This remake of the 1934 classic, based on a hit play (and turned into a critically successful off Broadway musical in the 2010's), has been updated to the present day and has some tragic twists that are quite haunting. A perfect cast gathers together for this story about a mysterious man (Monte Markham) who shows up out of the blue and becomes involved with a distinguished family, falling in love with the beautiful Yvette Mimieux and touching the older members of the family (Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy in outstanding performances) even as others (particularly Mimieux's suitor, Bert Convy) look on him with suspicion. Kerwin Matthews, Priscilla Pointer and future first daughter Maureen Reagan are fine in smaller roles.
"You're the most wonderful wife a man could ever have" says Douglas to Loy after she calls him the gentlest man she's ever met, and to see these two old pros from MGM together again is a tear inducing moment. Yes, they could have tried to get William Powell, but Douglas, then on a career renaissance after "I Never Sang For My Father", is wonderful and Loy is as lovely as she was in her heyday as the queen of Hollywood. Douglas quietly expresses his feelings about Markham who looks on at the wheelchair bound man without words. And a scene with Markham and Loy (where she reveals her grief over losing a daughter) is another emotional highlight.
This is evidence, at least on film, that death is sweet, at least in human form. The poetic script is gorgeously sweet as Markham's "Mr. Smith" questions why people fear him. His scenes with Douglas in particular are truly profound, and his ability to listen as well as reveal his own truths are wonderful. The pause of death around the world are filled with horrific unseen images of war casualties and burn victims, all suffering and waiting for death to visit. This shows how death can't really afford to take a holiday and how much a part of life it is, beautiful in one sense yet troubling in others.
"You're the most wonderful wife a man could ever have" says Douglas to Loy after she calls him the gentlest man she's ever met, and to see these two old pros from MGM together again is a tear inducing moment. Yes, they could have tried to get William Powell, but Douglas, then on a career renaissance after "I Never Sang For My Father", is wonderful and Loy is as lovely as she was in her heyday as the queen of Hollywood. Douglas quietly expresses his feelings about Markham who looks on at the wheelchair bound man without words. And a scene with Markham and Loy (where she reveals her grief over losing a daughter) is another emotional highlight.
This is evidence, at least on film, that death is sweet, at least in human form. The poetic script is gorgeously sweet as Markham's "Mr. Smith" questions why people fear him. His scenes with Douglas in particular are truly profound, and his ability to listen as well as reveal his own truths are wonderful. The pause of death around the world are filled with horrific unseen images of war casualties and burn victims, all suffering and waiting for death to visit. This shows how death can't really afford to take a holiday and how much a part of life it is, beautiful in one sense yet troubling in others.