Some very strong names on the credit list of this Alan Ladd film: Michael Curtiz directed, Reginald Rose wrote the script, Walter Mirisch produced. Ladd plays a former ad guy turned creative artist who lives in the sticks; he enjoys it but his nagging bitch of a wife is bored and wants to move back to New York. She yells at him, boozes and his probably cheating – it’s that old standby, the old shrew. She goes missing and everyone thinks Ladd did it.
It’s a similar set up to one of Ladd’s best films – The Blue Dahlia – and even has a similar noir tone. Yes its set in suburbia, but its suburbia full of dissatisfied wives and drunken afternoons and so you’re hopeful for a bit. Ladd is a tired and puffy as usual in this part of his career – they could have used this a bit more (maybe had him as a tired ad exec/recovering alcoholic) but this aspect of Ladd’s persona was never explored.
Then the film goes in this different direction when Ladd goes on the run and is looked after by the neighbourhood kids. It shifts in tone – it’s also a bit dodgy having this middle aged man hang out in a cave with all these children. (One of them is black, but just so we don’t think it’s too liberal it’s established his father is a servant.)
It’s an OK mystery, but no more than that. The whole dark-underbelly-of-small-town life is raised, then ignored. And the bland blonde convenienty there to offer Ladd solace is irritating.
No comments:
Post a Comment