One of my very favorite Barbara Stanwyck movies, NO MAN OF HER OWN (1950), has recently been released on Blu-ray in the
Kino Lorber Dark Side of Cinema XIX collection.
I already loved the movie, and my husband classed it as one of his top favorites at the Arthur Lyons Festival. It's extremely well done and, I would suggest, underrated. I think it says a lot about the movie that I was happy to sit down with it all over again just a handful of weeks later!
The story was written by Sally Benson and Catherine Turney from a Cornell Woolrich story. Coincidentally Turney also wrote the screenplay for Ida Lupino's
THE MAN I LOVE (1946), another new Blu-ray release I recently reviewed.
Granted, it's a rather fantastical tale of mistaken identity, but it's so extremely well written, directed, and acted that the viewer is sucked in and willingly goes along for the ride. All questions of plausibility fade away in the face of this deeply moving, highly engrossing film.
It's the story of Helen Ferguson (Stanwyck) who is unmarried, pregnant, and broke. Her sleazy boyfriend (Lyle Bettger) wants nothing to do with her.
On a train Helen meets Hugh Harkness (Richard Denning) and his pregnant wife Patrice (Phyllis Thaxter). They take Helen under their wing, and during a bathroom chat Patrice even invites the admiring Helen to try on her wedding ring.
The Harknesses are killed when the train crashes, and given the ring on Helen's finger, doctors mistake her for Patrice.
The injured Helen gives birth while in the hospital, and she finds herself on the receiving end of baby gifts from the wealthy Harkness family, who are anxious for her and the baby to come to their home. Helen gradually loses the will to tell anyone the truth about her identity, seeing as how she suddenly has financial security for her newborn baby.
Helen/Patrice eventually arrives at the Harkness home, where she and the baby are enveloped in love and protection. The late Hugh's brother William (
John Lund) gradually falls for Helen, even though he has a growing suspicion that she's not really Patrice.
And then the nasty father of Helen's baby comes to town...
Every performance in this film is outstanding, with Lund matching Stanwyck's excellence as he subtly communicates his thoughts without dialogue.
Kudos also go to Jane Cowl, who is deeply moving as William's mother; Henry O'Neill as his father; and Esther Dale as the loyal family maid. All are excellent and give this film's world considerable depth.
The supporting cast includes Griff Barnett, Dooley Wilson, Milburn Stone, and Thomas Browne Henry. Look for famed "dress extra" Bess Flowers in the country club scene.
NO MAN OF HER OWN was filmed by Daniel L. Fapp in black and white. It runs 98 minutes.
I wrote about NO MAN OF HER OWN quite extensively when I first saw it over a dozen years ago, and I'd like to invite readers to click over to that
review for additional thoughts.
I'll also mention at this point that this movie has no relationship to another film of the same name available from Kino Lorber, NO MAN OF HER OWN (1932) starring Carole Lombard and Clark Gable.
Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print is from a new HD Master from a 4K scan. The Blu-ray looks great, and although I haven't watched my Olive Films
DVD recently, it certainly couldn't be any better than this Blu-ray.
Extras consist of the trailer; two additional trailers for other Kino Lorber releases; and two commentary tracks, one by Imogen Sara Smith and the other by Julie Kirgo and Peter Hankoff. I've enjoyed commentary tracks by both Smith and Kirgo in the past and look forward to hearing these.
The other films in this set are DARK CITY (1950) and BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952). Reviews will be coming soon, with reviews from the Dark Side of Cinema XX, XXI, and XXII sets also on the way in the coming weeks!
NO MAN OF HER OWN is highly recommended.
Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.
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