Charles Painted

Coast Guard officer Scott Burnett (Robert Ryan) can't shake the trauma of a shipwreck. He resists becoming involved with Eve Geddes (Nan Leslie), a local woman who loves him, and spends much of his free time riding his horse on the shore.  But when he happens upon Peggy Butler, The Woman on the Beach (1947),  he is captivated.  Peggy, however, is married to Tod Butler (Charles Bickford), a renowned painter who has completely lost his sight.

This film showed such promise - a great cast and what could have been an intriguing story. Sadly, it's not. The characters are undefined, the plot is haphazard, and the actors are given precious little with which to work  

Let's start with Robert Ryan.  The film opens with the reveal that Burnett is badly affected by post-traumatic stress.  He has a woman who loves him and who he claims to love. But one look at Peggy Butler, and Burnett is obsessed.  Does it have to do with his illness? It's hard to say - Joan Bennett is at her alluring best in this film; at the same time, Peggy is not particularly pleasant, and as we quickly discover, has a proclivity for taking strange men into her bed. It's pretty clear from even their first meeting that she's not a particularly nice person.  

It might have worked had there been any chemistry between Ms. Bennett and Mr. Ryan, but there isn't - he's stiff - even his "lovemaking" is uninterested.  Would the film have been better with the original actor slated for the role - George Brent (TCM article)?  It's hard to say.

The other side of the triangle is Charles Bickford as the blind painter.  Tod Butler is a nasty piece of work - his wife was the cause of the accident that blinded him, and he is making sure she pays for her sins. It's hard for the audience to sympathize with him - he's a brutal bully. And you should have some pity for this man who lost his livelihood and much of his identity because of his drunken carousing. But he (along with Scott) spend so much time brooding, you just don't really care.

Ms. Bennett was very involved with the project - it was she who recruited Jean Renoir as the director (Val Lewton was originally slated to direct). She and Mr. Renoir were friendly - that she could easily converse in French added a level of comfort to their relationship. But, bad previews led to rewrites and reshoots to the point where the film was probably lost in the shuffle.

There are a couple of other actors worth mentioning. Nan Leslie as Eve is a totally useless character. She's a cypher, and adds nothing to the story. We don't know very much about her, she's not really appealing, and so we don't really want her to be with Scott.  Irene Ryan (Mrs. Wernecke) is supposed to provide some comic relief, but as good an actress as she is, there just isn't any humor in her part. 

Based on the novel None So Blind by Mitchell Wilson, the movie was filmed with the working titles of None So Blind and Desirable Woman (AFI catalog). The New York Times review by A, H. Weiler (A.W.) wanted to like the film, but felt it needed "a mite more clarity."

We can't recommend this film at all, but we'll still leave you with a clip from the film's opening: