Based upon Theodore Dreisler's 1900 novel 'Sister Carrie', which sounds as bleak as the film, which was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz. Jennifer Jones (on loan from Selznick to Paramount) goes to Chicago, ends up living unmarried with Eddie Albert (who was in Wyler's later Roman Holiday). Then she meets (married) restaurant manager Laurence Olivier.
It's a real tragedy all right, and for its year, it features a tremendously downbeat ending in which it's clear that Olivier is going to kill himself.. The temptation to save him, have her take him in, reunite him with his children, must have been powerful, but maybe post-war audiences could take it - A Place in the Sun, released the previous year, was also I seem to remember quite downbeat.
The acting's good of course - Miriam Hopkins is unusually restrained and nasty - and there's fewer long takes and signs of deep focus than in Mr. Wyler's earlier films. Photographed by Victor Milner, scored by David Raksin. Good recreations of 1900s Chicago and New York by Roland Anderson and Hal Pereira, Oscar nominated, as were Edith Head's costumes.
It was the scene in the flophouse that was removed at the time and has since been restored.
No comments:
Post a Comment