BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

JLRMovieReviews A married man's obsession with a nightclub singer plots to leave his old life behind, such is the gist of this Ann Sheridan film. Kent Smith meets Ann Sheridan quite by accident, as he is a doctor, coming to her aid. As his life seems to have become rather monotonous and she represents a change, he is mesmerized by her. When a dying patient who can't be helped suddenly drops dead, Kent of course seizes the opportunity to take full advantage of this odd situation. What begins as an enjoyable film with some good moments between Ann and Kent suddenly goes beyond the point of no return. A lightweight and well-made film, also featuring Robert Alda and Bruce Bennett, suddenly feels very heavy-handed and ultimately no one wins. That about sums it up.

dougdoepke The rap on Kent Smith was that he was duller than dried cement. Probably that's why he was cast here as the emotionally repressed doctor. The doc is so colorless and unemotional in the early scenes, we see why wife Lucy (DeCamp) has withdrawn into her own bubble. Then too, his household appears to run on the proverbial dime, with only daughter Bunny (Hendrix) showing any real spark. Of course, all of this is necessary background to his eventual transformation once he meets sexpot Prentiss (Sheridan). From dutiful husband to reluctant philanderer to obsessed lover and finally to repentant criminal, Smith brings off the stages in low-key effective fashion, and I expect more than a few married spouses left the theater unsettled by what they had seen lurking under the doctor's calm exterior.All in all, it's a grim little film, depicting a civilized man's descent into emotional darkness. I'm not sure why it's titled after Prentiss since the doctor is for all intents and purposes the main character. But Sheridan does get to show a lot of leg and mature appeal, although her character seems not very plausible once the doc becomes a burden. Someone called the movie a "woman's noir", and with its soap-operish overtones, the description seems to fit. Then too, noirish elements surface in those dark entrapment scenes, especially in the hotel room, (but why do they have separate rooms after they've run away together?). And especially noirish is heart patient Walter's existential lament amidst the big city-- if he dies, he wonders, who would know or care. The scene passes quickly, but is chillingly revealing.The movie's underrated, probably because of Smith and the unrelentingly grim atmosphere. I just wish someone had scrubbed Alda's smarmy nightclub owner. He's totally unbelievable and compromises what could have been a memorably atmospheric very last shot. Nonetheless, it's an engrossing little morality tale, as long as you're not feeling too depressed.

Scoval71 I caught this movie on TV the other night and was mesmerized. A man is so taken with a girl that he fakes his own death, gives up a lucrative career and forsakes his children. Didn't he ever think of divorce? Ann Sheridan gives a memorable performance and ends up happy with yet another man that always loved her. She seems never to be without a suitor. A pitiful end for the good doctor, yet one cannot help thinking he was kind of stupid to do what he did. Then again, being in an unhappy marriage makes anyone act irrationally at times. I enjoyed this period piece. Kent Smith as the doctor is all right, not the best actor, but the picture is called Nora Prentiss. I enjoyed it. See it for yourself next time it is on television. I wouldn't mind watching it again.

haridam0 . . . Ann Sheridan, that is. And they didn't call her the "Oomph Girl" for nothing.She's worldly (mostly underworld) straight- forward, knows the score, and completely direct. What's more, you believe and trust her . . . nothing underhanded here.At one point she, as Nora Prentis says, "I may not have been handled with care, but I'm not shop-worn." That about sums her up.There's no other quite like Sheridan, and she can make a wisecrack in a flash, partly for levity and partly to hold off wolves. Furthermore, it works pretty much all the time.In "Nora Prentis" Sheridan's perfectly cast as a nightclub singer who walks into an affair with a married man. Kent Smith is fine as her suitor. Vincent Sherman's the competent director, and James Wong Howe's the fine photographer.We're treated to Ann's beautiful contralto voice (in a lovely ballad, "Who Cares What People Say") and to the rest of Warner Bros. stock company, including Robert Alda."Nora Prentis' " characters work because they're endowed with both strong and weak qualities. No one's clearly victim or villain here, just quite ordinary people who get trapped in tragic circumstances.