Saratoga Trunk ** (1945, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Flora Robson) – Classic Movie Review 9105

Director Sam Wood’s 1943 romantic drama Western movie Saratoga Trunk is an overblown, overextended film of Edna Ferber’s big novel about romance and revenge set against the background of the New Orleans railroad wars. Despite the ambitions and important cast, it is a misfire, and now a more or less forgotten film.

Ingrid Bergman stars as the vivacious and lovely Clio Dulaine, the 1890s shady lady with a past who comes back from Paris to New Orleans after the death of her mother, falls for Texas gambling cowboy Clint Maroon (Gary Cooper) and plots vengeance against her father’s noble family who mistreated her Creole mother.

The individual elements are tolerable, but they come together in an uneven gumbo of missed opportunities and uncomfortable performances in this stodgily written and clumsily directed tale.

Bergman just can’t get a handle on this part and Cooper seems embarrassed. Flora Robson, however, was nominated for an Oscar in 1947 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, as Angelique Buiton.

Also in the cast are Jerry Austin, Florence Bates, John Warburton, John Abbott, Curt Bois,, Ethel Griffies, Minor Watson, Maria Shelton, Helen Freeman, Sophie Huxley and Fred Essler.

Saratoga Trunk is directed by Sam Wood, runs 135 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by Casey Robinson, based on Edna Ferber’s novel, is shot in black and white by Ernest Haller, is produced by Hal B Wallis, is scored by Max Steiner, and is designed Joseph St Amand.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9105

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