Review of The Reckless Moment

A very different movie from Max Ophuls' masterpiece, THE EARINGS OF MADAM DE…While her husband is away for Christmas, lonely, harried housewife Joan Bennett is blackmailed by handsome, suave extortionist James Mason. Romantic complications ensue when they fall for each other. In the end, Mason dies nobly to protect Bennett's reputation, and Bennett goes back to her husband. Mason and Bennett don't even kiss, much less sleep with each other. The plot is pure Hollywood hokum, but Mason shines as always—has he ever turned in a bad performance?—and there is some of Ophuls' signature gliding camera work. Ophuls appears to be sending up the film noir genre as much as celebrating it.