Reporter Claire Cummings (Leslie Brooks) has ambitions. To get what she wants, she marries wealthy Carl Hanneman (John Holland) and dumps fellow reporter Les Burns (Robert Paige). Marriage is no barrier to getting everything she wants for Claire - she continues to write love letters to Les. It doesn't take long for the jealous Carl to discover he was married for his money; he informs his wife he'll be divorcing her immediately, and using the love letters to get out of any financial obligation. Claire, however, is not going to let a little thing like divorce get in the way of her plans. Our film this week is Blonde Ice (1948).
To say this is a Poverty Row film is an understatement. A transparent script, actors who rarely appear in anything but very minor roles, and a budget that was apparently in the single digits make this a really cheap production. Our group had a mixed reaction to it - I personally found it painful after awhile, but several members of the group enjoyed it - they found it amusing (though that was probably not the intent of the director and screenwriter).
The film is anchored on the leading lady, Leslie Brooks, who plays the avaricious Claire. From the minute she appears on screen, you know Claire is up to no good. She's gotten through life on her good looks. One would think that, as ambitious as she is, she'd have a brain in her head, but sadly, she doesn't. She has no sooner said "I do" than she is trying to make time with her ex-boyfriend. While on her honeymoon, she's sending him love letters, which she carelessly drops and allows her new husband to read. His immediate reaction - divorce - gives Claire a new task. She'll kill him before he can file any papers. However, she's not awfully good at staging a suicide.
One major problem with the plot is the ostensible suicide of Carl Hanneman. There are no powder burns on the late Mr. Hanneman's hands or clothes, and no fingerprints on the gun, but the police dither around as they try to decide if Mr. Hanneman was murdered or not. And of course, there is the fact that Claire is stupid enough to believe that she can just toss a gun on the floor and have it ruled suicide.
There is one more female character - Mildred Coles (June Taylor). She seems smart when we first meet her, but the script doesn't capitalize on it. She's the only one who appears to have Claire's number, and she also seems to have feelings for Les, but the script just drops her quickly from view.
Russ Vincent who plays the blackmailing pilot Blackie Talon married Leslie Brooks two years after this picture was released. They had three daughters (and one daughter from Ms. Brooks first marriage), and were married for 51 years, until his death in 2001.
When the film was restored and released on DVD, one critic suggested it might be an "undiscovered gem". (TCM article). I'm not sure I agree, but it does have an amusement factor. We'll leave you with a clip from the opening of the film:
Nighttime at a rubber plantation in Singapore; most of the workers are sleeping peacefully when shots ring out. A man stumbles from the main house, pursued by a woman with a gun. She fires into the man over and over again. She then calmly sends one of the workers for the district officer, saying it was an accident. We are discussing The Letter (1940).
This film features one of the more dramatic openings in movie history - a peaceful night interrupted by gunfire, as a woman pursues a fleeing man. The report of the gun, the sounds of the previously quiet jungle screaming with panic - director William Wyler did 33 takes of the scene, though producer Hall Wallis told Wyler that it was the first take that he used in the final film (TCM Behind the Scenes).
Bette Davis is the dominant force in the film. She is powerful even in scenes of quiet. While you are suspicious of Leslie Crosbie from the start (we did after all watch her gun down a man), Ms. Davis gently feeds the information to us strand by strand, much like the crochet lacework that is constantly in her hands. Ms. Davis was eager to work with Mr. Wyler - they'd previously worked together on the Jezebel, a performance which had won Ms. Davis an Oscar. (TCM The Big Idea). Nonwithstanding of their mutual affection and regard for one another, they still had disagreements - in a late scene, Mr. Wyler insisted that Ms. Davis look into Herbert Marshall's (Robert Crosbie) eyes to tell him she loved another. Ms. Davis was horrified - it was too cruel, she said, but Mr. Wyler insisted. When she won the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, Mr. Wyler was in attendance. "Even today 37 years later," he said, "we still disagree on it. Well,
Bette read it the way I asked her to, but I'm sure she would like
nothing better right now than to drive over to Warner Bros. and re-shoot
the scene her way." The camera caught Ms. Davis nodding her head vigorously in agreement (TCM Trivia)
James Stephenson brings nuance to the character of lawyer Howard Joyce, the man who first grasps the levels of Leslie's duplicity. He'd appeared in a variety of parts since he began in films in 1937 but this film was the first to use him to good effect. He had his issues with Mr. Wyler, but Ms. Davis would convince him to try Wyler's way. Ultimately, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (he lost to Walter Brennan in The Westerner). Sadly, Mr. Stephenson would only appear in five more films - he died in 1941 of a heart attack.
The first actress considered for Mrs. Hammond was Anna May Wong, but William Wyler felt she was too young and too attractive to portray the sinister widow. Instead, Gale Sondergaard was given the part, and she is excellent in a part that relies on facial expression and body language for her communication with the audience (Mrs. Hammond does not speak English). Ms. Sondergaard would eventually be forced to leave Hollywood for the New York stage when her husband Herbert Biberman was accused of being a communist. She eventually returned to Hollywood, where she worked in film and television until her retirement in 1982.
Herbert Marshall is very good in what is basically a thankless role as the cuckolded husband. He'd appeared in the 1929 version of the film (as the murder victim) (TCM Pop Culture). He has several heartbreaking scenes at the end of the film that reveal much about this misused man.
It's worth noting the presence of Frieda Inescort (Dorothy Joyce) in a very small role as defense lawyer Joyce's wife. Victor Sen Yung (here billed as Sen Yung) is quite convincing as Ong Chi Seng, the somewhat shady lawyer in training, who is the first to reveal the existence of the Letter.
There is one other character in the film, and that is Leslie's lace crochet. We see it immediately after Geoff's death, and slowly the project grows as Leslie's lies become more and more intricate. The dropped lace project at the end signals the film's ultimate conclusion, much like the three fates weaving out the lives of mortals.
The New York Times review by Bosley Crowther was glowing, and the film was ultimately nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Picture; Supporting Actor, Actress, Editing, Direction, Original Score, and Black and White Cinematography (it didn't win in any category) (AFI catalog).
Jeanne Eagles starred as Leslie in the 1929 film version (which had a very different ending, the Production Code not being an issue at that point). There were three Lux Radio Theatre productions - May 1938 with Merle Oberon and Walter Huston; April 1941 with Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, and James Stephenson; and March 1944 with Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall and Vincent Price. The October 1956 Producer's Showcase television version was directed by William Wyler and featured Siobhan McKenna, John Mills, and Anna May Wong (who finally got to play Mrs. Hammond). Lee Remick starred in a 1982 television movie remake; also featured in that version was Sarah Marshall, the daughter of Herbert Marshall.
We'll leave you with a trailer of this remarkable film:
Christine Hunter (Ann Sheridan) returns home after a late party and is accosted on her front porch. She's forced into the house; we hear a scream and fighting. The next morning, her husband returns from a business trip to discover homicide detectives, a dead body, and his distraught wife. Our film this week is The Unfaithful (1947).
An exceptional cast and a tight script make this film thoroughly enjoyable. Led by the always excellent Ann Sheridan, the cast portray characters that feel like real people. Ms. Sheridan plays Christine with an underlying insecurity that makes you believe she could be swayed by loneliness and grief. But her clear love for her husband, Bob (Zachary Scott) also makes us sympathize with her as her world begins to fall apart. The film reflects the aftermath of the war - an increasing divorce rate as couples who married quickly find that they are incompatible. Chris and Bob are not, but the misery brought about by wartime separation is really the crux of this movie.
Ms. Sheridan is ably supported by Lew Ayres (Larry Hannaford), an attorney who spends much of his time in the divorce court. Larry sees Chris and Bob as a model of marital happiness, so when the truth about Christine is revealed, he is as offended by her "crime" as her husband. However, Mr. Ayres makes his character pull back mentally and apply some objectivity to the case, which also helps the audience to side with Chris.
This was Mr. Ayres second film after returning from service during World War II. He was derided before the war for declaring himself a conscientious objector. Though he refused to kill, he was was quite to serve as a non-combatant; he won three battle stars as a medic and chaplain's aide in the Pacific. He returned to his film career, which must have seemed an impossibility at the start of the War - his studio (MGM) and the public were horrified at his unwillingness to kill the enemy - he continued working in films and television until two years before his death at age 88 (Washington Post obituary).
Zachary Scott is frequently the villain in films, but not here. He's a loving husband who watches his life fall apart when his wife is assaulted. Once he discovers Chris' indiscretion, Bob does come across as petulant. He is redeemed by his interactions with Eve Arden.
Eve Arden (Paula) steals the movie in her big scene with Zachary Scott. Paula, Bob's cousin, appears on the surface to be a completely thoughtless person - a gossip who rather dislikes her cousin-by-marriage and takes a certain amount of joy in putting Chris in her place. But when the chips are down, it is Paula who sees the truth in Chris' story, and is not going to let Bob get away with his judgemental attitude. It's a magnificent scene.
Normally, we enjoy Jerome Cowan (the Prosecuting Attorney), but he ends up being distracting more than convincing. We found that we sought out Larry Hannaford during the courtroom scenes. His quiet dignity made the courtroom scenes more believable.
The Unfaithful is loosely based on The Letter (1940); though much of script was unfinished when production started (TCM article). In his New York Timesreview, Thomas M. Prior (T.M.P.) was not impressed with the script, though he was full of praise for the three leads.
This is very much a film about forgiveness, and as Jeanine Basinger points out, the topic is unique in this post-war film (I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies). Clearly, the MPAA thought so as well, as they allowed a film about adultery to be shot, though with one proviso: "the MPAA agreed to allow this if the film clearly conveyed the message that divorce is undesirable" (AFI catalog).
We really enjoyed this film and heartily recommend it. We'll leave you with the trailer:
Christine Radcliffe (Bette Davis) races to a concert at a local college. A solo cellist, Karel Novak (Paul Henreid), new to the United States, performs to great acclaim. Before the war, he and Christine were lovers in Germany, but Christine has long believed him to be dead. Their reunion is joyful, until the jealous Karel demands an explanation for Christine's luxurious life style. The Deception (1946) begins when Christine lies about her life since the war, and her relationship with the brilliant, but ego-maniacal composer Alexander Hollenius (Claude Rains).
Just who is the villain is one of the questions in this film. On the surface, one's instinct is to place Hollenius, a self-absorbed egoist if ever there was one, in that position. But, it's clear from the start that Christine has long ago learned how to deal with Hollenius' moods and demands, so why is she so spooked by him? The answer may be that Karel's jealousy is deranged. He almost strangles Christine when they meet again. His mania and her fears start the string of lies that lead to Christine's downfall. What certainly is clear is that Christine has lousy taste in men.
Beyond a doubt, this is Claude Rains movie. As domineering as Hollenius is, it's hard to actually dislike him. He glories in his power and in his talent. He enjoys his life, and while he isn't actually mean, he doesn't appreciate anything that thwarts what he wants. The problem for Christine is that Karel thwarts Hollenius, and while she is immune to his head games, the troubled Karel is not. To see Mr. Rains at his absolute best, watch him manipulate Christine and Karel when they dine out. It is a masterwork of acting (TCM article). In his commentary on the DVD, Foster Hirsch mentioned that some people claimed Mr. Rains stole the scene from Bette Davis - clearly (as Mr. Hirsch pointed out) no one steals a scene from Ms. Davis. If you watch her during the scene, she's reveling in Mr. Rains performance.
Paul Henreid has the unenviable job of playing a man who is just short of being insane. His fits of anger are positively scary; he's worse then Hollenius in many respects because he has no clue that his self-absorption is so complete. Mr. Henried does a good job playing an abusive individual and does make you feel that some of his behavior stems from his experiences during the war (though not all of it).
While Bette Davis could play the piano (and practiced hard to do the one scene in which she played), Jack Warner asked her to not worry about it - they would get a pro to do the actual music (but you can tell by her hands that she knows what she is doing). Paul Henried, however, did not know how to play the cello, and had to have two actual cellists use their arms to make it appear that he was actually playing.
This was the first Warner Brothers film in which Ms. Davis appeared that did not make money (partly due to the production running overtime, due to Ms. Davis' illness). She would only make three more films for Warners.
Based on the play Obsession, which was on Broadway in revival when the film opened, the original was a two-character presentation - just Karel and Christine. It was at one point intended as a vehicle for Barbara Stanwyck and Paul Henreid (AFI Catalog).
The New York Timesreview by Bosley Crowther was not particularly complimentary - but Mr. Crowther didn't like the play much either. He was, however, very taken with Claude Rains who "fills out a fascinating portrait of a titanic egoist".
This is not Ms. Davis' best film, but it is a tour de force for Mr. Rains, and as such worth your time. We'll leave you with the trailer:
