(Note to readers: spoilers ahead!) A very heavy melodrama from Max Ophuls (much more melodrama here than Letter from an Unknown Woman) It is based on a book called "Wild Calendar" --
Regarding the original title of the book ("Wild Calendar"), Gerald was kind enough to write in and add his thoughts on the subject:
In Lutz Bacher’s “Max Ophuls in the Hollywood Studios,” 1996, he gives background on the novel which was the basis for the film. Describing the plot of the novel: “… the events of Maud Eames’ life fail to conform to the calendar her ideal of happiness demands …” Bacher later states “At seventeen (she) loses her chance at a youthful romance” (and later) “attempts to turn back the clock at twenty nine.” Hence, I suppose a wild calendar.
For the film adaptation, the title "Caught" is much more apropos - it describes the situation of Barbara Bel Gedde's character of Leonora, trapped in an abusive marriage with a verbally abusive spouse (Robert Ryan).
When we first meet Leonara, she's a young daydreamer looking at fashion magazines with her party-girl, rich-man seeking roomate. In the book, the roomate commits suicide because she has a child out of wedlock. In the film, this has been changed, but it gives you an idea of what kind of a mood to expect.
She meets and marries Ryan's millionaire character Smith Ohlrig but soon gets to a point where they never look each other in the eye when they talk to each other. When she can't take any more of his abuse she runs away and finds a job as a receptionist in a doctor's office. James Mason is the doctor, and he's pretty much a jerk as well, criticizing her and everything from the very start. Nonetheless, he and Leonora form a relationship, even with a baby on the way.
Other than the stunning camerawork, what people tend to remember about this film is the miscarriage scene, and how it's treated as Leonora's "escape" from her tormented life. One of the doctors in the hospital just "matter of factly" states that the baby has died, and he's relieved that she no longer has to worry about the child ever being abused by Smith. One can also find a message about societal classes, especially the very last scene when Leonora's mink coat is disgarded by the James Mason character (he tells one of the nurses in the hopital to take it away because "she doesn't need it anymore"). All along, his character has tried to explain to Leonora that money does not buy happiness.
Our instructor's take on this this film is that it's about a woman caught in a patriarchal system, especially a woman in that time period, and she said "this film has not been surpassed." Could this be Ophuls' idea of what it is like to be a woman, perhaps? Also, she sees similarities between this movie and a more modern Blue Steel from 1990, directed by Katherine Bigelow and starring Jaime Lee Curtis, a film I have not seen.
Also in the class we learned that the Robert Ryan psycho is supposedly based on Howard Hughes. Hughes was the one who infamously fired Ophuls from Vendetta, so this is not surprising.
This film had no less than two directors attached to it during filming. At one point, Ophuls got very ill and had to take some time off. In the meantime, a new director was brought in - John Berry (1917-1999). He, like Ophuls was just starting his Hollywood career. However, he was let go rather abrubtly by the producers when Ophuls came back, which upset a number of people in the crew who walked off the production (writer Preston Sturges being one of them).
A very fractured behind-the-scenes story, indeed. I don't think Ophuls was happy with this film. He would direct one more picture in the United States, The Reckless Moment, also with Mason.
As a final bit of trivia, Ginger Rogers was originally supposed to play Leonora, interestingly.
Not long ago, Laura wrote a good review of this movie on her blog.