24 Hours of a Woman's Life (1952)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Victor Saville

Writers:

Stefan Zweig (novel)
Warren Chetham Strode (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 August 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

How Many Women Would Do What Linda Venning Did?

Plot:

A writer tells a crowd in a café about a woman he knows, who once feel deeply in love with a desperate, compulsive gambler.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Gambler | Roulette | Monte Carlo | Suicidal

Cast

Leo Genn	...	Robert Sterling
Peter Jones	...	Bill
Richard Todd	...	The Young Man
Cyril Smith	...	Harry
June Clyde	...	Mrs. Roche
Mark Baker	...	Mr. Rohe
Moultrie Kelsall	...	Murdoch
Joan Dowling	...	Mrs. Barry
Trader Faulkner	...	Mr. Barry
Isabel Dean	...	Miss Johnson
Peter Illing	...	M. Blanc
Jeanne Pali	...	Mme Blanc
Peter Reynolds	...	Peter
Mara Lane	...	Alice Brown
Robert Ayres	...	Frank Brown

Also Known As:

Affair in Monte Carlo (USA)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:75 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16341, Adult Audience) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Company:

Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)

Movie Connections:

Remade as 24 heures de la vie d'une femme (2002)

Had Unfulfilled Potential

This movie version of the Stefan Zweig story is worth seeing, but it has a lot of unfulfilled potential, and it could have been much more memorable. The story has been filmed several times, and indeed the novella seems ready-made for a movie. It combines an interesting setting, compulsive gambling, suicidal tendencies, a love affair, crime, and quite a bit more into a concise story that plays out in the space of just one day. At the same time, there are some challenges in making it into a movie, since much of the force of the story comes from the psychology of the characters, rather than from their actions.

The various movie versions have each chosen different ways of framing the main narrative. In this adaptation, the main story is told as a flashback by a writer played by Leo Genn, whose character also played a role in the main story itself. Genn's character is actually a little underused, and doesn't allow him to use some of his best strengths as an actor, but the character itself is a suitable choice for the narration.

The story takes place in Monte Carlo, and it includes a lot of location footage. But, at least in the public domain print (which could be the problem), the setting and scenery are never quite as striking as you would have expected them to be. Many other movies have used the same setting to more memorable effect.

The main story has Merle Oberon suitably cast as the young widow who becomes irresistibly attracted to a desperate gambler, and who tries to save him from his addiction to roulette. Oberon's rather ethereal, dreamy presence makes her character's actions seem believable. She is hindered, though, by some weak dialogue that sometimes reduces her deeper feelings to the level of clichés.

The gambler character is never fleshed out, and Richard Todd plays him in a one-dimensional fashion. To some degree, this is supposed to be the character's nature, but even a little more of a sympathetic side could have made the story more powerful. Todd, though, is also hindered by some stale dialogue, even more so than Oberon. The conversations between Oberon and Todd ought to have been the centerpiece of the movie, and with better dialogue they could easily have evoked more passion and tension.

The story itself focuses attention on the desire of a woman to change a man who really does not want to change all that much. As such, it is a thought-provoking character study, and it provides some useful ideas to think about. In this particular adaptation, the themes are all there on the surface, but they are never examined as deeply as they could have been. It is still adequate as a dramatic story, but it had the potential to be more than that.