utgard14 Joan Crawford soaper, directed by Otto Preminger, with a familiar plot of Joan being torn between two men (married lawyer Dana Andrews and returning soldier Henry Fonda). Joan made these sorts of love triangle melodramas all the time in the 1930s. Despite the hackneyed romance, this is actually a pretty interesting film. For one thing, it has more of a noirish look than those earlier Joan melodramas. For another, it deals with some pretty adult material for a movie of its time, like child abuse, divorce, and even an easy-to-overlook bit about a civil rights case where a Japanese-American soldier had his farm taken from him while he was fighting in the war. Finally, it's well-acted all around and each of the stars gets some good material to work with. Yeah, Joan's style from this period (shoulder pads, heavy eyebrows, and general masculine femininity) can be a little distracting at times, but Preminger does a good job of making the rest of the picture so attractive you are able to look past that. It's worth a look if you are a fan of the three stars or the director, but it isn't the best any of them have done.

RanchoTuVu A well off and capable New York corporate lawyer (Dana Andrews) carries on an ongoing affair with a successful fashion designer (Joan Crawford) who waits for him to divorce his wife (Ruth Warrick). This he finds difficult to do because of the two daughters and his position with his father-in-law whose law firm he works for. There are some complex issues in this situation with the wife, kids, work, and Joan Crawford in a fairly tender part as Daisy. The dialogue between the characters shows a sophistication as they deal with the situation that is fairly impressive. When Henry Fonda shows up as a widowed WW2 vet, there are several scenes between him and Andrews or with him, Andrews, and Crawford that move right along with interesting observations, as both men love the same woman, and the woman, who loves them both, seems to want to keep her own identity as well. The divorce court scenes come in towards the end to make the film a court drama as well, but do not intrude as the issues with Crawford's character become exposed by the lawyer representing the Andrew's wife. Though the film is not a crime drama, a lot of the B&W photography by Leon Shamroy looks like ace film noir. Some may say that director Otto Preminger would not voluntarily take on a project like this, that it must have been contractually foisted upon him. If so, he did a fairly admirable job, keeping the characters from going over the top while keeping up the pace and making a pretty tough ending with a surprisingly tender Dana Andrews, whose definitely at or near his best.

blanche-2 Joan Crawford is "Daisy Kenyon" in this 1947 film about a woman torn between two men - one, a married, successful man (Dana Andrews), and the other, a returning soldier and widower (Henry Fonda). Directed by Otto Preminger, it's a good noir, better than "Dark Angel" but nowhere near "Laura." Andrews is married to Ruth Warrick and has two daughters who need him, as their mother, when unhappy, tends to be abusive. He has a long-time relationship with Daisy, who is a successful commercial artist. The situation isn't ideal for her, but she's in love. One night she meets a soldier who wants to build a life with her. Can she break from Andrews - and will he let her? There are several striking things about this film. One is the casting. In order to play the lead in "Grapes of Wrath" in 1940, Darryl Zanuck forced Henry Fonda to sign a 7-year-contract, for which Fonda never forgave him. One can see an example of why here. In this film, he has to share leading man duties with Dana Andrews in what is, in fact, a Joan Crawford movie. To me, Fonda's role in this seems very inauspicious and one where a lesser star could have been cast. Just an opinion. He's excellent as a lonely, unhappy man who falls for Daisy - Fonda at this point still had some traces of boyishness.The second striking thing for me was the subtlety of the acting. There is a scene in which Dana Andrews, returning from an 18-day-trip, can't get the usually reliable Daisy on the phone, so he goes to see her. It's a scene that should be shown in acting schools - full of atmosphere and subtext, so little is said in dialogue; so much is what lies beneath the surface. Both Crawford and Andrews give wonderful performances.The third striking thing is the Greenwich Theater, which I had no idea was torn down until now. There was indeed a restaurant across from it, too. That's also my old neighborhood, and it was a delight to see. I believe I went to the opening day of "Fargo" there.Throughout the film, the symbolism of a New York cab is used: if you were staying where you were, you let the cab go; if not, you asked it to wait. The theme reinforces the ending of "Daisy Kenyon" very well. A good movie.

Yxklyx I've seen about a dozen Preminger films and this is my favorite. I wasn't expecting too much once the movie began because it seemed I had seen this all done before but Preminger's characters (as is usually the case) are much more realistic than typical Hollywood movies of this era. The characterization actually compares favorably to foreign films of the time, like for example Quai des Orfèvres from the same year; this movie could easily have been a French production. I'm not much a fan of Crawford or Fonda but this is probably the best I've seen Fonda; and Crawford was just fine. Dana Andrews is superb - probably his best movie! What made this movie for me was that I could relate to all three main characters - in many ways they are more ideas (or philosophies) than actual people but the odd thing is that the line was so blurred that even though I knew this was the case I still enjoyed them as people. What puts this above the other Premingers I've seen is the very tight script, the fast pacing, and three fully realized characters that came across not only as real but as themes in themselves. Add in a memorable supporting cast and everything just blends together to make a perfect concoction.