Apart from the fact that Jean Simmons only knows one piece on the piano (as far as I can tell, an original and beautiful composition by Dmitri Tiomkin called 'Nostalgia') we know she's a bit crazy as when medic Robert Mitchum slaps her to counter her hysteria, she slaps him back. (The story goes that when Preminger asked Mitchum to slap her, he slapped the director, with "Like that?" Preminger wanted him fired but Howard Hughes refused. Hughes always had a soft spot for Mitchum, as recorded elsewhere in these pages.)
We're reasonably sure she is trying to knock off her step-mother. When her project backfires, I'm not sure the writers Frank Nugent and Oscar Millard handle it as well as they might, though the downbeat ending is a doozy. Apart from these knockout car episodes the film is quite static.
Meanwhile Mitchum has blown relationship with Mona Freeman. Also in cast: Herbert Marshall, Barbara O'Neill, Leon Ames, Kenneth Tobey.
Shot by Harry Stradling Sr. RKO. Our print says 1952 but Tiomkin's cue sheet is dated March 13 1953.
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