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The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers
A convoluted romantic triangle is at the center of a noir-ish melodrama from 1946 called The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers that is best known today as the official film debut of a young actor named Kirk Douglas.
Martha Ivers, Sam Masterson, and Walter O'Neil were childhood friends who were all privy to a terrible secret that could easily send any of them to prison. As the film flashes to their adult lives we see that Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) is now the town's wealthiest woman and is unhappily married to Walter (Douglas), who is now the town's wimpy, alcoholic DA. As their misery is established we see Sam (Van Heflin) return to town and immediately pursued by a sultry blonde fresh out of jail named Toni (the throaty-voiced Lizabeth Scott) and you have all the ingredients for classic 40'snoir.
The screenplay starts off quite effectively, quickly establishing the hate/hate relationship between a pre-teen Martha and her wealthy aunt (Dame Judith Anderson) but once the three central characters are taken into adulthood, the screenplay becomes very murky in terms of what is going on between the three of then. Martha and Walter look so miserable and it's never made clear what got them together and why they are still together. As for Walter, he is equally tight-lipped why he's returning to Iverstown and gets the same treatment from the needy Toni, who clings to Sam like a vine from the moment he pulls into town. Ironically, the film received its only Oscar nomination for Best Original Story.
The connection of the plot points and the characters here takes a lot longer than it should, It was especially frustrating watching Toni because her character seems to be getting in the way of the initial story set up. Not to mention, as drawn as Toni initially seems to be drawn to Sam, her devotion to him does have a price. We also get two different stories regarding what happened to Sam when he grew up, but the actors are so good in their roles that we just kind of roll with it.
Kirk Douglas steps up in his film debut, playing a character we really want to have sympathy for but Douglas and the screenplay make that difficult. Heflin and Scott definitely establish chemistry, but it is the icy performance by Stanwyck, that rivals her work in Double Indemnity that really makes this movie worth investing in. Lewis Milestone's direction is solid and I loved Miklos Roza's music too.
A convoluted romantic triangle is at the center of a noir-ish melodrama from 1946 called The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers that is best known today as the official film debut of a young actor named Kirk Douglas.
Martha Ivers, Sam Masterson, and Walter O'Neil were childhood friends who were all privy to a terrible secret that could easily send any of them to prison. As the film flashes to their adult lives we see that Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) is now the town's wealthiest woman and is unhappily married to Walter (Douglas), who is now the town's wimpy, alcoholic DA. As their misery is established we see Sam (Van Heflin) return to town and immediately pursued by a sultry blonde fresh out of jail named Toni (the throaty-voiced Lizabeth Scott) and you have all the ingredients for classic 40'snoir.
The screenplay starts off quite effectively, quickly establishing the hate/hate relationship between a pre-teen Martha and her wealthy aunt (Dame Judith Anderson) but once the three central characters are taken into adulthood, the screenplay becomes very murky in terms of what is going on between the three of then. Martha and Walter look so miserable and it's never made clear what got them together and why they are still together. As for Walter, he is equally tight-lipped why he's returning to Iverstown and gets the same treatment from the needy Toni, who clings to Sam like a vine from the moment he pulls into town. Ironically, the film received its only Oscar nomination for Best Original Story.
The connection of the plot points and the characters here takes a lot longer than it should, It was especially frustrating watching Toni because her character seems to be getting in the way of the initial story set up. Not to mention, as drawn as Toni initially seems to be drawn to Sam, her devotion to him does have a price. We also get two different stories regarding what happened to Sam when he grew up, but the actors are so good in their roles that we just kind of roll with it.
Kirk Douglas steps up in his film debut, playing a character we really want to have sympathy for but Douglas and the screenplay make that difficult. Heflin and Scott definitely establish chemistry, but it is the icy performance by Stanwyck, that rivals her work in Double Indemnity that really makes this movie worth investing in. Lewis Milestone's direction is solid and I loved Miklos Roza's music too.