Undercurrent (1946)

Middle-aged bride Ann Hamilton soon begins to suspect that her charming husband is really a psychotic who plans to murder her.

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Edward Chodorov (screenplay), Thelma Strabel (story)

Stars:

Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Katharine Hepburn	...	Ann Hamilton
Robert Taylor	...	Alan Garroway
Robert Mitchum	...	Michael Garroway
Edmund Gwenn	...	Professor David 'Dink' Hamilton
Marjorie Main	...	Lucy
Jayne Meadows	...	Sylvia Lea Burton
Clinton Sundberg	...	Mr. Warmsley
Dan Tobin	...	Professor Joseph Bangs
Kathryn Card	...	Mrs. Foster
Leigh Whipper	...	George
Charles Trowbridge	...	Justice Putnam
James Westerfield	...	Henry Gilson
Billy McClain	...	Uncle Ben (as Billy McLain)

Storyline

Approaching middle age, spinster Ann Hamilton, the daughter of Science Professor David Hamilton - more affectionately referred to as Dink - is intelligent, but dowdy and unsophisticated, she who never expects to get married and does nothing beyond be her tomboyish self in an effort to attract a man. Being single does not bother her as she repeatedly turns down the marriage proposal of Dink's colleague, Professor Joseph Bangs, a man she does not love. So it is with some surprise to her that she not only likes Alan Garroway, a wealthy and handsome industrialist who is doing business with Dink, but that they fall in love and get married after a whirlwind courtship. Alan made his wealth during the war in a family started business which ended up being a parts supplier to the military for their aircraft. In their bi-coastal marriage - Alan's company's headquarters in San Francisco, while he grew up and still owns property in Middleburg, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC where he has many ...

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Plot Keywords:

whirlwind romance | husband wife relationship | industrialist | haunted by the past | father daughter relationship | 

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Taglines:

Please Don't Tell The Terrific Ending!

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

13 January 1947 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

You Were There

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,644,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was a hit at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $1,001,000 ($13.47M in 2017) according to studio records.

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Goofs

The aircraft shown flying mid-air with Ann and Alan going to Washington, D.C. and the one landing are different planes. The one flying is NC16001, the one landing is NC33651. Note the different tail on the one landing that says "Buy War Bonds".

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Quotes

Lucy: Roses don't show respect. Roses show intentions.

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Connections

Featured in Private Screenings: Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell (1996)

User Reviews

Underwhelmed

Robert Taylor, Katherine Hepburn, and Robert Mitchum all star in the MGM melodrama Undercurrent which no one will ever rank at the top 10 for any of these stars.

Hepburn is reunited with Edmund Gwenn as her father as he was in Sylvia Scarlett. This time they're a more traditional father and daughter than those fugitives on the run in that other film. In Undercurrent he's a college professor and she's his a bit long in the tooth daughter.

Young millionaire industrialist Robert Taylor gives her a whirlwind courtship and they get married. It looks like Prince Charming has arrived, but Taylor is harboring some deep dark secrets, about a brother he flies off the handle about at the mere mention of his name and about just how he acquired those millions.

Mitchum is that brother and he only has three scenes of any note, maybe about 15 minutes of the film in total. He and Hepburn did not get along and she publicly disparaged his acting abilities. He in turn thought she was one royal snob. Years later Hepburn did admit to making a mistake about Mitchum, I don't think he ever forgave her.

One person who she did think highly of was Clinton Sundberg who she saw in a play The Rugged Path on Broadway with Spencer Tracy. She was the one who influenced Louis B. Mayer to sign him and Sundberg acquitted himself well here and in MGM films for the next several years. He plays Taylor's plant manager and has a lot more sinister role than one initially suspects.

This was Robert Taylor's first film after returning from the Navy in World War II. He acquits himself well, but he and Hepburn just haven't any chemistry at all. His career really doesn't get back on track until Quo Vadis. The leaden story doesn't help either.

There are some similarities to Hepburn's film with Spencer Tracy, Keeper of the Flame, but that one was far better.

Do you think this was one Tracy passed on?