Joan Crawford, Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Ruth Warrick. Directed by Otto Preminger.
One of the few times Joan had male co-stars of equal stature who were capable of holding their own and a director who didn't specialize in chick flicks.
It's really too bad she didn't take this route more often. Star power and unsentimental direction do much to improve a rather sudsy tale of a fashion designer in love with a married lawyer (Dana Andrews) and her decision to hook up with a shellshocked soldier (Fonda).
I know, it sounds completely ordinary. But get this: Fonda is goofy, unpredictable, and not the saintly rescuer--his character is the weakest in the film, but at least it's not predictable. Andrews' wife (Ruth Warrick) is not an obvious villain, just a high strung housewife who happens to physically abuse her younger daughter. Andrews is a good and loving dad, a lawyer who actually takes his job seriously without trying to save the world--but he's also seriously upset when Crawford marries Fonda. Crawford isn't a whiner and lives with her choices with unforced good humor. The two men in her life become friendly rivals and call each other (I'm not making this up) "honey bunch". The story turns in twists both historically and dramatically interesting; I never anticipated the way in which consent-based divorce entered the plot equation, for example. At the same time it is a surprisingly modern film. A morally righteous ending is not enforced; the presentation of the various family and relationship dysfunctions is nuanced and far more insightful than one would expect.
It's not available on DVD or video, so you'll have to see if it shows up on AMC again. I wouldn't go out of my way for it, but if you stumble across it I'd recommend leaving it on, if only for its unpredictability.
