One of the unsung great ladies of the golden age of Hollywood was the beautiful Jean Simmons, always ladylike and fetching, yet somehow overshadowed in cinema history by stars such as friendly rival Deborah Kerr and the very similar Audrey Hepburn. Here, Simmons is closer to Holly Golightly than Sister Sarah from "Guys and Dolls", fiercely independent yet secretly longing for stability. She's returning to her small minded Nevada hometown (a precursor to Peyton Place) where she becomes torn between two old admirers, Guy Madison and Jean Pierre Aumont, dealing with Madison's nasty mother (Evelyn Varden) who makes her distaste for Simmons. Judith Evelyn, as Simmons' worried but distant widowed mother, is another obstacle, questioning every choice that her daughter makes.
As soapy as classic women's films can get, this covers every archetype seen in this type of film, often over the top and hysterically funny. Varden, it should be noted, goes from her usual Billie Burke type to literally becoming Billie Bird as she over-dramatizes the character's neuvoriche tactlessness, basically becoming a snooty version of Molly Brown who denies her own low class mannerisms while judging Simmons. Varden takes every overbearing mother of stage, screen and soaps and turns her into a human version of Godzilla, as close to a live version of a Disney villain as you will ever see. In short, Varden is deliciously horrible.
These type of films disguise their own tacky trash through colorful photography and beautiful sets. The women characters here are stronger than the men, and Simmons tries to instill her character with hidden qualities that hide the fact that she's too beautiful, classy and vivacious rather than the secretly weather beaten. Marie Blake, aka Granny Addams, looks ironically like Margaret Hamilton, aka Morticia Addams' mama, as Judith Evelyn's housekeeper. Peggy Knudeson gets some very funny bitchy lines as an old pal of Simmons, even getting a great slam in at Varden's expense. I'm sure that women audiences in the 1950's ate these type of movies up, but even with a pretty ribbon on it, trash is just trash.
As soapy as classic women's films can get, this covers every archetype seen in this type of film, often over the top and hysterically funny. Varden, it should be noted, goes from her usual Billie Burke type to literally becoming Billie Bird as she over-dramatizes the character's neuvoriche tactlessness, basically becoming a snooty version of Molly Brown who denies her own low class mannerisms while judging Simmons. Varden takes every overbearing mother of stage, screen and soaps and turns her into a human version of Godzilla, as close to a live version of a Disney villain as you will ever see. In short, Varden is deliciously horrible.
These type of films disguise their own tacky trash through colorful photography and beautiful sets. The women characters here are stronger than the men, and Simmons tries to instill her character with hidden qualities that hide the fact that she's too beautiful, classy and vivacious rather than the secretly weather beaten. Marie Blake, aka Granny Addams, looks ironically like Margaret Hamilton, aka Morticia Addams' mama, as Judith Evelyn's housekeeper. Peggy Knudeson gets some very funny bitchy lines as an old pal of Simmons, even getting a great slam in at Varden's expense. I'm sure that women audiences in the 1950's ate these type of movies up, but even with a pretty ribbon on it, trash is just trash.