1h 43min | Drama, Film-Noir, Music | March 1947
Director: Stuart Heisler
Stars: Susan Hayward, Lee Bowman, Marsha Hunt, Eddie Albert.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039840/
Available AmazonPrime; on megapack, mediocre copy.
Six songs in the Soundtracks; both SH and LB portray singers and were dubbed. There's not much more music here than in a standard drama with a soundtrack.
This is SH's 24th film of 59, her 2nd under contract to Walter Wanger, and 2nd as star. I don't see anything in her filmography that is a film I really like where she is prominent. I think she made a lot of films I would consider melodrama, which is not my favorite genre.
SH is shown reaching for alcohol when she has to face an audience, before her husband is successful. She quits work when they marry, but doesn't crawl back into the bottle until they are prosperous and she's bored, jealous, fearful.
It's an early depiction of alcoholism, with The Lost Weekend ('45, Wilder) preceding it. There's nothing to recommend this film for modern audiences. It might have been a good PSA for its time.
Previously rated 5, and I concur now.
Walter Wanger Productions, distr. Universal, dir. Heisler; 5
