Ten North Frederick ** (1958, Gary Cooper, Diane Varsi, Suzy Parker, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Tom Tully, Stuart Whitman) – Classic Movie Review 5798

Writer-director Philip Dunne’s 1958 20th Century Fox drama is based on the best-selling novel by John O’Hara. ‘JOHN O’HARA’S HOTLY-DISCUSSED BEST-SELLER…OF HOW THEY SINNED AGAINST EACH OTHER AND AGAINST THEMSELVES!’ Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Oh, anyway, they sold it well. It is a forgotten movie, perhaps deservedly so.

It stars Geraldine Fitzgerald as bossy, selfish wife Edith Chapin, who persuades her rich but unfulfilled businessman husband Joe Chapin (Cooper) to go into politics. But she drives him away and instead he finds a brief time of happiness with pretty young Kate Drummond (Suzy Parker), the roomie of his daughter, Ann (Diane Varsi).

It sounds from the title like a Fifties spy thriller, but, alas, it is a murky, clichéd, soapy melodrama, with an ailing Cooper looking tired and wan, and too old for the role, but fighting valiantly through the suds, along with equally stalwart performer Fitzgerald. It is partly redeemed by the fresh and appealing performances from upcoming stars Diane Varsi and Suzy Parker. Joe MacDonald’s unsuitable black and white widescreen {CinemaScope) filming does not do the movie any favours.

Also in the cast are Stuart Whitman, Tom Tully, Ray Stricklyn, John Emery, Barbara Nichols, Philip Ober, Linda Watkins, Joe McGuinn, Jess Kirkpatrick, Nolan Leary, Helen Wallace, George Davis, Fred Essler, Dudley Manlove, John Indrissano, Michael Pataki, John Harding, Mack Williams and Charles Bronson.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5798

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