CONNECTION TO PREVIOUS ENTRY: Dick Powell
SOURCE: Personal Collection, Kino Lorber DVD
STARRING: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Raymond Burr
CO-STARS: Jane Wyatt, Byron Barr, John Litel
DIRECTOR: Andre de Toth
STUDIO: United Artists
SUMMARY: John “Johnny” Forbes (Powell) is an average middle class husband and father living in Los Angeles. He is bored with his routine. His dutiful (and frankly dull) wife, Sue (Wyatt) does all she can to make sure Johnny adheres to his routine, much to his dismay. When he expresses indifference to sticking to his schedule, Sue acts bewildered. It appears to be the classic case of Johnny and Sue being a carefree, spontaneous couple, then marriage and later a child happens. Johnny even inquires as to what happened to them, and Sue responds that she had a baby. While Johnny is devoted to his family, he is bored. While at work as an insurance adjuster at the Olympic Mutual Insurance Company, Johnny’s life is about to get spiced up when he meets with private investigator MacDonald (Burr). MacDonald was hired by Olympic to investigate the activities of Bill Smiley (Barr), a man who is currently serving jail time for embezzlement. Olympic had lent Smiley a sum of money. He failed to repay his obligation to Olympic, and then was arrested for embezzling. Johnny visits Smiley’s girlfriend, model Mona Stevens (Scott) and learns that Smiley had used some of the embezzled funds to purchase many expensive gifts for her. Johnny is smitten with Mona and they start an affair. Also in the mix is MacDonald, who is also smitten with Mona. Johnny informs him that his services are no longer needed. Not being able to forget about Mona, MacDonald continues to stalk her throughout much of the film.
FAVORITE PART(S):
1) The scene of Mona and Johnny cruising around in the speedboat she was gifted by Smiley. This scene is a lot of fun and its probably the happiest Johnny has been in days.
2) All of MacDonald’s scenes. He is such a creeper in this movie–especially when he forces Mona to model for him. I love the end when he’s packing for her.
3) Mona showing up at Johnny’s house to feed him cold remedies and discovering that he’s married with a child and even has his wife ask her if she needs directions. Oof.
4) Sue, wanting to maintain a wholesome image for her family tells Johnny that he’ll have to continue to lie to protect their son from the scandal.
5) The ending. Sue trying to put aside her husband’s infidelity for the good of their family. She says that she and Johnny will “try.” I wonder if their marriage survives. I have a hunch that Sue will hold Johnny’s dalliance over him for the rest of their lives.
BEST QUOTE(S):
MACDONALD: She probably doesn’t appeal to you, but for me, she’s just what I told the doctor to order.
SUE: Your breakfast is on the table, darling.
JOHNNY: Where else would it be?
MONA: You’d have a hard time proving that any of those gifts were bought with stolen money.
JOHNNY: We’d have a hard time, but we’d do it.