This handsome-looking soaper from Warner Bros. Is the 1940s version of "Peyton Place."
In the strait-laced world of early 40s Hollywood movies, some of the material in this film had to have ladies reaching for their smelling salts. Mental illness, premarital sex, a murder suicide, and, most satisfyingly lurid of all the plot lines, a doctor who performs unnecessary operations on patients as a way to punish them for their moral transgressions. Robert Cummings is boring as they come, an unfortunate quality given that he's the film's principle character and the one with whom we spend the most time. The standout, surprisingly enough, is Ronald Reagan, never known for being much of an actor, but who injects the film with the much-needed pizazz that Cummings can't muster. The actors I wanted the most of, Claude Rains and Charles Coburn, as two small-town nutjobs, are sadly given little screen time.
Warner Bros. Clearly spent some money on the film's production values, with production design by William Cameron Menzies, Oscar- nominated cinematography by James Wong Howe, and an oppressively nonstop score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold that set my teeth on edge and left me craving a moment of silence. In addition to its nod for James Wong Howe, the film garnered Oscar nominations for Best Picture of the year and Best Director for Sam Wood, who managed to nab three directing nominations in four years despite having no discernible style.
Grade: B.
In the strait-laced world of early 40s Hollywood movies, some of the material in this film had to have ladies reaching for their smelling salts. Mental illness, premarital sex, a murder suicide, and, most satisfyingly lurid of all the plot lines, a doctor who performs unnecessary operations on patients as a way to punish them for their moral transgressions. Robert Cummings is boring as they come, an unfortunate quality given that he's the film's principle character and the one with whom we spend the most time. The standout, surprisingly enough, is Ronald Reagan, never known for being much of an actor, but who injects the film with the much-needed pizazz that Cummings can't muster. The actors I wanted the most of, Claude Rains and Charles Coburn, as two small-town nutjobs, are sadly given little screen time.
Warner Bros. Clearly spent some money on the film's production values, with production design by William Cameron Menzies, Oscar- nominated cinematography by James Wong Howe, and an oppressively nonstop score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold that set my teeth on edge and left me craving a moment of silence. In addition to its nod for James Wong Howe, the film garnered Oscar nominations for Best Picture of the year and Best Director for Sam Wood, who managed to nab three directing nominations in four years despite having no discernible style.
Grade: B.