Although they made just two films together - this and There's Always Tomorrow (1956) - the director and the actress seemed perfectly suited for one another. He made melodramas; she played overwrought to perfection. The only thing missing in this one is the Technicolor treatment, something Sirk's frequent collaborating producer Ross Hunter wouldn't spring for this time. According to TCM's Ben Mankiewicz, there were disagreements between them regarding the title (Sirk wanted to use novelist Carol Brink's "Stopover") and the ending as well; the producer getting what he wanted, of course.
Stanwyck plays Naomi Murdoch, a down-in-the-dumps vaudeville actress who it's later revealed had a reason to abandon her husband and three children in their small town of Riverdale, Wisconsin, where nothing ever changes. The flimsiness of the reason is the weakest part of this drama. However, Naomi decides to return home after receiving a letter from her middle child Lily (Lori Nelson), a talented wannabe actress herself. Lily, a high school senior who idolizes the mother she believes is a famous actress, implores her mother to return for her final play before graduation. One can imagine the scandal when Naomi arrives in town unexpectedly; suddenly the play is sold out for everyone wanting to gawk at her.
Of course, not everyone in Naomi's family is as happy about her return as Lily, who envisions leaving with mother to a stage life of her own as the only ticket out of Riverdale. Naomi's husband Henry (Richard Carlson), Riverdale High's Principal, their oldest daughter Joyce (Marcia Henderson), and Henry's girlfriend Sara Harper (Maureen O'Sullivan) are the least excited, with Joyce - who's engaged to Russ Underwood (Richard Long) - bordering on hostility from resentment that she'd had to fill her absent mother's shoes. Aside from Lily, the family's cook Lena Engstrom (Lotte Stein) is perhaps the most excited, seeing Naomi's return as an opportunity for her own nuptials, and youngest son Ted (Billy Gray) finds himself desperate for his mother's love and attention.
Given staid Henry's scholastic nature, Ted's surrogate father has been store owner outdoorsman Dutch Heinemann (Lyle Bettger); he employs Ted at his store, teaching him to shoot a rifle etc. Dutch was also the reason that Naomi fled Riverdale in the first place. The two were having an affair that had progressed to a point that everybody in town knew what was going on, though Naomi believed that she was leaving before anyone would find out.
So beautiful and unique is Naomi, a fish-out-of-water in Riverdale, that she soon stirs Henry's heart anew, prompting Sara to withdraw. But while the two are rekindling their love for one another, Dutch blusters his way back into the picture, and Naomi - with a street toughness she lacked when she'd left years earlier- aims to put an end to it once and for all. When she nearly does Dutch in, the scandal is front and center again and ... this is where the ending would have been different if Director Sirk had had his way.
Stanwyck plays Naomi Murdoch, a down-in-the-dumps vaudeville actress who it's later revealed had a reason to abandon her husband and three children in their small town of Riverdale, Wisconsin, where nothing ever changes. The flimsiness of the reason is the weakest part of this drama. However, Naomi decides to return home after receiving a letter from her middle child Lily (Lori Nelson), a talented wannabe actress herself. Lily, a high school senior who idolizes the mother she believes is a famous actress, implores her mother to return for her final play before graduation. One can imagine the scandal when Naomi arrives in town unexpectedly; suddenly the play is sold out for everyone wanting to gawk at her.
Of course, not everyone in Naomi's family is as happy about her return as Lily, who envisions leaving with mother to a stage life of her own as the only ticket out of Riverdale. Naomi's husband Henry (Richard Carlson), Riverdale High's Principal, their oldest daughter Joyce (Marcia Henderson), and Henry's girlfriend Sara Harper (Maureen O'Sullivan) are the least excited, with Joyce - who's engaged to Russ Underwood (Richard Long) - bordering on hostility from resentment that she'd had to fill her absent mother's shoes. Aside from Lily, the family's cook Lena Engstrom (Lotte Stein) is perhaps the most excited, seeing Naomi's return as an opportunity for her own nuptials, and youngest son Ted (Billy Gray) finds himself desperate for his mother's love and attention.
Given staid Henry's scholastic nature, Ted's surrogate father has been store owner outdoorsman Dutch Heinemann (Lyle Bettger); he employs Ted at his store, teaching him to shoot a rifle etc. Dutch was also the reason that Naomi fled Riverdale in the first place. The two were having an affair that had progressed to a point that everybody in town knew what was going on, though Naomi believed that she was leaving before anyone would find out.
So beautiful and unique is Naomi, a fish-out-of-water in Riverdale, that she soon stirs Henry's heart anew, prompting Sara to withdraw. But while the two are rekindling their love for one another, Dutch blusters his way back into the picture, and Naomi - with a street toughness she lacked when she'd left years earlier- aims to put an end to it once and for all. When she nearly does Dutch in, the scandal is front and center again and ... this is where the ending would have been different if Director Sirk had had his way.