A quarter of a century into her brilliant career, Barbara Stanwyck took on one of her toughest assignments yet: the film version of a Clifford Odets play about discontentment, raw animal passion and how revenge can rip you apart at the soul. Along for the ride with her are Paul Douglas as the cheery fisherman she marries upon her return to her home town, Robert Ryan as a movie projectionist whom Douglas introduces to but is unaware of the can of worms he is opening, Keith Andes as Stanwyck's resentful younger brother who considers his sister dirt, and Marilyn Monroe as Andes' fiancée, a cheerful 20 year old who manages to see the situation from all sides rather than just one.
"Home is where you come when you run out of places", Stanwyck tells Monroe when they first meet. To see one of the top drama queens of cinema with the rising sex symbol of the 1950's is history in itself: Monroe had already briefly encountered Bette Davis in "All About Eve", and now she got to share more than just one brief scene here with Stanwyck. First seen like Garbo's Anna Christie inside a waterfront dive, Stanwyck downs a shot of whiskey in the early afternoon simply 'cause she's got a cold, but really you can tell it is because she is disgusted that she has had to come back to a place she obviously never wanted to see again. It is revealed that she was a rich man's mistress but his wife had the small bequest he left to her taken away after his death. Bitter and resentful, Stanwyck is ready for anything, and settles into a boring marriage with the congenial Douglas even though his pal Ryan can sense an animal attraction between Stanwyck and himself. Within a year, Stanwyck has given birth to Douglas's daughter. The trapped Stanwyck explodes with boredom after Ryan passes out at their house and makes a pass at her. This leads into Douglas's desire for revenge, even though he has expressed the fact that violence makes him sick in the stomach.
Having already expressed lust with her memorable film noir femme fatal in "Double Indemnity", Stanwyck triples that quotient here, and it is very apparent from the beginning that the lusty Ryan suits her fancy more than just for making an occasional dinner for. When they begin their affair, it is presumed that their sexual relations are going to be anything like making love. She fondles his flesh through his tank top with such desire that you know that their lust could be weighed on the Richter scale. Even though she is married to his best friend and the mother of a baby, Ryan makes it clear he cares nothing for anything as long as he can have her. He's getting over a bitter separation with a burlesque queen, so it is obvious that the abstinence from sex has made him quite volatile and selfish. As for Douglas, his love for Stanwyck is obviously obsessive, his loneliness even greater than Ernest Borgnine's in "Marty" which was more subtle in its exploration of adult relationships yet equally impassioned. These character's lives are like the fish on the conveyor belt that Douglas brings into shore at the very beginning, turning upside down and inside out, with basically nowhere to go but down.
Not surprisingly from the author of "Golden Boy" (which Stanwyck did on film much earlier) and "The Big Knife", this was originally a stage vehicle for Tallulah Bankhead, and Stanwyck eats it up like sirloin. Mature in years yet still extremely sexy, Stanwyck's laryngitis like voice is perfect for this type of character. All three leads deliver performances that are explosive in every way, shape and form, and Andes and Monroe provide a younger vision of the dashed hopes of these older characters. J. Carrol Naish provides a realistic view of an outside party determined not to cause trouble, yet reveal the truth, as Douglas's uncle. He recites his dialog with such determination and truth, yet twisting a knife for a situation you sense he'd like to be in yet is too old to obtain. Silvio Minciotti, as Douglas's quiet pop and Naish's brother, is probably (other than Andes and Monroe, who are far too young to be the liars of the other characters) the only decent character in the bunch, even though he is a drunkard and intrusive.
My only complaint here is the way the ending is handled, all too neat and tidy, even though there is a hint that it is ultimately up to the viewer to think of how it could be resolved. In that sense, it is like life and very realistic: situations like this are never easy to conclude, something that director Fritz Lang would utilize in many of his films. Marilyn Monroe's character expresses it best when she reveals sympathy towards Stanwyck, understanding her point of view how just being a wife and mother after having lived such a more intense life in New York. Stanwyck herself sums it up best as she describes her character here as simply no good, no matter how hard she tries. For that, she is good, and you can't help but empathize with her situation, even if you can't quite like her or trust her.
"Home is where you come when you run out of places", Stanwyck tells Monroe when they first meet. To see one of the top drama queens of cinema with the rising sex symbol of the 1950's is history in itself: Monroe had already briefly encountered Bette Davis in "All About Eve", and now she got to share more than just one brief scene here with Stanwyck. First seen like Garbo's Anna Christie inside a waterfront dive, Stanwyck downs a shot of whiskey in the early afternoon simply 'cause she's got a cold, but really you can tell it is because she is disgusted that she has had to come back to a place she obviously never wanted to see again. It is revealed that she was a rich man's mistress but his wife had the small bequest he left to her taken away after his death. Bitter and resentful, Stanwyck is ready for anything, and settles into a boring marriage with the congenial Douglas even though his pal Ryan can sense an animal attraction between Stanwyck and himself. Within a year, Stanwyck has given birth to Douglas's daughter. The trapped Stanwyck explodes with boredom after Ryan passes out at their house and makes a pass at her. This leads into Douglas's desire for revenge, even though he has expressed the fact that violence makes him sick in the stomach.
Having already expressed lust with her memorable film noir femme fatal in "Double Indemnity", Stanwyck triples that quotient here, and it is very apparent from the beginning that the lusty Ryan suits her fancy more than just for making an occasional dinner for. When they begin their affair, it is presumed that their sexual relations are going to be anything like making love. She fondles his flesh through his tank top with such desire that you know that their lust could be weighed on the Richter scale. Even though she is married to his best friend and the mother of a baby, Ryan makes it clear he cares nothing for anything as long as he can have her. He's getting over a bitter separation with a burlesque queen, so it is obvious that the abstinence from sex has made him quite volatile and selfish. As for Douglas, his love for Stanwyck is obviously obsessive, his loneliness even greater than Ernest Borgnine's in "Marty" which was more subtle in its exploration of adult relationships yet equally impassioned. These character's lives are like the fish on the conveyor belt that Douglas brings into shore at the very beginning, turning upside down and inside out, with basically nowhere to go but down.
Not surprisingly from the author of "Golden Boy" (which Stanwyck did on film much earlier) and "The Big Knife", this was originally a stage vehicle for Tallulah Bankhead, and Stanwyck eats it up like sirloin. Mature in years yet still extremely sexy, Stanwyck's laryngitis like voice is perfect for this type of character. All three leads deliver performances that are explosive in every way, shape and form, and Andes and Monroe provide a younger vision of the dashed hopes of these older characters. J. Carrol Naish provides a realistic view of an outside party determined not to cause trouble, yet reveal the truth, as Douglas's uncle. He recites his dialog with such determination and truth, yet twisting a knife for a situation you sense he'd like to be in yet is too old to obtain. Silvio Minciotti, as Douglas's quiet pop and Naish's brother, is probably (other than Andes and Monroe, who are far too young to be the liars of the other characters) the only decent character in the bunch, even though he is a drunkard and intrusive.
My only complaint here is the way the ending is handled, all too neat and tidy, even though there is a hint that it is ultimately up to the viewer to think of how it could be resolved. In that sense, it is like life and very realistic: situations like this are never easy to conclude, something that director Fritz Lang would utilize in many of his films. Marilyn Monroe's character expresses it best when she reveals sympathy towards Stanwyck, understanding her point of view how just being a wife and mother after having lived such a more intense life in New York. Stanwyck herself sums it up best as she describes her character here as simply no good, no matter how hard she tries. For that, she is good, and you can't help but empathize with her situation, even if you can't quite like her or trust her.