In that book, Ms. Gottlieb pretty much says "forget love and stars and romance and all that stuff. If you are a woman and you are past 30 and you are alone, just find some affable beta provider, hold your nose, and marry him before what few viable eggs you have left are using walkers". Well, this film shows the tough sharp-edged yet censor scrubbed tragic results of employing that philosophy.
We're lucky that the studio system of the 50's didn't have the same standards as today - casting actresses aside as "too old" as soon as they appear old enough to legally drink. Such a standard would have deprived us of some of the finest performances of Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, and of course, Barbara Stanwyck, this being one of her finest but less known performances. For that matter, the casting of the entire picture is just perfect.
Ms. Stanwyck plays Mae, a woman who left her home town of Monterrey ten years earlier in search of love and adventure, fell in love with a married man who died on her, and was cast aside by the man's legitimate family and friends. Thus she returns home hardened and cynical, with a less than warm welcome from her long lost brother, Joe. Jerry, played by Paul Douglas, is a fisherman, large both in body and in heart, who falls in love with Mae, but seems somewhat emotionally needy. Mae reluctantly decides to marry him because she is seeking stability. After a year or so of marriage and the birth of a daughter, Mae realizes she feels trapped in her dull routine of a marriage. The love that gives the daily routine of life meaning to most people is just not there for her, although Jerry adores her. Earl, played by Robert Ryan, is Jerry's "friend" and is also a kindred spirit of Mae's. He, too, has been kicked around in life and has developed a hard and cynical outlook. He has everything that Jerry lacks, but seems to lack everything that Jerry has, starting with decency and a strong work ethic. Mae realizes that Earl is bad for her, but ultimately loses her fight in being attracted to him. The fact that Mae is his best friend's wife doesn't stop Earl from seducing Mae in Jerry's own home, and then carrying on a clandestine affair with Mae for months, until clueless Jerry is alerted to the situation by his nimrod uncle.
Confronted by her husband, Mae must choose between the two men, and probably most definitely would have chosen Earl over Jerry if it had not been for her daughter. This is the most forced part of the plot development. We don't just see Mae deciding to stay with Jerry because of her daughter. Instead, she seems to have a complete about face in attitude that comes out of nowhere. The film would have us believe that the change came from hearing her own callous attitudes coming from the lips of her lover, but then she's probably been hearing these kinds of words from him for the last several months that they have been carrying on their affair, so this epiphany does not make a lot of sense.
Some parts of this movie are timeless - love and security versus passion and danger, dealing with the consequences of one's actions, and how life's inevitable disappointments make some people hard and cynical. However, some are dated - the most prominent example being Mae's brother Joe and his relationship with his fiancée, Peggy, played by a young Marilyn Monroe. Joe might have appeared as a man who was taking charge of his situation in his rough treatment of Peggy in 1952, but 65 years later he comes across as a wife batterer in the making.
We're lucky that the studio system of the 50's didn't have the same standards as today - casting actresses aside as "too old" as soon as they appear old enough to legally drink. Such a standard would have deprived us of some of the finest performances of Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, and of course, Barbara Stanwyck, this being one of her finest but less known performances. For that matter, the casting of the entire picture is just perfect.
Ms. Stanwyck plays Mae, a woman who left her home town of Monterrey ten years earlier in search of love and adventure, fell in love with a married man who died on her, and was cast aside by the man's legitimate family and friends. Thus she returns home hardened and cynical, with a less than warm welcome from her long lost brother, Joe. Jerry, played by Paul Douglas, is a fisherman, large both in body and in heart, who falls in love with Mae, but seems somewhat emotionally needy. Mae reluctantly decides to marry him because she is seeking stability. After a year or so of marriage and the birth of a daughter, Mae realizes she feels trapped in her dull routine of a marriage. The love that gives the daily routine of life meaning to most people is just not there for her, although Jerry adores her. Earl, played by Robert Ryan, is Jerry's "friend" and is also a kindred spirit of Mae's. He, too, has been kicked around in life and has developed a hard and cynical outlook. He has everything that Jerry lacks, but seems to lack everything that Jerry has, starting with decency and a strong work ethic. Mae realizes that Earl is bad for her, but ultimately loses her fight in being attracted to him. The fact that Mae is his best friend's wife doesn't stop Earl from seducing Mae in Jerry's own home, and then carrying on a clandestine affair with Mae for months, until clueless Jerry is alerted to the situation by his nimrod uncle.
Confronted by her husband, Mae must choose between the two men, and probably most definitely would have chosen Earl over Jerry if it had not been for her daughter. This is the most forced part of the plot development. We don't just see Mae deciding to stay with Jerry because of her daughter. Instead, she seems to have a complete about face in attitude that comes out of nowhere. The film would have us believe that the change came from hearing her own callous attitudes coming from the lips of her lover, but then she's probably been hearing these kinds of words from him for the last several months that they have been carrying on their affair, so this epiphany does not make a lot of sense.
Some parts of this movie are timeless - love and security versus passion and danger, dealing with the consequences of one's actions, and how life's inevitable disappointments make some people hard and cynical. However, some are dated - the most prominent example being Mae's brother Joe and his relationship with his fiancée, Peggy, played by a young Marilyn Monroe. Joe might have appeared as a man who was taking charge of his situation in his rough treatment of Peggy in 1952, but 65 years later he comes across as a wife batterer in the making.