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    Memorable Films of the Forties
    Memorable Films of the Forties
    Memorable Films of the Forties
    Ebook340 pages4 hours

    Memorable Films of the Forties

    By John Howard Reid

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    Ingrid Bergman, the lovely star of "Casablanca", is featured on the cover. It's one of my all-time favorites. Other winning movies featured in this book include "The Black Swan", "All About Eve", "The Paleface", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", "The Hasty Heart", "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Gentleman's Agreement", "The Gunfighter", "Home in Indiana", "The Heiress", "The Three Musketeers", "The Bridge of San Luis Rey", "Captain from Castile", "Centennial Summer", "Come to the Stable", "Comrade X", "The Corsican Brothers", "Easter Parade" and "The Picture of Dorian Gray". Despite a determined challenge from "Laura" and "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "Casablanca" seems to be holding firm to its number one position as a Favorite Film of the Forties. Mind you, it wasn't always so. When I attended uni, the number one cult movie of the decade was "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein". It was closely followed by "Cobra Woman", while "Laura" made an equally tight third. "Cobra Woman" is still currently a top pic in France, but elsewhere it now rates nowhere. How come? What most people don't realize about "Best Film" and "Favorite Film" lists is that the entertainment or artistic quality of a movie figures as a peripheral factor to its current availability, either through constant airings on TV and/or marketing on DVD. "Cobra Woman", for example, is only available at present in France. Hence its current high rating in that country and nowhere status everywhere else. Unfortunately, these false impressions of popularity are fueled by books, magazines and websites that ask people to vote for their favorites. Obviously, people are not going to vote for a movie they've never seen, with the result that these lists always so strongly favor movies that are currently available, they are useless as guides to "movies you must see." This is where a book like "Memorable Films of the Forties" serves a useful purpose. Here you'll find full details, summaries and reviews not only of the movies mentioned above, and similar fare like "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Meet Me in St Louis", "All About Eve", "Easter Parade", but of pictures like the once super-popular "Forever Amber", "Belle Starr", "Dark Waters", "The Yellow Cab Man" and "The Unsuspected", as well as the critically acclaimed "The Breaking Point", "Caught", "The Lost Moment", "Whispering Ghosts". Scores of other interesting, must-see movies await re-discovery in these pages. Some, of course, are still occasionally aired on TV, while others, like "The Breaking Point" have now actually been re-mastered for a DVD release. Why pay a few dollars for a movie book when you can obtain some (but by no means all) of its information free on the net? "Memorable Films of the Forties" is by no means as comprehensive a survey as the net, but not much about the films it covers is left out. In addition to the information the net provides, such as a synopsis, detailed cast and crew lists, release dates, title changes and running times, this book provides fascinating tidbits and production information that cannot be found elsewhere. For example, one important date the net never provides and this book always does, is the copyright date. Of course, detailed information is not the only thing. This book's strongest points lie in its interesting reviews of the movies themselves. Other sources pale beside the quality of reviews and wealth of information this book provides. Even running times for the USA, England and Australia are listed. These can vary widely from country to country, due to the activities of the censors of the time. Much of this information is fascinating, bordering on the bizarre. Remember the 1948 version of "The Three Musketeers"? The villain of the Dumas novel and other movie versions was the scheming Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu. In the 1948 version, however, as a sop to the Legion of Decency, Richelieu has been stripped of his robes and is now plain Monsieur Richelieu!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Howard Reid
    Release dateApr 10, 2011
    ISBN9781458131676
    Memorable Films of the Forties
    Author

    John Howard Reid

    Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

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      Book preview

      Memorable Films of the Forties - John Howard Reid

      MEMORABLE FILMS OF THE FORTIES

      John Howard Reid

      ****

      Published by:

      John Howard Reid at Smashwords

      Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

      ****

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      ****

      Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

      Enquiries: johnreid@mail.qango.com

      ****

      HOLLYWOOD CLASSICS NUMBER FIVE

      --

      Other Books in the Hollywood Classics series:

      1. New Light on Movie Bests

      2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

      3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

      4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

      5. Memorable Films of the Forties

      6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

      7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program

      8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Movie Entertainment

      9. Hollywood Gold: Famous Films of the Forties and Fifties

      10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills

      11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

      12. These Great Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

      13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

      14. Movies International: America’s Best, Britain’s Finest

      15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic

      16. Hollywood Movie Musicals

      17. Hollywood Classics Index Books 1-16

      18. More Movie Musicals

      19. Success in the Cinema

      20. Best Western Movies

      21. Great Cinema Detectives

      22. Great Hollywood Westerns

      23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema

      24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies

      25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24

      --

      CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope

      CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox

      CinemaScope Three: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

      CinemaScope Four: M-G-M Movies Light Up the Screen

      Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

      WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

      British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

      Silent Films & Early Talkies on DVD

      Music, Thrills, Mystery, Comedy and Suspense on Video and DVD

      --

      Table of Contents

      A

      Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

      Abbott and Costello Meet the Ghosts (see Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein)

      Abroad with Two Yanks (1944)

      the Accused (1949)

      Adam Had Four Sons (1941)

      Affairs of Martha (1942)

      Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1943)

      All About Eve (1950)

      Angel on the Amazon (1948)

      the Avengers (1950)

      B

      Bataan (1943)

      Belle of Old Mexico (1950)

      Belle Starr (1941)

      Big Cat (1949)

      Black Swan (1942)

      Blondie Goes Latin (1941)

      Blondie Has Servant Trouble (1940)

      Blondie on a Budget (1940)

      Blondie Plays Cupid (1940)

      Border Patrol (1942)

      Breaking Point (1950)

      Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944)

      C

      Captain from Castile (1947)

      Careful, Soft Shoulder (1942)

      Casablanca (1942)

      Cat and the Canary (1939)

      Caught (1949)

      Centennial Summer (1946)

      Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940)

      Cobra Woman (1944)

      Colt Comrades (1943)

      Come to the Stable (1949)

      Comrade X (1940)

      Conflict (1945)

      Copper Canyon (1950)

      Corsican Brothers (1941)

      Crime Doctor’s Diary (1949)

      D

      Dallas (1950)

      Dark Alibi (1946)

      Dark Command (1940)

      Dark Waters (1944)

      Date with Judy (1948)

      Dead Men Tell (1941)

      Dixie Dugan (1942

      Dragonwyck (1946)

      Dressed to Kill (1941)

      Drums Along the Amazon (see Angel on the Amazon)

      E

      Eagle and the Hawk (1950)

      Easter Parade (1948)

      Egg and I (1947)

      Enemy Agent (1940)

      F

      Falcon and the Co-Eds (1943)

      Falcon in Mexico (1944)

      Falcon’s Brother (1942)

      Falcon Takes Over (1942)

      Father Was a Fullback (1949)

      Feather Serpent (1948)

      Fighting Father Dunne (1948)

      the Flame (1947)

      Flowing Gold (1940)

      Forever Amber (1947)

      G

      Gay Falcon (1941)

      Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

      Ghost Breakers (1940)

      Glass Key (1942)

      the Gunfighter (1950)

      H

      Hasty Heart (1949)

      the Heiress (1949)

      He Walked by Night (1948)

      Hired Wife (1940)

      Hold That Ghost (1941)

      Home in Indiana (1944)

      Hoppy Serves a Writ (1942)

      Hostages (1943)

      House across the Bay (1940)

      House of Fear (1944)

      House of Horrors (1946)

      the Hunted (1947)

      I

      In the Meantime, Darling (1944)

      J

      Joan Medford Is Missing (see House of Horrors)

      L

      Laura (1945)

      the Lost Moment (1947)

      M

      Meet Me in St Louis (1944)

      N

      Now and Forever (see Forever Amber)

      O

      Once Upon a Thursday (see Affairs of Martha)

      P

      the Paleface (1948)

      Panic in the Streets (1950)

      Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

      Q

      Quiet Please, Murder (1942)

      S

      Secret Agent (see Enemy Agent)

      T

      Three Musketeers (1948)

      a Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

      To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)

      Two Smart People (1946)

      U

      the Unsuspected (1947)

      W

      West of the Law (1942)

      Whispering Ghosts (1942)

      Without Reservations (1946)

      Y

      Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

      Yellow Cab Man (1950)

      --

      Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

      Bud Abbott (Chick Young), Lou Costello (Wilbur Grey), Lon Chaney, Jr (Lawrence Talbot), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Glenn Strange (Frankenstein’s monster), Lenore Aubert (Sandra Mornay), Jane Randolph (Joan Raymond), Frank Ferguson (McDougal), Charles Bradstreet (Dr Stevens), Howard Negley (Harris), Joe Kirk (man), Clarence Straight (man in armor), Harry Brown (photographer), Helen Spring (woman at baggage counter), Paul Stader (sergeant), Bobby Barber (waiter), George Barton, Carl Sklover, Joe Walls (men), and Vincent Price (voice of Invisible Man).

      Director: CHARLES BARTON. Original screenplay: Frederic I. Rinaldo, Robert Lees and John Grant. Photography: Charles Van Enger. Film editor: Frank Gross. Art directors: Bernard Herzbrun and Hilyard Brown. Set decorators: Russell A. Gausman and Oliver Emert. Costumes: Grace Houston. Music: Frank Skinner. Special photographic effects: David S. Horsley and Jerome H. Ash. Make-up: Bud Westmore. Make-up sculptor: Chris Mueller. Hair styles: Carmen Dirigo. Camera operator: Robert Pierce. Music orchestrations: David Tamkin. Script supervision: Bud Abbott. Assistant director: Joseph E. Kenny. Sound recording: Leslie I. Carey and Robert Pritchard. Producer: Robert Arthur.

      Copyright 8 September 1949 (in notice: 1948) by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York release at Loew’s Criterion: 28 July 1948. U.S. release: July 1948. U.K. release (through J. Arthur Rank’s General Film Distributors): 7 November 1949. Australian release: 25 November 1948. U.S. length: 83 minutes. U.K. length: 79 minutes. Australian length: 5,642 feet. 63 minutes.

      U.K. and Australian release title: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE GHOSTS.

      SYNOPSIS: Two bungling shipping clerks (helped? by the Wolf Man) tangle with Count Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster.

      NOTES: Some sources cite the U.S. running time as 92 minutes. This is incorrect. The TV print which seems in every way complete runs 83 minutes. The film was cut in both the U.K. and Australia by the Film Censors, both of whom also insisted on the title change. Frankenstein was a dirty word in Australia in 1948 as all so-called Horror films at that time were completely banned. Negative cost: $800,000.

      COMMENT: It’s amazing how few contemporary critics appreciated Abbott and Costello. They were generally dismissed with a sneer. The fact that some of their films had quite novel plots (The Little Giant, The Time of Their Lives) as well as a high level of verbal and visual wit was usually overlooked or disregarded. Abbott and Costello were irredeemably lowbrow. Even at the conclusion of an otherwise favorable review of Meet Frankenstein, Lionel Collier can sum up that the comedians provide plenty of entertainment if you are unsophisticated enough to enjoy them.

      Fortunately the public took very little notice of critics in the 40’s. Meet Frankenstein restored Abbott and Costello’s flagging careers, putting them right back with the top ten money-making stars.

      Today Meet Frankenstein is justly regarded as one of their best films — if not their masterpiece. For once director Charles T. Barton (a longtime friend and former assistant of William A. Wellman) has really risen to the occasion handling both the comedy and the horror so effectively as to rouse the ire of both the U.K. and Australian censors. Exactly twenty minutes were lopped from Australian prints. Meet Frankenstein must hold the record for the most mutilated U.S. film ever put into Australian theatrical release.

      As Jim Mulholland comments: "One of the film’s chief assets is that the horror sequences are played completely straight, leaving the comedy to the comedians… Meet Frankenstein is the best satire on horror movies ever made."

      Production values are absolutely first-class. It is not only Barton’s deft direction that keeps the laughs and the thrills coming at a marvelous pace, but the skilled film editing, atmospheric photography, creepy sets, and mood-enhancing music scored and directed by Frank Skinner; while even by 2004 standards, the make-up and special effects are often stunning.

      For another fascinating Abbott and Costello offering, see Hold That Ghost.

      --

      Abroad with Two Yanks

      William Bendix (Biff Koraski), Helen Walker (Joyce Stuart), Dennis O’Keefe (Jeff Reardon), John Loder (Cyril North), George Cleveland (Roderick Stuart), Janet Lambert (Alice), James Flavin (Sergeant Wiggins), Arthur Hunnicutt (Arkie), Willard Jilson (Handsome), Herbert Evans (Michael), William Forrest (Colonel Hart), John Abbott (salesman), John Burch (Burch), Emmett Vogan (Dr French).

      Director: ALLAN DWAN. Screenplay: Charles Rogers, Wilkie Mahoney and Ted Sills from an adaptation by Edward E. Seabrook and Tedwell Chapman of an original story by Fred Guiol. Photography: Charles Lawton Jr. Music director: Lud Gluskin. Film editor: Richard Heermance. Art director: Joseph Sternad. Costumes: Odette. Set decorations: Edward G. Boyle. Make-up: Ray Heinz. Assistant to the producer and supervising film editor: Grant Whytock. Assistant director: John Burch. Sound editor: Ted Bellinger. Sound: Frank Webster. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Edward Small.

      Copyright 10 July 1944 by Edward Small Productions, Inc. Released through United Artists. U.S. release: 4 August 1944. New York release at the Globe: 25 October 1944. U.K. release: 6 November 1944. Australian release: 5 April 1945. Sydney release: 23 March 1945 (Plaza). Original running time: 86 minutes. Australian release length: 7,290 feet (81 minutes). U.S. running time: 80 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: War-time Sydney. Two marines on leave battle for the affections of Helen Walker (and who can blame them?)…

      COMMENT: Though highly regarded in auteur circles, Allan Dwan has always impressed me as a Hollywood hack who churned out routine films by the score, with an occasional out-of-the-rut item like Driftwood and Silver Lode.

      Abroad with Two Yanks is typical: Unamusing, elemental slapstick directed with professional smoothness but (outside of a single shot — Bendix and O’Keefe seen in a distorting mirror) a total lack of wit and sparkle. In fact the director’s touch throughout is relentlessly heavy-handed. Even his pacing is slow.

      Admittedly, Dwan had little to work with. The script is a tired and dated affair with forced slapstick and timeworn gags which may have sporadically amused highly unsophisticated audiences in 1944, but which any kind of audience nowadays will find a painful experience.

      The acting is as broad as the direction is over-emphatic, with O’Keefe and Bendix hamming it up for all they’re worth. The support cast — aside from the attractively costumed Helen Walker, who sparkles animatedly as the heroine — is nothing to write home about. In his early scenes, John Loder makes a game but unconvincing attempt at an Aussie accent, while George Cleveland makes an even more inept try at a Scotch. The only other role of any consequence is the sergeant, exaggeratedly played by James Flavin.

      As for the other credits, someone should have told art director Joseph Sternad that Sydney’s streets are not adorned with above-ground fire hydrants. And as for the initial arrival in Sydney with the band playing a welcome medley of U.S. Marines and Waltzing Matilda — and a kangaroo conveniently on hand at the wharf — really, boys! And did no-one ever tell you that few if any Australian families have servants of any kind, let alone butlers in livery? The locale looks about as much like Sydney as Tipperary resembles Los Angeles.

      Charles Lawton’s bright cinematography is wasted on a rubbishy vehicle like this. Other credits, however are appropriately undistinguished.

      For an A feature, production values are rather moderate.

      --

      the Accused

      Loretta Young (Dr Wilma Tuttle), Robert Cummings (Warren Ford), Wendell Corey (Lieutenant Ted Dorgan), Sam Jaffe (Dr Romley), Douglas Dick (Bill Perry), Suzanne Dalbert (Susan Duval), Sara Allgood (Mrs Conner), Mickey Knox (Jack Hunter), Francis Pierlot (Dr Vinson), Ann Doran (Miss Rice), Bill Mauch (Harry Brice), Carole Mathews (waitress), George Spaulding (Dean Rhodes), Eric Alden, John Bishop (detectives), Frank Darien (janitor), Bill Perrott (student), Frances Sandford (waitress), Jim Davies (deputy), Al Ferguson (judge), Bess Flowers (woman deputy), Charles Williams (Dorgan’s assistant), Henry Travers (Romley’s assistant).

      Director: WILLIAM DIETERLE. Screenplay: Ketti Frings. Based on the 1947 novel Be Still My Love by June Truesdell. Photography: Milton Krasner. Film editor: Warren Low. Art directors: Hans Dreier and Earl Hedrick. Set decorators: Sam Comer and Grace Gregory. Costumes: Edith Head. Music score: Victor Young. Process photography: Farciot Edouart. Special photographic effects: Gordon Jennings. Make-up: Wally Westmore. Rats trained and supplied by Curly Twiford. Assistant director: Richard McWhorter. Sound recording: Don Mckay and Walter Oberst. Producer: Hal B. Wallis.

      Copyright 14 January 1949 by Paramount Pictures Inc. New York release at the Paramount: 12 January 1949. U.S. release: 14 January 1949. U.K. release: March 1949. Australian release: 16 June 1949. Sydney release at the Victory: 27 May 1949. 9,243 feet. 103 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Woman college professor accidentally kills student on the make…

      COMMENT: No producer in 40’s Hollywood guided such a formidable collection of permanent classics as Hal B. Wallis: All This and Heaven Too, The Sea Hawk, The Letter, The Sea Wolf, Sergeant York, The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra, The Strawberry Blonde, King’s Row, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Now, Voyager, Casablanca, Watch on the Rhine, Saratoga Trunk, Sorry Wrong Number…

      One of Wallis’s talents was the ability to select the right director for the script — and then to get the most out of him! The Accused while it is not one of his major films, is an excellent example of this technique.

      Ketti Frings at this stage was a writer with primarily a radio and stage background (though she had written the 1940 novel Hold Back the Dawn). This training shows in her screenplay for The Accused. If you close your eyes you can follow the story perfectly well, for it’s written like a radio serial — very skillfully written with essential facts put over with power and subtlety, but it’s purely verbal. The script has been wholly conceived in aural terms rather than visual.

      With such a scenario on his hands, what does a producer do? 99% would call in another writer — but not Hal Wallis. He assigns the script to a director with a noted visual flair — William Dieterle — who has given the film such a wonderful sheen and style (aided by atmospheric photography and deft film editing). Notice how deep focus framings are inventively utilized for maximum dramatic impact, how the lighting appropriately changes from the chilling murky grey of the flashback sequences to the contrasting brightness of the campus episodes, how long takes are adroitly intercut with reaction shots. The director builds up what is essentially a synthetic Loretta Young vehicle into a psychological thriller of considerable suspense and class. Admittedly, too much footage is still taken up with the familiar Young heart-burnings and hysteria (she even has a pervading off-camera commentary as well), but many of the sequences (particularly those with Sam Jaffe and Wendell Corey) deliver a taut, tense, powerful impact.

      While the conclusion is somewhat abrupt and predictable, it’s a movie that moves all the way thanks to Dieterle’s frequent changes of set, scene and camera set-ups, and his skilled use of tracking shots and similar fluid camera movements.

      For all its aural orientation, the dialogue has a realistic edge to it which fine actors like Wendell Corey know how to deliver with the right amount of intensity. Corey has a tailor-made part, and receives excellent support from character players like Sam Jaffe, Sara Allgood, Bill Mauch (one of the Mauch twins from The Prince and the Pauper), Francis Pierlot, Al Ferguson, Charles Williams and Henry Travers (yes, Henry Travers making a surprise unbilled appearance as Jaffe’s assistant).

      Wallis has dressed The Accused in great production values, including sets, locations, and a vast crowd of extra players, among whom Bess Flowers can be spotted as a wardress at court. She even has one word of dialogue — Sure.

      I wasn’t very happy with Wallis, Dieterle told Tom Flinn. He used me to try to make something out of very second-rate material.

      The Accused is an intriguing example of that fascinating and entertaining something.

      --

      Adam Had Four Sons

      Ingrid Bergman (Emille Gallatin), Warner Baxter (Adam Stoddard), Susan Hayward (Hester), Fay Wray (Molly), Helen Westley (Cousin Philippa), June Lockhart (Vance), Pietro Sosso (Otto), and as older boys: Richard Denning (Jack), Johnny Downs (David), Robert Shaw (Chris), Charles Lind (Phillip); as younger boys: Billy Ray (Jack), Stephen Muller (David), Wallace Chadwell (Chris), Bobby Walberg (Phillip), Gilbert Emery (Dr Lane), Renie Riano (photographer), Clarence Muse (Sam).

      Director: GREGORY RATOFF. Screenplay: William Hurlbut and Michael Blankfort. Based on the 1940 novel Legacy by Charles Bonner. Photography: J. Peverell Marley. Film editor: Francis D. Lyon. Production designer: David Hall. Art director: Rudolph Sternad. Set decorator: Robert Bristol. Costumes designed by David Kidd, executed by Cola. Music score composed by W. Frank Harling, directed by Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Assistant director: Norman Deming. Associate producer: Gordon S. Griffith. Producer: Robert Sherwood.

      Copyright 18 February 1941 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York release at the Radio City Music Hall: 27 March 1941 (ran one week). U.S. release: 18 February 1941. U.K. release: 4 August 1941. Sydney release at the State: 3 October 1941. Australian release: 9 October 1941. 9 reels. 7,215 feet. 80 minutes.

      SYNOPSIS: Couple hire French governess to look after their four sons. Wife dies…

      COMMENT: A boring and screamingly dull women’s picture, enlivened only by the get-up-and-go of Susan Hayward’s incredible impersonation of a mindlessly evil vamp. Her tenth film appearance and her first characteristic role — she begged Ratoff for the part.

      Mind you, her performance does not carry with it the smallest atom of conviction — and its realism is further vitiated by her ludicrous hair style and general gawkiness of figure. It’s obvious that photographer Peverell Marley has taken no great pains with her. (Marley’s particular forte was making plain girls look glamorous). Instead he has lavished all his attention on Miss Bergman, who is made to shine like a statue of modest and radiant womanhood.

      Adam Had Four Sons, the second of Bergman’s U.S. films, re-enforced the screen image established by her first, Intermezzo, also directed by Ratoff. She followed with Rage in Heaven, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Gaslight, Spellbound, Saratoga Trunk, The Bells of St Mary’s and Notorious — a remarkable succession of hit films — not a single boxoffice dud among the lot of them — until her luck changed completely with Arch of Triumph (1948), the even more disastrous Joan of Arc, the equally unpopular Under Capricorn (Hitchcock’s only boxoffice failure), and finally Stromboli and the affair Rossellini put paid to the first decade of her Hollywood career.

      For Ingrid Bergman, Adam Had Four Sons was the stepping-stone to glory. For co-star Warner Baxter, it was almost the end. He made but one more A feature, Lady in the Dark. After playing Adam he suffered a complete nervous breakdown. Thereafter he was signed by Columbia for the low-budget Crime Doctor series which he continued until his death in 1951. His performance as Adam is colorless, to say the least.

      The other players are rather overshadowed by the three principals. Fay King Kong Wray has a particularly small and unimportant role, but Helen Westley is effective in her brief scenes as the matriarchal Philippa. Of the sons, Richard Denning and Johnny Downs come off the best. The others make little impression.

      As in Intermezzo, Ratoff’s direction is slow, heavy-handed and ruthlessly routine. Ratoff is undoubtedly the most uneven director who ever handled a megaphone, his work varying from the heights of Rose of Washington Square, the style and flair of Irish Eyes Are Smiling, the inventively quirky Where Do We Go Form Here?, the suspenseful Moss Rose and the virtuoso brilliance of Black Magic, to the mediocre The Corsican Brothers; to the wasted opportunities of The Heat’s On and The Men in Her Life; to the downright crass and embarrassing Song of Russia. The remarkable thing is that Ratoff’s dizzying ups and downs follow no discernible pattern. All we can say with confidence is that Adam Had Four Sons is not one of his livelier efforts. In fact, he does nothing. He just plonks the camera down and lets the players give us full-blast all the patriotic platitudes (It’s a great privilege to be living in America) and sentimental clichés (I am afraid I will have to let you go) of a trite and familiar script.

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