The Strange Love of Martha Ivers | Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers | Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin | Guilt, alocoholism, murder...a nifty noir

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The Strange Love o...

	The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin Alpha Video, 2002 average customer review:based on 41 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Barbara Stanwyck mesmerizes as a woman with a past, bound by a crime to a husband she despises. Kirk Douglas quickens our collective pulses in his film debut as her disappointing, dipsomaniac spouse, while Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott bring texture to supporting roles. Everything about this 1946 film noir is intriguing, from Lewis Milestone's direction to Edith Head's costumes to the edgy and troubled characters. It takes a long, hard look at guilt and the consequences of poorly planned actions. Well worth checking out, despite a wretched title. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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Fabulous Fluff and We Love It

This is so much fun to watch. Who cares if it isn't Wuthering Heights. Fab 40's stars. Film Noir. Stars who will never be matched. Ever.

Guilt, alocoholism, murder...a nifty noir

Not only does Kirk Douglas convince in his film debut as smarmy, alcoholic, and weak-willed, but the great Barbara Stanwyck also does her thing as a domineering, dominating one-woman empire, driven by power and, as we see somewhat later in the film, lust.

But guilt is part of the picture too. Stanwyck, in the title role, was responsible when much younger for the demise of her equally domineering aunt, played with gusto by Dame Judith Anderson (before she became a dame--meaning, of course, given that title by British royalty). Douglas, as Walter O'Neil, the bespectacled (when younger) son of a greedy hanger-on to the Ivers fortune, was witness to what Martha did and never revealed the truth after she, Walter, and Walter's greedy, weak-willed father (like father, like son) lie to the authorities about how Martha's aunt died.

Sam, a much stronger guy--physically, but more so emotionally--than Walter, was Martha's friend, also when younger, and he grows up to be Van Heflin who, for some reason I can't quite fathom, every woman swoons over. Probably because of his physique, I guess. Well, anyway, he comes back to Iverstown--yep, even the town is named after Martha's family--after a stretch in the armed forces and bumps into the ever-gravelly-voiced Lizabeth Scott as Toni Marachek, a cute kid who's just gotten out of the slammer. They hit it off, but Sam is there to do more than meet a babe by accident.

Sparks fly when he and Martha meet for the first time in 18 years, but these are weird sparks indeed, and before you can say "Guilty, guilty, guilty" a few times, Martha, Sam, and Walter all have this dark stuff going on--a combination of lust and guilt--that is the real crux of this movie.

The ending is maybe too melodramatic, and the score by Miklos Rosza is absolutely too melodramatic as well. In spite of this, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a strong entry in the film noir canon and well worth watching, if not owning.

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Melodrama

Stanwyck parraine Douglas dans ce film très old-class, plus mélodramatique que noir. Pas très original, mais les acteurs sont convaincants. Pourquoi s'en priver?

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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