A complete hash by MGM. In the 1950s they remade a lot of its old hits - not a bad idea especially if they had colour and proper stars. This has cinemascope but is in black and white and inappropriate stars.
The throughlines of Somerset Maugham's novel is clear - a woman is silly and selfish, has an affair, realises her husband isn't that bad and the guy she cheated with is useless. That doesn't come across here.
The script is partly to blame - it introduces the lover (Jean Pierre Aumont) but then gets rid of him; we never see him again or his wife. But mostly I think it's the casting. Eleanor Parker is lovely, and a competent actress but is far too sensible for the lead crying out for original choice Ava Gardner, or Elizabeth Taylor or simply someone more of a hot mess. Bill Travers is amateur hour as the husband. He needs to be in love with his wife but hating it, and heroic, but he can't do it, Aumont is just whatever. George Sanders steals the film as a quippy doctor where the big reveal is his wife is Asian and happy because he's docile. Sanders sound have played travers' part. Or Aumonts'. Gosh, imagine Tom Conway and Sanders in this.
The shoot was difficult - Ronald Neame and David Lewis were sacked - but the film was dead to begin with due to casting and inept script.
No comments:
Post a Comment