Another stylish film noir directed by Otto Preminger (Laura) with an impressive cast.
This 1953 movie stars Robert Mitchum as Frank, a former racer and sports car aficionado, who is hired as the chauffeur of a rich family by their beautiful adult daughter Diane (Jean Simmons). Howard Hughes produced this which explains Jean Simmons bullet bras and tight sweaters. This drags Frank away from his faithful girl Mary (Mona Freeman) and into a bizarre mystery. There is tension between Diane and her stepmother Catherine (Barbara O’Neil) partially created by the codependency of Diane and her father Charles (Herbert Marshall). All of this escalates into seduction, murder, guilt, sin, and a tense courtroom battle for the truth. You know, usual film noir stuff.
I love film noir, but this blog is about writers so why is it included here? Namely- the relationship between Diane and her father. Charles was a brilliant and famous novelist. He relied on his daughter’s opinion and only showed her his work as it was in progress. The importance of this role is made obvious in how Diane shares her thoughts on how her father stops writing after he marries Catherine. Frank points out how it would be normal for a man to become a lazy when he doesn’t have to work and has a rich wife’s money to live off of. However, Diane is adamant that her father’s genius has been suffocated by his bridge playing bride.
Through most of the movie, you feel like this bothers Diane more than it does Charles, yet there is a small moment where Catherine points out that he used to churn out entire chapters in a day. Charles responds quietly that he used to, yet hadn’t done so since marrying her. Even though he plays the part of the trophy husband, he secretly agrees with his daughter.
The question you need to decide is would Diane be willing to kill in order to save her father’s art and make their lives the way it was before. Dun. Dun. DUN!!!
