No Man of Her Own **** (1950, Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Phyllis Thaxter, Jane Cowl, Lyle Bettger) – Classic Movie Review 2258

Director Mitchell Leisen’s 1950 movie is an engrossing, complex and powerfully acted mix of film noir thriller and romantic melodrama based on a splendidly far-fetched crime novel called I Married a Dead Man by Cornell (Rear Window) Woolrich, writing as William Irish, and credited as Irish in the film’s opening credits. Ditching Woolrich’s fun title, they’ve cheekily borrowed one from a 1932 movie No Man of Her Own, the only film to star Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, who married in 1939.

Barbara Stanwyck lands an ideal role as heroine Helen Ferguson, rejected after becoming pregnant by her lover Steve Morley (Lyle Bettger), then swapping identities with a pregnant wealthy widow called Patrice Harkness (Phyllis Thaxter), who’s been killed when their train crashes. She’s taken in by Thaxter’s kindly intended in-laws Mr and Mrs Harkness (Henry O’Neill, Jane Cowl). But then her old flame Steve turns up like the proverbial bad penny and tries to blackmail her. Plus the Harkness couple’s son Bill (John Lund) falls for her, thinking she’s the widow of his dead brother.

With a screenplay by Sally Benson and Catherine Turney, it is all perfectly packaged and driven home with expert performances, ultra-smooth direction by Leisen and stylish black and white cinematography by Daniel L Fapp. However, the main triumph belongs to Stanwyck, who somehow makes it all seem credible. It was the second film she made with director Leisen. And Lund does well too, particularly as his role is way less interesting than Stanwyck’s.

Also in the cast are Richard Denning, Carole Mathews, Harry Antrim, Catherine Craig, Esther Dale, Milburn Stone, Griff Barnett, Gaylord Pendleton, Stan Johnson, Georgia Backus, Casablanca’s Dooley Wilson, Ivan Browning, William Haade, Selmer Jackson, Laura Elliott, Virginia Brissac, Ray Walker, Willard Waterman, Dave Willock, Phil Tully, Emmett Smith, Jean Ruth, Casey Rogers, Jean Andren, Ashley Cowan, Charles Dayton, Jimmie Dundee, Kathleen Freeman, Thomas Browne Henry, Edna Holland, Esther Howard, Stan Johnson and Dick Keene.

It was remade in France in 1982 as I Married a Shadow with Nathalie Baye. They didn’t trust Woolrich’s fun title either. The film was remade again in 1996 as Mrs Winterbourne starring Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake and Brendan Fraser. And there is also a 1970 Bollywood remake, Kati Patang.

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© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2258

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