Entre el amor y el pecado

This is a well-crafted "love triangle" movie in the visual style of film noir, but without the plot development typical of film noir. No murders, gangsters, or cops. The cinematography is excellent and Preminger shows his mastery as a director, eliciting stellar performances from Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, and Henry Fonda.

Crawford in particular shows her star quality with superbly nuanced articulation and facial expressions. Her opening lines are amazing to listen to, her voice quavering nervously to show that she is under tremendous emotional pressure.

Dana Andrews gives probably the best performance of his career as the cheating husband who really wants to make things work, but is torn between his neurotic wife, his adorable kids, and his mistress.

Henry Fonda gives a brilliantly understated characterization of an eccentric war-torn hero hiding behind a veneer of gentleness and innocence, who cleverly but compassionately manipulates the situation in order to bring about a satisfactory resolution.

There a few plot twists and a happy ending. Highly recommended.

Commerical artist Daisy Kenyon (Joan Crawford) is in love with married Dan O'Mara (Dana Andrews). She wants him but realizes he'll never divorce his wife (Ruth Warrick). She instead marries a man she doesn't love (Henry Fonda) to break it off with Dan completely. But things don't turn out all that well...

This starts off as a very interesting Crawford movie. It's beautifully shot in a film noir style which gives an appropriate tone to the film. She plays a woman who wants to move ahead but can't because of her love for the wrong man. The direction is good, the dialogue sharp and the acting is great by Andrews (never more romantic) and Crawford (never stronger). But it falls apart completely at the halfway mark and turns into a dreary romantic triangle. The ending especially was SO predictable it had me rolling my eyes. Still this is worth seeing for the direction and acting alone. Also there's a strong subplot dealing with child abuse! So this is worth seeing. I give it a 7.

In the early scenes, Crawford has a dog that looks like a border collie. His name is Tubby and she appears to dote on him. Suddenly, he disappears.

That said, this is one of Crawford's very best movie's. Twentieth Century Fox, and Otto Preminger, did beautifully by her.

So many things to say ...! It takes place in the neighborhood where I was born and still live. The Greenwich Theater, where Joan attends a movie, was a staple of Greenwich Village. When it was twinned it started showing less interesting things but it was still a landmark. Then it was torn down and in its place stands a health club.

The diner where Henry Fonda waits for Crawford while she's at the movie is still there. The curtain in its window looks the same -- almost 60 years later.

Crawford and Dana Andrews make a somewhat unlikely torrid romantic duo. But they work well together. The same can be said for Crawford and Fonda. Their romance is a bit more implausible but, again, they are directed beautifully and advance the plot admirably.

In a sense, this is Fonda's closest brush with film noir. He is a vet who has also lost his wife. The scene in which he thrashes around a nightmare is brilliantly staged. The background music there, as elsewhere, is excellent.

Most of the characters speak in a sort of Henry Higgins manner. "Hurricane" is pronounced just as Eliza Doolittle was taught to say it: "hurricen." Crawford always had that quality -- "syew" for "sue," "cahn't" for "can't." But the movie withstands these petty issues. It's exciting and it is beautifully cast. Ruth Warrick is superb in the small role of Andrews's wife. Peggy Ann Garner is too, as one of his daughters. So is the girl playing his other daughter. And Crawford's roommate, whose name I don't recognize, is convincing as well.

This is one of the lesser known vehicles of all three of its stars and not one of Preminger's better known, either. But it's fascinating and deserves kudos for all concerned.

Though the second half descends into more suds than the first, the movie is more uncompromising than I expected. Daisy (Crawford) gets caught up in a triangle between married man O'Mara (Andrews) and returning soldier Lapham (Fonda). The latter is a sweet guy who more importantly wants to marry her, while the high-powered attorney O'Mara seems more interested in himself. The trouble is Daisy can't seem to resist the self-centered attorney. Worse, he's got two loving little girls at home and a wife who would respond if he just treated her right. So, Daisy's head is pulled in one direction, while her heart is yanked in the other.

Surprisingly, it's really Andrews's movie as he plays the cad to forceful perfection. At the same time, dear Joan's more restrained than expected as she anguishes over the next tug on her heart strings. Fonda slyly low-keys it until the end when we finally get some insight into the ex-soldier's taciturn style. Together, the three play off one another effectively, and they better since their interactions comprise the movie.

The first half sets up the predicament pretty compellingly as we get to know the three main characters. It's hard to like O'Mara and his abrupt manner until we see him soften with his enchanting daughters (Garner & Marshall). Then too, the problems with his wife appear more his doing than hers. But is divorce the answer and does Daisy really want something more permanent with a guy who would leave such a promising family, especially with a nice guy like Lapham waiting in the wings.

No need to give away the ending, except I think it's more unsparing than I expected, particularly for the two little girls. All in all, it's Joan hitting the right emotional keys, even if Andrews steals the film.

I liked this film a lot because it's a rare movie where Joan Crawford doesn't overshadow her male co-stars and here she is pitted up against two fine male actors who match her emotions and intelligence. Dana Andrews was never better stepping out from his usual good guy roles to play a heel with compassion. Mr Andrews acting is both subtle and emotinaly strong. Coming off his strong performance a year earlier in the Best Years of Our Lives he was clearly at his peak at this time. There is a lot going on in this film from suggestions of child abuse on the part of Ruth Warrick to an interesting spin on the theme of infidelity where the most sympathetic character is the "other" woman Daisy Kenyon. I can see why this role would have appealed to Ms. Crawford having played variotions on it in "The Women" and "Rain" among others throughout her career. She is the wise one here and it makes the movie very interesting for that reason. I won't say who wins her in the end but it leaves a nice smile on your face and you have a little laugh to boot.