Naisen tulikoe

Let me start by saying I'm a HUGE Barbara Stanwyck devotee. But the role she is given in this hapless movie is so phony that nobody could have played it successfully. The story is of course, the stuff that vintage weepies are made from. And I have nothing against weepies: as long as the characters move me, I'll happily string along, no matter how ridiculous the story.

But the characters in Always Goodbye are uniformly made of paper-maché. The actors seem to know it: Ian Hunter and Herbert Marshall give mechanical performances, and Cesar Romero bounces through his role as if he's anxious to quickly get off the set.

Special note: if you detest obnoxious Hollywood child actors, little Johnny Russell's performance as Stanwyck's little boy is about as excruciating as they come. Don't say I didn't warn you.