What an uncanny version of James M. Cain's best seller. The guy must be turning over in the grave with this rendition.
Veda as an opera singer? Come on. She couldn't play the piano and suddenly she is singing away? Rachel Evan Ward was not allowed to show the viciousness that sparkled in the 1945 performance of Ann Blyth. Blyth was a tyrant,the ultimate killer. Ward is allowed to bed down Monty but that's about it. Her farewell scene with Mama Mildred, as she prepares to leave for N.Y. is comical at best. Instead of that famous shooting scene, we have Mildred jumping all over Miss Veda. I thought I was going to see a wrestling match.
Monty is so drunk here that he had nothing to do with Mildred's going bankrupt. Instead, the blame for the demise of the business is on Wally? Remember in the '45 film when Wally said to Mildred after the business collapsed: "You Married him!"
All of a sudden, in this version, Ida is made to appear as a culprit. Then she comes running at the end to apologize when Mildred remarries Burt. (Remember in the 1945 version that reconciliation is understood when the 2 walk away together after Veda is exposed for murder.)
Monty leads the cheering section for Veda's triumph at the Hollywood bowl. The Monty we knew was incapable of that.
The way this disappointing film ends, it appears that a sequel could be possible. Let's toast to that never occurring.
Veda as an opera singer? Come on. She couldn't play the piano and suddenly she is singing away? Rachel Evan Ward was not allowed to show the viciousness that sparkled in the 1945 performance of Ann Blyth. Blyth was a tyrant,the ultimate killer. Ward is allowed to bed down Monty but that's about it. Her farewell scene with Mama Mildred, as she prepares to leave for N.Y. is comical at best. Instead of that famous shooting scene, we have Mildred jumping all over Miss Veda. I thought I was going to see a wrestling match.
Monty is so drunk here that he had nothing to do with Mildred's going bankrupt. Instead, the blame for the demise of the business is on Wally? Remember in the '45 film when Wally said to Mildred after the business collapsed: "You Married him!"
All of a sudden, in this version, Ida is made to appear as a culprit. Then she comes running at the end to apologize when Mildred remarries Burt. (Remember in the 1945 version that reconciliation is understood when the 2 walk away together after Veda is exposed for murder.)
Monty leads the cheering section for Veda's triumph at the Hollywood bowl. The Monty we knew was incapable of that.
The way this disappointing film ends, it appears that a sequel could be possible. Let's toast to that never occurring.