Paid in Full * (1950, Robert Cummings, Lizabeth Scott, Diana Lynn, Eve Arden, Ray Collins, Frank McHugh) – Classic Movie Review 9399

The 1950 film Paid in Full is a soapy melodrama with nice Jane Langley (Lizabeth Scott) and her nasty sister Nancy (Diana Lynn) battling over appealing Bill Prentice (Robert Cummings) and getting involved in pregnancy dramas.

Director William Dieterle’s 1950 black and white film Paid in Full is an overripe, tear-stained, soapy melodrama with nice Jane Langley (Lizabeth Scott) and her nasty selfish sister Nancy (Diana Lynn) battling over appealing Bill Prentice (Robert Cummings) and getting involved in pregnancy dramas.

Jane (Scott) is told she will die if she has a baby, but gets pregnant in order to replace the child Nancy (Lynn) lost and she feels responsible for. After Nancy and Bill marry, it turns out he still loves nice Jane.

It is all very glum, formulaic and hard-to-believe, and paints a depressing view of a woman’s lot. Eternal film femme fatale Scott is unusually cast as the good girl, and she’s not very good at it, while Cummings gives a bland performance.

Also in the cast are Eve Arden, Ray Collins, Frank McHugh, Stanley Ridges, Louis Jean Heydt, John Bromfield, Kristine Miller, Kasey Rogers, Lora Lee Michel, Dorothy Adams, Charles Bradstreet, Harry Cheshire, Gino Corrado, Jimmie Dundee, Marie Blake, Margaret Field, Ida Moore, James Nolan, Dewey Robinson, Douglas Spencer, Byron Barr as Man at Bar (uncredited), and Carol Channing as Mrs Peters (uncredited). It is Carol Channing’s film debut.

Charles Schnee and Robert Blees’s screenplay is based on the story by a doctor, Frederic M Loomis MD, a true story that originally appeared in Reader’s Digest. He said he wrote it when he couldn’t sleep one night.

It started filming in October 1948 under the title Bitter Victory, but was not released till February 15, 1950.

‘You’re Wonderful’ (Music by Victor Young, Lyrics by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans) is sung by Dean Martin.

Paid in Full is directed by William Dieterle, runs 98 minutes, is made by Hal Wallis Productions, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Robert Blees and Charles Schnee, based on the story by Frederic M Loomis MD, is shot in black and white by Leo Tover, is produced by Hal B Wallis, is scored by Victor Young (music and conductor), and is designed by Hans Dreier, A Earl Hedrick and Bertram C Granger (Set Decoration).

Gig Young was born Byron Barr but the actor in this movie had the same name. In the 1942 The Gay Sisters, he was given the role of a character called Gig Young, which he adopted as his stage name.

The cast are Robert Cummings as Bill Prentice, Lizabeth Scott as Jane Langley, Diana Lynn as Nancy Langley, Eve Arden as Tommy Thompson, Ray Collins as Dr Fredericks, Frank McHugh as Ben, Stanley Ridges as Dr Phil Winston, Louis Jean Heydt as Dr. Carter, John Bromfield as Dr. Clark, Kristine Miller as Miss Williams, Kasey Rogers as Tina, Lora Lee Michel as Betsy, Dorothy Adams, Charles Bradstreet, Harry Cheshire, Gino Corrado, Jimmie Dundee, Marie Blake, Margaret Field, Ida Moore, James Nolan, Dewey Robinson, Douglas Spencer, Byron Barr as Man at Bar (uncredited), and Carol Channing as Mrs Peters (uncredited).

 © Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9399

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