The Strange Love of Martha Ivers **** (1946, Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Judith Anderson) – Classic Movie Review 2165

Director Lewis Milestone’s deservedly much admired 1946 thriller The Strange Love of Martha Ivers mixes film noir with steamy melodrama. The result is this fascinating and riveting excursion into one woman’s nightmare. It is notable for Barbara Stanwyck’s brio turn and for featuring Kirk Douglas in his star-making film debut.

In one of her most iconic roles, Barbara Stanwyck is superb as the ruthless, domineering heiress Martha Ivers, married to weak, alcoholic lawyer Walter O’Neil (Kirk Douglas), who hides a murderous secret from her past. Her childhood companion and now a district attorney, he is the only living witness to her murder of her rich aunt 17 years earlier.

Martha’s fear rises to the surface as ex-boyfriend Sam Masterson (Van Heflin), who may know what she hides, comes back into her life, representing both security and a threat. Heflin’s Sam asks Douglas’s Walter to help Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), jailed for a crime of which she is innocent.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is Stanwyck’s show, with the star giving an all stops out tour-de-force, but Douglas makes an explosive movie debut and Scott also gives an eye-catching turn in this electrifying story of murder and obsession.

It is handled to perfection by director Milestone and sharply scripted by screenwriters Robert Rossen and Robert Riskin (uncredited) from the Oscar-nominated Best Original Motion Picture Story ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ by John ‘Jack’ Patrick.

Victor Milner’s sleek black and white noir cinematography and Miklós Rózsa’s distinguished score provide the icing on the delicious cake.

Also in the cast are Judith Anderson (as Mrs Ivers), Roman Bohnen, Darryl Hickman, Janis Wilson, Ann Doran, Frank Orth, James Flavin, Mickey Kuhn, Charles D Brown, Walter Baldwin, Catherine Craig, Kernan Cripps, Sayre Dearing, Kay Deslys, Tom Dillon, William Duray, Tom Fadden, Betty Hill, Robert Homans, Olin Howland, Gladden James, Payne B Johnson, John Kellogg, Harry Leonard, Thomas Louden, Matt McHugh, Al Murphy, Bob Perry, Ricky Ricardi, Bert Roach, Tommy Ryan, Tom Schamp, Max Wagner and Blake Edwards, who has an uncredited bit part as a sailor who hitches a ride with Sam.

Hal B Wallis produces for Hal Wallis Productions and it was released on July 24, 1946 (NYC) and September 13, 1946 (US) by the Paramount Pictures studio.

Wallis ran into Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in New York and they suggested that he go to see a play with Bacall’s old drama school classmate, Issur Demsky (aka Kirk Douglas), who recalled that Van Heflin was very helpful to him in his first time on a film set. Douglas makes his mark playing an alcoholic weakling in contrast to his later trademark tough roles.

Milestone left the film for several days in sympathy with a set decorators’ strike and Byron Haskin took over in his absence. When Wallis wanted re-shoots for more close-ups of Lizabeth Scott, Milestone refused, telling Wallis to shoot them himself, which he did, leading Milestone to say he would never work for him again.

Stanwyck influenced how she was lit and told the other actors she did not like to be upstaged. She told Heflin he should ensure he did not do the coin trick he had learned at Milestone’s suggestion to show that his character was a professional gambler during any of her important lines. She told him she had a bit of business to upstage him if she had to and raised her skirt high and adjusted her garter.

Stanwyck was indifferent to Douglas at first until she focused on him and told him: ‘Hey, you’re pretty good.’ Douglas replied: ‘Too late, Miss Stanwyck.’ But the two got on well after that.

The film entered the public domain in the United States In 1974 because the claimants did not renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after publication. Accordingly The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is available for free download at the Internet Archive.

https://archive.org/details/Martha_Ivers

Barbara Stanwyck is known as the First Lady of Film Noir after Double Indemnity, Clash by Night and The File on Thelma Jordon (another tale of a murdered rich aunt).

Lizabeth Scott, who was born Emma Matzo in 1922, made her last film Pulp in 1972. After that, she was engaged in real estate development and volunteer work for various charities, such as Project HOPE and the Ancient Arts Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Scott suffered heart failure at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and died on January 31 2015, aged 92.

Kirk Douglas turned 100 on 9 December 2016 and celebrated his 102nd birthday on 9 December 2018.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2165

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).