bent-mathiesen I was intrigued by the title, expected to see an old black and white movie with drama.Instead, it started with 16 minutes of dull, gossip, characters that talk in clichés, know and don't know each other - no point in the dialogues.I suspect the "bad" person is the soft talking "angle", who looks rather old in my opinion but hardly can be bad compared to what you experience nowaday 67 years later.It is boring, take too long before you (only me) can get head and tail on what this film is about. The title is misleading.

jacobs-greenwood Who does 33 year old Joan Fontaine think she's fooling, playing a business college student? Other than that incredulity, and the fact that others are so easily manipulated by her seemingly inconsequential acts and words, she plays a conniving bitch to rival Anne Baxter's title character in that year's All About Eve (1950), though Fontaine's cute little smiles and feigned (yet knowing) look- asides will wear on most viewers as the movie progresses. There is lots of great dialogue, mostly one-liners by Robert Ryan's character like "I love you so much I wish I liked you", but there is absolutely no subtlety.Directed by Nicholas Ray, with an adaptation by Charles Schnee and a screenplay by Edith Sommer from an Anne Parrish novel with additional dialogue provided by George Oppenheimer and Robert Soderberg, this less than credible though highly watchable drama features Fontaine as Christabel, the niece of publisher John Caine (Harold Vermilyea), who comes to live with Caine's employee Donna Foster (Joan Leslie) while going to business college in San Francisco. She proceeds to ruin Donna's engagement to the family wealthy Curtis Carey (Zachary Scott) by planting seeds of doubt that his fiancée is a gold-digger.Meanwhile, Christabel is irresistibly drawn to writer come author Nick Bradley (Ryan!) - the two have an illicit affair while she disposes of Donna (who leaves for London) and simultaneously hooks Curtis for herself. Mel Ferrer plays Gobby, a non-judgmental third party witness to the goings-on, a painter who manages to hobnob with these wealthy persons as their friend despite his lack of financial means; he oozes just enough charm to have them pay his way into their group. Christabel had grown up living modestly with her Aunt Clara (Virginia Farmer), Caine's sister. Bess Flowers plays an untypical, credited role, Mrs. Worthington; Kathleen Howard plays a philanthropist, Mrs. Bolton. Irving Bacon plays a jewelry salesman.Of course, after Christabel has Curtis, or at least his money, she avoids him until Nick comes back in town ... but he's a stand-up guy who refuses to fool around with a married woman! Obviously she's found out in time for a contrived happy ending.

robert-temple-1 This is an important film noir in the Nicholas Ray canon. He made it just after his classic IN A LONELY PLACE (1950, see my review), in the same year. Joan Fontaine plays a narcissistic schemer who steals another woman's man, marrying him for his money, but still wants to keep her lover on the side, played by Robert Ryan. The film is based on a novel by Anne Parrish called ALL KNEELING, and has no connection whatever with the film BORN TO BE BAD of 1934, starring Cary Grant and Loretta Young. Joan Leslie plays Donna, the pleasant, smiling young woman who is in love with Zachary Scott. The unscrupulous, smiling, ingratiating Fontaine (whose sweetness is completely false) steals Scott's affections, breaking Leslie's heart. Scott is very wealthy and for a while Fontaine thinks she has pulled off something wonderful, but she soon admits to being unhappy and turns back to her former lover, Robert Ryan. Ryan is magnificent in his part. Nicholas Ray makes the film much more effective than it might have been by inserting lingering close-ups of the faces of Fontaine and of Ryan at key moments in the film (watch for them, they are classic shots), where the hidden emotions of the characters are revealed when nobody is looking at them. Fontaine's gloating expressions and smiles of triumph to herself are particularly revealing. This was Ray's clever visual substitute for the voice over interior monologue, and frankly it is a marvellously sophisticated and successful device. Young aspiring film makers should all study that particular technique, which has rarely been surpassed from what we see here. Words are not always necessary when you have actors as brilliant as Ryan and Fontaine who 'get' it and are not afraid to show it. Ryan's facial close-up in the latter part of the film when he suddenly realizes something disturbing about Fontaine during an amorous encounter with her is, frankly, a terrifying emotional moment. Mel Ferrer plays a supporting role, but he is rather annoying and does not do a particularly good job. However, it is easy to ignore him and concentrate on the main story and characters. This film is not a comfortable or pleasant one, as Fontaine's character is so disturbing. It is remarkably similar to the character of Eve played by Anne Baxter in ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) in the very same year. I do not know the relative production dates of the two films, but I wonder if one of the actresses could have influenced the other. Anne Baxter's schemer is the more powerful and subtle of the two. For people interested in film noir, this is one of the numerous 'must-sees'.

Poseidon-3 In one of director Ray's earlier films, Fontaine portrays a young blonde woman whose polite and coy exterior masks a savagely ambitious and passionate core. Fontaine's uncle Vermilyea arranges for her to live with his secretary Leslie while she attends business college and she "just happens" to arrive one night early, in time for a party full of wealthy and appealing men. Though robust author Ryan immediately likes Fontaine, she actually has her sites set more on Leslie's rich fiancé Scott! As one can guess, the machinations kick in as Fontaine wrangles everyone around her as much as she can, but will she be happy when and if she ever gets what it is she's after? Fontaine is too old for the part she's playing, but her performance is interesting enough most of the time to get past that. She's saddled, especially through the early portion of the film, with a rather fluffy, unruly, bleached hairstyle that does her fewer favors than she probably imagined or intended. Her gowns by Hattie Carnegie are in most cases far less attractive, complimentary to her and striking than those of Leslie's, which were done by Michael Woulfe. Again, this was surely not the intention! Ryan is excellent throughout. He is given several saucy lines and delivers them effectively. He adds a liveliness to his part, along with the deep feeling, that is most welcome. Scott, an actor who excelled at shifty and slimy characters, is the more upright person here and does well, even eliciting some sympathy. One of the real surprises is Leslie, who offers up a pretty, lively and appealing presence despite the demands of the script, which calls for her to come off as a little bit dim. Just as her overall styling is superior to that of the other Joan, her hair is beautifully arranged throughout. She would soon leave the business to raise her family. Ferrer, in one of his earliest film roles, portrays a starving artist who is gossipy and spongy and could be read as gay, though it is never outright suggested, of course. There is a scene, however, in which he and Ryan are pictured so closely together and in such a way that it could almost be snapped, cropped and used in a suggestive Confidential article or something! Vermilyea, as Fontaine's somewhat knowing uncle, and Farmer, as her completely unknowing aunt, lend solid, sometimes amusing support. The film has a solid directional hand in it thanks to Ray and moves along nicely. While it isn't necessarily believable, it is usually entertaining. It is also, for 1950, pretty straightforward about the sexual relationships that are taking place. Ryan even uses the words "sex attraction" at one point. Fans of the stars ought to enjoy it quite a bit.