – it’s essentially a movie mood swing. Such was the acting style encouraged by director Elia Kazan, whose movies left the strict formality of ‘performance’ in Hollywood’s past. Splendor – one of the first teen flicks in that it unabashedlysides with the kids – stars Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood as high school lovebirds caught between their sexual urges and their parents’ disapproval of an early marriage. Betrayal, mental breakdown and eventually something approaching maturity all follow. In an age when condoms are handed out at high schools, the central drama of Splendor in the Grass may seem quaint, even silly. But anyone who’s thrown – or endured – a teenager’s temper tantrum will recognize the anger and confusion on the screen as genuine. In that sense, Splendor will never be out of touch.
