Set at the turn of the century, an over-the-hill actress Naomi Murdoch returns to the family she left behind after receiving a letter from her daughter, who wants her actress mother see her perform in a school play production. Trouble is, she left previously under a cloud, divorcing her husband after an affair with another man and she now does not even know her three children. The narrow-mindedness of the small town made it impossible for her before and begins to make it difficult once again.
Douglas Sirk is most famous for his 50's melodramas, known a little derogatively at the time as 'women's films'. This is an early example of this type of Sirk film. It's a pretty involving movie too. It explores a number of themes such as the emotional fallout caused by the return of a woman of 'ill repute' and the ways it affects the desires of all the characters in her direct orbit. It's also to a lesser extent about city vs. small town, which can also be read as vice vs. honesty but contrastingly as open-mindedness vs. small-mindedness. So there are a few good ideas in this particular mix. Unfortunately the studio imposed a happy ending onto it – an ending that simply isn't true to the story and impacts its overall effect a little.
Douglas Sirk is most famous for his 50's melodramas, known a little derogatively at the time as 'women's films'. This is an early example of this type of Sirk film. It's a pretty involving movie too. It explores a number of themes such as the emotional fallout caused by the return of a woman of 'ill repute' and the ways it affects the desires of all the characters in her direct orbit. It's also to a lesser extent about city vs. small town, which can also be read as vice vs. honesty but contrastingly as open-mindedness vs. small-mindedness. So there are a few good ideas in this particular mix. Unfortunately the studio imposed a happy ending onto it – an ending that simply isn't true to the story and impacts its overall effect a little.