Absolutely the worst movie.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Pennsylvania is at the heart of the story of "Ten North Frederick," a movie directed by Philippe Dunne, a filmmaker who mostly worked for Twentieth Century-Fox, where he signed the screenplays of classics such as "Magnificent Obsession", "The Last of the Mohicans", "Suez", "How Green Was My Valley", " Forever Amber" and "The Robe". In 1955 he began directing films and although he did not do great works among the 10 films he made, some are more than acceptable, like "Wild in the Country", one of Elvis Presley's best films; the much appreciated melodrama "The Inspector" with Stephen Boyd and Dolores Hart, or the funny spy comedy "Blindfold" with Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale. However, "Ten North Frederick" exceeded my expectations. Filmed in black and white Cinemascope, it is based on a novel by the controversial John O'Hara, described as an irascible Pennsylvania social climber, who could not have a college career at Yale as he wished, when his father unexpectedly died. These facts allowed him to be a keen observer of class differences, which are dramatically expressed in the plot of the film, set in the fictional town of Gibbsville, which O'Hara used several times as the location of his stories. The movie opens with the post-funeral reunion in the mansion of a Gibbsville patriarch named Joe Chapin (Gary Cooper). So it begins a retrospective account of his life: at the age of 50, Chapin's professional plans collapse. His aspirations in the upcoming elections are betrayed by his "image maker" and by the local politicians, but the drama inside his house on 10 North Frederick street is even worse. His upstart wife Edith (Geraldine Fitzgerald) scorns him, she has thwarted their son Joby's (Ray Stricklin) desire of entering Juilliard School to study music, and she is partially responsible of the abortion of their eldest daughter Ann (Diane Varsi) and the breaking of her marriage to a trumpeter of Italian origin (Stuart Whitman). While watching the film, which does not evade dramatic special effects (a great storm lashes Gibbsville during the night of the rupture and the abortion) or Leigh Harline's musical bursts in the most classic melodramatic style, I remembered all the relationships I have seen truncated by differences of class, the prejudices against many who have wanted to study art, the agreements between corrupt politicians who have been discovered but remain in power, or castrating mothers who emotionally destroy their families... But in the final half hour of the film, the story made a sudden turn when Chapin travels to New York to take a break, and looks for his daughter Ann, who has separated from the family. Arriving at her address, he knocks on the door and who opens it is his daughter's roommate, the beautiful Kate Drummond (Suzy Parker). And then a tender love affair surges, but fleetingly, just as a preamble to his final days. In this last movement, the story is honest and Chapin, in a very lucid reflection on old age, says goodbye to Kate: there is no turning back, the deterioration of the man is eminent, the retrospective narration concludes and we return to the present, to the score settling with Mama Chapin. "Ten North Frederick" is perhaps the best kept secret of Dunne's career. Maybe his best film. Discovering it was a very enjoyable experience, as well as watching Gary Cooper once again, one of the greatest actors that the United States has given to cinema, accompanied by a prominent cast.

About 15 years ago my daughter (about 13 at the time) and I were surfing channels and got in on the last 30 or 45 minutes of this movie. WOW, I had to own it and finally found it on VHS. A wonderful movie. One of my favorites of this genre.And Gary Cooper had his own style. This was a bit unlike his other... But he played it to a T... Cooper was a gentleman, and his wife an overbearing witch. His failures result from his being too nice of a guy to make him into the man she wanted him to be. It was wonderful that his daughter found out that he had been happy. And even in that happiness he was still a gentleman.

John O'Hara whose Pal Joey was brought to the screen the year before wrote the book Ten North Frederick on which this film is based. For some reason this is a film of Gary Cooper's that is rarely shown any more.Cooper is the WASP type upper crust patrician who has some political ambition. He's a well respected man in his area, except apparently in his own home. He's married to a woman who makes Lady MacBeth look like Mary Poppins. Geraldine Fitzgerald steals the acting honors in this film with her portrayal as the exponential shrew of a wife. Though I haven't seen Ten North Frederick in years, it's Fitzgerald's performance that has stayed with me and I suspect will stay with you if the film is ever going to see the light of day.Diane Varsi and Ray Stricklyn are the rebellious kids in the household who can't quite figure out all the hostility there, but they not something is radically wrong. Suzy Parker plays Varsi's friend with whom Cooper has a midlife crisis affair with. Believe me when you see Fitzgerald in this film, you won't blame Cooper in the slightest.Ten North Frederick set the standard for John O'Hara type soap operas and I'm surprised no one picked up on this one. With some updating this could easily be a plot for a prime time soap opera pilot.

John O'Hara's book TEN NORTH FREDERICK was hardly the masterpiece of political life, but it had strong characterizations, and the film, also not a masterwork, has a lot more going for it than we initially thought. Still of major consequence are the performances of the supporting players. In this tale of a failed political hopeful, his vengeful wife, his youngish girlfriend, and assorted other characters, the viewer is caught by the superb work of the cast. All seems possible with the effective work. Geraldine Fitzgerald, as always, is a total marvel -- one of the finest of three decades. She should be almost deified. In this, she eschews her sensitive side to superbly capture the nastiness of a woman who want more and more... with less change to get it. But she is matched by young Ray Stricklyn as the confused young son... with at least one scene that should have done for him what the telephone scene in The Great Ziefgeld did for Luise Rainer. His work indicates the hope we all had for him.... but he correctly went to the L.A. stage where he scored enormous successes. Diane Varsi and Stuart Whitman both underscore the acting skills we first saw in them. The love story between the older Gary Cooper and the younger Suzy Parker works better than I had recalled. He tries with his expected skill to show the desperation of the man, but Suzy Parker DOES offer a multi-layered performance -- far superior to the work she had done in other films. This film remains an interesting Hollywood look at the world of politics, and it should not be buried unmarked in the annals of solid craftmanship.