This Is My Love (1954)

Director:

Stuart Heisler

Writers:

Hugh Brooke (screenplay)
Hugh Brooke (story)

Release Date:

27 October 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Get Out! My wife is what she is... because of what you are!

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman

Cast

Linda Darnell	...	Vida Dove
Dan Duryea	...	Murray Myer
Rick Jason	...	Glenn Harris
Faith Domergue	...	Evelyn Myer
Hal Baylor	...	Eddie Collins
Connie Russell	...	Herself
Jerry Mathers	...	David Myer
Susie Mathers	...	Shirley Myer
Mary Young	...	Mrs. Timberly
William Hopper	...	District Attorney
Stuart Randall	...	Investigator
Kam Tong	...	Harry
Judd Holdren	...	Doctor Raines
Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer	...	Customer

Also Known As:

Night Music (USA) (working title)
Night Without End (USA) (working title)
People Like Us (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #16910, General Audience)

Company:

Allen Dowling Pictures

Soundtrack:

This Is My Love

Rick Jason is good, but mawkish script, rest of cast are bad

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** I hate to say any film is terrible, but this one almost fits the bill. Linda Darnell and Faith Domergue are sisters; Darnell single but engaged, and Domergue married to Dan Duryea, a dancer who was in a bad car accident and is now a paraplegic. They own a restaurant, where all the plot lines conveniently converge.

Everything about the film screams early 50's potboiler/soap opera, and everything in the film is written to conveniently accommodate the plotline, which was outdated even then: Duryea was a fabulous, sexy dancer (which was the only reason Domergue could find to love him), but is now confined to a wheelchair and vents his anger on everyone he sees, setting up the plot point for her to have an affair; Darnell has a fiance, but she keeps putting marriage off so she can write her fantasies; Darnell's fiance brings a friend, Rick Jason, to meet her, and then just happens to go off and leave the two of them alone numerous times, pointedly making references about how the friend is going to steal his girl; the same song is played far too many times as Rick tries to make love to Darnell; the list of coincidences just goes on and on.

Rick Jason gives a thoughtful, restrained performance in only his 3rd film role, and is the one good thing about this movie. Everyone else in the film seems to have gotten their Masters degree from the Bill Shatner School of Overacting, and passed all their classes with flying colors. And, in a film crowded with hamminess, Dan Duryea wins the award for most flagrant, over-the-top performance in any film, ever; he yells, grimaces, convulses, accuses his wife of infidelity in a shrill falsetto voice, uses his wheelchair to dance to a sonata while everyone watches in intense discomfort (the audience included), and does god knows what else to make the film a virtual nightmare to endure.

If you are a fan of any of these actors, and especially Jason, you can probably sit through this film and enjoy it on a minimal level. Anyone else will never make it, and if they do they deserve an award of their own. It's unavailable on video or anywhere else, which is a blessing in disguise and is completely understandable once you see the film.