FATE DREW THEM TOGETHER… AND ONLY MURDER COULD PART THEM!

After coming back to his hometown, drifter Sam Masterson (Van Heflin) learns that the girl who was his best friend as a teenager is now a businesswoman (Barbara Stanwyck) sharing a horrible secret with her husband (Kirk Douglas), the district attorney. A film noir drama that director Lewis Milestone abandoned for several days due to a strike he was sympathizing with… but a good movie came out of it anyway. Douglas is worth a look in his screen debut as the alcoholic with an unbreakable, destructive bond to his wife, but the true stars are Stanwyck and Heflin, both excellent as they go after each other. A tense story; Heflin’s sense of humor is an asset.

1946-U.S. 116 min. B/W. Produced by Hal B. Wallis. Directed by Lewis Milestone. Screenplay: Robert Rossen. Short Story: John Patrick (”Love Lies Bleeding”). Cast: Barbara Stanwyck (Martha Ivers), Kirk Douglas (Walter O’Neil), Lizabeth Scott (Antonia ”Toni” Marachek), Van Heflin (Sam Masterson), Judith Anderson, Darryl Hickman.

Trivia: Blake Edwards has a small role as a sailor. Byron Haskin served as director during Milestone’s absence.

Last word: “I reach up and pull out my first script, ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers’, with its scratched-up cover. I smile at the memories and open up the script to see what I wrote: ‘My first film! Lauren Bacall got the producer to see me in a play in New York. He gave me the part! Van Heflin was very helpful. Barbara Stanwyck ignored me for two weeks. Then she seemed to look at me for the first time and said, ‘You’re a good actor’. I said, ‘Too late, Miss Stanwyck’. But she and I became good friends”. (Douglas, “Let’s Face It: 90 Years of Living, Loving, and Learning”)

IMDb