Tea and Sympathy

Vincente Minnelli’s masterful direction gives stirring expression to the ache of outsiderhood in this taboo-shattering adaptation of Robert Anderson’s play, one of the first major films to deal empathetically with the subject of homosexuality. Sensitive, artistic, confused—and labelled “sister boy” by the other students at his all-male prep school—Tom Robinson Lee (John Kerr) struggles to conform to the rigid ideas of “normal” masculine behavior. His angst awakens long-suppressed feelings in Laura Reynolds (Deborah Kerr), the wife of Tom’s housemaster. As Laura becomes aware of the isolation she feels within her marriage, she finds herself drawn to the troubled young man.