Written by Alfred Hayes, from a play by Clifford Odets, and it hasn't managed to shake off the play-like feeling; in fact, with hindsight, it reminded me of Woody Allen's most play-like recent film Wonder Wheel, particularly with its unfaithfulness and coastal setting (here, the sea and cloud cutaways do add a certain mood, I suppose). Before we get into the studio-set bars and houses, there's a long montage of the life of a fishing town, which also builds mood. This was filmed by Lang and DP Nick Musuraca in Monterey, just the two of them.
But where are my manners? Introducing Ms Barbara Stanwyck, a lady who likes a whisky (though she would have preferred a brandy) with her morning coffee, romanced by good-natured but oafish fisherman Paul Douglas, succumbing eventually to bad boy Robert Ryan. In sub-plot, Stanwyck's brother Keith Andes is romancing Marilyn Monroe (all good performances, though perhaps Andes is a bit one-note and glowering). Douglas is variously aided and abetted by his Italian father Silvio Minciotti and craven uncle J. Carrol Naish.
The play was somewhat re-written by Hayes, softened - the husband originally kills the lover. (I suppose you couldn't get away with that on film, unless the husband is caught and punished.) Lang had the luxury from producer Jerry Wald to rehearse the main three carefully. Stanwyck was great, of course, but he had problems with Marilyn being late, fluffing her lines and being the rising star and centre of attention - according to Lang, 'the reporters said "We don't wanna talk to Barbara, we wanna talk to the girl with the big tits"... She had a peculiar mixture of shyness and uncertainty and - I wouldn't say "star allure", but, let me say, she knew exactly her impact on men.' (This of course from Peter Bogdanovich's ''Who the devil Made It?')
Score by Roy Webb at RKO.
we knew Douglas from Executive Suite and A Letter to Three Wives.
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