CheerupSilver
Very Cool!!!
TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
Lucybespro
It is a performances centric movie
Martin Bradley
Taking her 1940's films into consideration the only thing Joan Fontaine might have been born to be was a mouse or, as she was portrayed in 1939's "The Women", a deer but as Joan got older Joan got bolder and by 1950 she was "Born to be Bad" and was holding the likes of Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott and Mel Ferrer in thrall. The director of this 'woman's picture' was Nicholas Ray who brought a steely edge to proceedings. Actually I've always thought Joan was born to play a bitch; that patrician air of hers was never suited to being simply 'nice' and it was to her credit that she could slip so easily between darkness and light, Here, though, she's almost too good to be true and I'm surprised no-one, other than good girl Joan Leslie, saw through her scheming earlier. Performances throughout are uniformly good; even Ferrer is first-rate here, (he hadn't yet developed that stiffness that marred his later work). Interestingly his character is probably meant to be gay but you really have to read between the lines and use a lot of imagination to get that. From a novel called "All Kneeling" by Ann Parrish.
vincentlynch-moonoi
A mistake that some directors make is having a film with no "good guys". And this film gets pretty close to that.The ultimate "baddie" in the film is Joan Fontaine, who plays a spoiled and conniving woman whose every thought is selfish. Her first love interest is Robert Ryan, who doesn't care that he ultimately continues to see Fontaine, even after she is married (and, BTW, Ryan is hardly a convincing actor to play a love-lead). Joan Leslie is sort of a sap as "the other woman". Mel Ferrer is stereotypical and goofy as a painter. Harold Vermilyea and Virginia Farmer have odd roles an older relatives. That leaves Zachary Scott as the only significant role in the film that approaches being a "good guy", although he dumped his fiancé for Fontaine to begin with. So to enjoy this film, you have to not like any of the characters.The plot is pretty decent. Incredibly selfish woman ruins the lives of several people, eventually including her own. The main problem with the plot is that it builds slowly to her comeuppance, and then ends all to quickly.It's an "okay" movie that has nothing to do with an earlier film by the same name. Watchable, but not likely to find its way to your DVD shelf. Give me sis (Olivia deHavilland) any day!
dougdoepke
Unscrupulous Christabel uses her wiles to break up her cousin's engagement to a wealthy man so she can marry him herself.Considering the talent involved, the movie's a disappointment. The plot turns on the scheming Christabel and her ability to attract men. The trouble is Fontaine looks more like a wallflower than a temptress since neither costuming nor make-up has done her rather plain looks any favors. Thus, having her out-compete the vibrant, young Donna (Leslie) for Curtis's (Scott) affections, becomes a real stretch. Then too, Fontaine underplays the role, perhaps to a fault, such that it can't be her winning personality that gets the men. So what we're left with in the movie's middle is a credibility gap where there should be a compelling presence. At the same time, the results suggest any one of a hundred Hollywood directors could have helmed the workman-like production. Looks to me like cult director Ray found nothing to engage his formidable talents and simply went through the motions. I suspect he took the script on assignment, viewing the project mainly as a vehicle for its celebrity-star.On the other hand, is the colorful array of male cast members— a commanding Robert Ryan, a shrewd Mel Ferrer, and a sympathetic Zachary Scott (for once). In fact, Ryan's dark features and towering masculinity as Nick almost blot out Fontaine's recessive presence in their scenes together. As Christabel's secret lover, he's totally believable even when she isn't. Add to them, the lovely young Leslie, who shows an impressive range as both trusting soul and wronged woman, and the movie does have its compensations, including a well-calculated ending.Nonetheless, the film as a whole fails to gel, suggesting that Fontaine the actress is much better at playing the innocent rather than the wanton.
RanchoTuVu
The film's title typifies Joan Fontaine's character Christabel who does not have a sincere bone in her body and does whatever it takes to get what she wants and then once she has it, turns cold and conniving as she continues to be driven by what she wants without regard for what she has. Set in San Francisco, Christabel shows up at her cousin Donna's (Joan Leslie) apartment and in a series of great scenes where she meets Donna's wealthy fiancée Curtis (Zachary Scott) and practically immediately sets out to win him and his money (which is what she really wants) for herself. She seeks to be accepted into this well off and sophisticated crowd which includes Robert Ryan as an intellectual and writer as well as Mel Ferrer as a painter. Normally a jilted woman would be distraught but Joan Leslie as Donna takes it for what it is and flies off to work in London, leaving Scott with Fontaine and Fontaine with Ryan. The marriage is classic and director Nicholas Ray hits some great moments between Scott and Fontaine as she keeps him at arm's length giving him just enough affection to appease him but saving the best for Ryan. When it unravels for Fontaine she, like Joan Leslie's Donna, never loses her cool.
