Holly Parker (Lana Turner) marries to the politically ambitious Clay Anderson (John Forsythe). He is often away leaving behind his wife and their young son. She has an affair with playboy Phil Benton (Ricardo Montalban). She goes to break up with him. He accidentally falls down the stairs and dies. She leaves behind a scarf but her disapproving mother-in-law Estelle is able to retrieve it. Estelle blackmails her into running away without her family and sets her up in Switzerland with a yearly payment. In despair, she collapses onto a snowbank where she is rescued by musician Christian Torben who falls in love with her. She runs away once again and falls into drunken poverty with Dan Sullivan (Burgess Meredith) who intends to use her for blackmail.
This movie is one tragic melodrama after another. It's reductive to say that it's over-the-top. It's a drama worthy of a romance novel. It's based on an old play. Her marriage is never that compelling to me. It would be better if Clay is abusive. Instead, this is bland and her affair never takes off. This lack of investment early on leaves the later melodrama with a deficit. It does tie back to something more compelling and that melodramatic turn is intriguing. Overall, Lana Turner gets a juicy role and the endless melodramatic turns eventually lands on something compelling.
This movie is one tragic melodrama after another. It's reductive to say that it's over-the-top. It's a drama worthy of a romance novel. It's based on an old play. Her marriage is never that compelling to me. It would be better if Clay is abusive. Instead, this is bland and her affair never takes off. This lack of investment early on leaves the later melodrama with a deficit. It does tie back to something more compelling and that melodramatic turn is intriguing. Overall, Lana Turner gets a juicy role and the endless melodramatic turns eventually lands on something compelling.