Chaînes du destin

...and I say that with the highest form of flattery. This nail-biter is tightly directed, moves along at a nice swift pace and never drags for even a moment. Barbara Stanwyck gives one of the finest performances I have seen by her and the rest of the cast is all around excellent as well. After Helen Ferguson is left pregnant and penniless by her jerkoff of a boyfriend (the dreamy and steamy Lyle Bettger), a series of events leaves her mistaken for the widow of a rich man. The family takes her in and the brother of her alleged widow (played by handsome John Lund) falls in love with her and everything is hunky-dory - that is, until the jerkoff ex-boyfriend comes back and starts all kinds of trouble. The cherry on top of the whipped cream here is a lovely and sympathetic performance by Jane Cowl as the mother-in-law. A classic soapy film noir!