User reviews

I have watched this film probably more than a dozen times and finally purchased the DVD even though it was only available in full TV-Sized screen format. It may be low brow and poor in most respects for a movie critic's standards, but I love it. I did not think either Hayward or Gavin did a bad or wooden job with their performances. Maybe I am just a patsy for tear-jerker style movies, but I have always enjoyed this movie, even today when it appears so dated and somewhat impoverished by today's standards of movie making. Perhaps we have become too jaded and so-called sophisticated to just sit back and appreciate a story that is reasonably well told and beautifully filmed.

Third movie-version of the Fannie Hurst novel, following successful adaptations in 1932 and 1941, this time with the glossy and unmistakable Ross Hunter touch. Susan Hayward is hardly a "back street gal" here, she's a would-be dress designer from Lincoln, Nebraska who has a meet-cute with returning soldier (and married man) John Gavin, apparently the sole heir to a department store chain. It takes a few reels to get these two together, but in the meanwhile our heroine goes to New York and then to Rome as the assistant to one of the top fashion designers in the world. Once Gavin catches up to her in Paris--and the gossip hits the fan--audiences can clearly see how dated this plot has become: a sharp, successful businesswoman wouldn't be shamed by her extra-marital affair, she'd be applauded! It isn't believable in the slightest, though producer Ross Hunter's penchant for luxurious suffering reaches almost an unparalleled peak here. The only thing Hunter can't quite fix is the chemistry between Hayward and Gavin; the stars have a comfortable, kiss-on-the-forehead type of love relationship (no big sparks), while Susan treats smitten Charles Drake so badly he completely vanishes from the scene! Vera Miles is a hoot as Gavin's alcoholic wife ("I almost forgot we had kids!"), while the screenplay pulls one astounding melodramatic event after another from its hat. For lovers of these woozy romantic pleasures, "Back Street" would be hard to top. *** from ****

Watching this film is like having only cookies and ice cream for dinner. One feels guilt-ridden and knows he shouldn't have done it, but it was so good he's almost ready to do it again...and probably will! Producer Ross Hunter was at the helm so there aren't going to be any grey settings, uncombed hair or even a dirt smudge throughout. The film is a masterwork of overproduction and color coordination...the type of film that credits the furs and the oil paintings (!) in the titles. Hayward plays a single career woman in the mid-1940's who dreams of being a successful clothing designer. These early scenes have all the period detail of the 1940's as say...1958. On one eventful meeting with a potential backer, she collides with and instantaneously falls in love with Gavin, a marine just home from WWII. Who can blame her? He's a hunky dream come true and, for a certain amount of the film, he even has facial expression. His mating ritual includes bullying Hayward across a park lawn until she falls face first into a flower patch. From then on, she's hooked. Unfortunately, they are separated by a misunderstanding or two. Cut to years later (where Hayward, 11 years older than Gavin, looks younger and he now has grey in his hair!) which sees Hayward as a designer of dresses with "line" and style. Amusing support is provided by acerbic Gardiner as her mentor and Schafer (Mrs. Howell of "Gilligan's Island") as a gossipy client. The film globe trots to Paris, London, Rome (though, for some reason, a horrific Hayward body double does all the real travelling.) In one of the films many, MANY clichés and contrivances (Hayward even states at one point that, "All the clichés are true."), the former lovebirds are reunited over the fallen-down body of Gavin's wife Miles. Here, the film takes a powerful turn into the camp stratosphere as shrewy, boozy, slutty Miles (in a stunningly vivid performance) makes the pair's lives miserable. Miles is so intensely evil and vengeful that she becomes a sort of hilarious supervillain when compared with the rather saintly, drab lovers. Her histrionics are like manna from Heaven, no more so than when she makes a triumphant and highly memorable appearance at one of Hayward's fashion shows. Gavin also has two kids. One (Marihugh) is a pretty silent Shirley Temple wannabee. The other (Eyer) is a snotty, annoying child who was scarcely ever heard from again, he so irritated filmgoers. The "Back Street" of the title is SUPPOSED to refer to a secretive, undesirable place for the mistress to be kept away on. In Hunter's version, it's a completely charming cottage in the country! Gavin provides Hayward with the cottage's first piece of decor, but note how she moves it from it's original spot so that we can have a special fade out at the end. The comic book-level melodramatics of the film are emphasized right away by titles that show Lichtenstein-esque pictures of the star trio accompanied by a typically heart-tugging Frank Skinner score. In a spiteful move against the audience, Gavin is shown in clingy swim trunks, but only briefly, from the waist up and in a dimly lit scene! Hayward shows a lot of energy and conviction in her role. Her best scenes involve several pivotal telephone calls. Another note: Grey (a charming actress who plays Hayward's sister) is the same age in real life, yet looks like she could play Hayward's mother! Did she live hard or was she denied the star lighting that Hayward got?? Hunter considered her his good luck charm and cast her in nearly everything until "Lost Horizon". Big mistake to leave her out! That was a notorious flop.

When first released some forty years ago, critics rightly complained about the soap-opera plot, the melodramatic dialog, the stock characters, and the excessive showcasing of sets and costumes. These complaints are still valid, but over the course of four decades, a realization has emerged that despite or even because of these failings, "Back Street" is a gloriously entertaining work that plays just as well now as it did back in 1961. How many other movies can claim this sort of durability? I would, however, like to point out five faults in the production. (1) Susan Hayward is a good ten or even fifteen years too old for this part. (2) The film's supposed message about the emptiness of being the "other woman" is blunted by the opulent success in which Hayward lives. (3) Vera Miles' character is so selfish and shrewish that one can't imagine why John Gavin ever married her. There should have been a line about how he'd been forced into an "arranged" marriage in order to save the family business. (4) When Gavin and Hayward meet for the first time in New York, after their initial encounter in Nebraska, he seems surprised to learn that she's now the famous fashion-designer who signs her creations "rae" -- all small letters, very chic -- even though she'd specifically told him of her plans at their first meeting. How many fashion-designers named "rae" did he think there were in the world? (5) One must wait more than forty minutes before Gavin takes his shirt off, and then he just has a dimly-lit scene where he and Hayward run out of the ocean in modest swim-wear before reclining on a beach towel. Gavin's physique deserved much more exposure than this.

Wow....this is Susan Hayward and John Gavin at their best! If you must have an extra-marital affair...they show us how it's done!!! Real class, however, not without it's drawbacks, when children are involved. This will have you grabbing for the giant Kleenex box at the end. This version is a must have for you classic collectors,because it's much better than the old 1941 black & white. Fannie Hurst sure could write these teary classics, and it's too bad there aren't writers around like her anymore. You knew there was plenty of sex in this movie but it wasn't thrown in your face, and absolutely no profanity!!! Thank God, you don't even miss it... which makes it all the more intriguing!!

I feel a great affinity with Back Street because of the way it shows that a love affair will stay exciting and endure longer because the lovers are only able to be together for short periods of time with long intervals between their meetings. The hum drum aspects of married life never changes their relationship. They are on a perpetual honeymoon. Every time they meet it is exciting and they always look forward to seeing each other. I have often thought that if I had never married my husband and just had a relationship with him like Susan Hayward had with John Gavin over the years I probably would have been happier. She had the best of both possible worlds in my estimation. A wonderful successful career and the knowledge that someone loved her passionately and completely all those years. In addition she could return that love without reservation and enjoy the happiness it gave her to do so. I bet there are thousands of married women who watched this movie and had the same thoughts as I.

That old romantic chestnut Back Street gets its third filming and a big Ross Hunter type budget with Ross Hunter type gloss. But the story is still the same.

Stepping into the shoes of Irene Dunne and Margaret Sullavan is another one of the greats and a personal favorite of mine. Susan Hayward is perfectly cast as the ultimate 'other' woman.

The original story was written in the twenties and it has been updated to the fifties and given fabulous European locations in Rome and Paris. But the story begins when Susan who is an aspiring clothing designer meets Marine John Gavin who is awaiting his discharge. It's as it always is, the guy's married as she learns on their next meeting.

One thing leads to another and pretty soon Hayward who is by now a very successful dress designer is working out of Paris where Gavin has also relocated. He's the heir to a department store chain and takes his wife and kids over there to oversee European operations.

In order for us to feel sympathy for Hayward and Gavin in their predicament you have to make the wife the world's biggest shrew. That's what Hunter did, but he cast Vera Miles totally against type. Usually Vera was a good girl on screen. But when she turned bad she was something to see. She really steals the film from Hayward not an easy thing to do against an actress who certainly played her share of bad girls. I'm surprised Miles was overlooked at Oscar time for this performance. In fact traditional casting would have had Hayward the drunk and slutty wife and Miles the understanding mistress.

I can only imagine that Rock Hudson had other commitments because the role of the husband is perfect for him. John Gavin however does a very good job in the part.

Look for a nice performance from Reginald Gardiner as the fashion designer who makes Hayward a protégé. Had this been done at 20th Century Fox instead of Universal, the part would have been Clifton Webb's.

This is a nice version of Fannie Hurst's story of a woman who sacrifices her legal happiness for her man. Maybe Back Street is due for another remake. I can see Meryl Streep now as the either the wife or the mistress.

Try to understand that 1961 was the dawn of the sexual revolution predicated on the birth control pill; therefore everything in this movie reflects the pre-1961 era when people were often locked into marriages -- good or bad.

This glamorized version opens the story up from simple people in the 1932 and 1941 versions and makes them self-assured, very good-looking, and easy-street rich. This allows the cameras to give us beautiful vistas of Rome, Paris and London --- as they were before the Great Tourist Invasion which began in 1965 when Pan American World Airways broke with the IATA cartel and slashed fares to Europe, allowing folks like us to join the rich and go there. Now I can tell you that Susan Hayward's Paris hotel was definitely the RITZ -- the Rue Cambon entrance -- the back street entrance near the Ritz Bar where Hemingway evicted a rich woman's pet lion by throwing said lion out on the sidewalk.

Under David Miller's able direction, the narrative is kept solid; even though it's hard to find sympathy for the romantic problems of two persons who otherwise have it all.

Not available on DVD, you can find a VHS on eBay; but it won't be cheap.

I've never read - and don't intend to read - the Fanny Hurst novel of this name that was behind the series of movies based on it, so I don't know if it took any stand on Rae Smith's decision to spend her life waiting for the odd free moment from a married man whom she chooses as her life lover. Did it condemn her for that decision? Did it condone it? I do know the 1940s movie adaptation, with Charles Boyer and Margaret Sullivan, which never takes a stand on the issue. This movie doesn't either. Not to do so by 1962, when this movie was made, must have seemed strange to at least some women.

There is almost nothing to recommend this movie, I'm sad to say. The script, unlike the 1940s one, is full of gaping holes. It takes repeated suspensions of disbelief to get through this. The wife, who was almost invisible in the 1940s version, is very visible here, and very disagreeable, no doubt to make Saxon's cheating on her more tolerable. Still, this time, unlike in the 1940s version, it makes no sense that Saxon wouldn't divorce her, as this time he has the family money, whereas in the 1940s version it had come from his wife's father. Making the Saxon boy a 12 year old child, rather than an adult teen as in the 1940s movie, makes his denunciation of "the other woman," Rae Smith, rather bizarre, especially since there are no affectionate scenes between the Saxon children and their mother and we have every reason to believe that they seldom saw her.

Indeed, I could go on and on about the things that don't make sense in this movie, but I don't see the point in kicking a dead horse.

The only positive thing I found to like in this movie was the sight of Susan Heyward. She is truly, stunning beautiful throughout, often dressed to the nines. Her acting is fine, I guess, but the character so difficult to respect in 2012 that I didn't pay a lot of attention to it.

I've never seen the first sound version, with Irene Dunne.

So, a worthless script that tells a sad story, with a very beautiful actress well dressed. If that works for you, fine. If not, take a pass on this difficult to explain movie.

Many of the past reviewers of BACK STREET make good points in their comments on the film, stressing its clichés, its contrivances, its lack of real sincerity and emotion. Although I can see these points here and there, I have been hooked to this film ever since I saw it as a teenager, in the early sixties. Does this attraction have to do with the story itself? For me it does, no matter how rehashed it may be. Does it have to do with the characters? Yes, no matter how trite and unoriginal they may be. Does it have to do with the actors? CERTAINLY, especially Susan Hayward, an actress I admire profoundly, who is capable of keeping my attention as few others can, and who always dazzles with with her technique and capacity to be true, no matter how trashy the material originally is. Of course, BACK STREET owes a lot to its production values, the cinematography, the sets and gowns, but the motive of my attraction lies somewhere else, and it must be deep in myself, an area that was already sensitive to the film's values when I first saw it as a boy of 13.

In Lincoln, the ambitious aspirant-designer Rae Smith (Susan Hayward) has an incident with a wolf department store businessman and is rescued by the Marine Paul Saxon (John Gavin). They immediately fall in love with each other and spend the night together. On the next morning, Paul needs to return to Chicago and calls Rae to go with him. However she misses the plane and Paul travels alone. Soon she learns that he is married with children and she is convinced by her sister to move to New York where she succeeds in the fashion world. Paul, who owns a department store chain, stumbles upon her on the street and their love is rekindled. However, Rae decides to leave New York and her boss and partner convinces her to open a store in Rome. Some time later, they meet each other again and Rae learn that Paul is indeed unhappily married with the alcoholic Liz Saxon (Vera Miles). They have a love affair and Paul buys a country house at the countryside of France where they spend their leisure time together. But their lives shatter when Paul's son discovers their love affair.

"Back Street" is a film with a melodramatic storyline that looks like a soap-opera with a tour through Lincoln, New York, Rome, Paris and the fashion world in beautiful sets and costume designs. Susan Hayward, seventeen years older than John Gavin, is his romantic pair in this tragic love story, but she is a great actress and convinces in the role of Rae. The cinematography, art direction, set decoration are amazing and the conclusion is decent. However is recommended for specific audiences. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Esquina do Pecado" ("Corner of the Sin")

Rae Smith, a talented and successful fashion designer, is the other woman in the sour marriage of Paul and Liz Saxon. Paul is the fabulously rich department store chain owner. Liz is a vicious, parasitic alcoholic who likes having the security of her marriage to Paul from which to conduct her little affairs. Easily manipulated, Paul just can't get rid of Liz to take up with Rae. From Rae's point of view, of course, Paul is the only love of her life and no other man could ever enter her bed. During the lengthy periods when the creaky plot separates her from Paul, she appears to take a vow of chastity.

Divorce is out of the question since Liz won't give Paul a divorce. Under the old fault-standard for divorce, the innocent party could prevent divorce (yet he fails to take advantage of Liz's adultery, mental illness, or alcoholism to sue her for divorce). Just walking out on Liz without a divorce is also impossible because Liz just attempts suicide to bring him back--a tactic which in real life would be guaranteed to drive him away once and for all. And then there's Paul's children, who Liz manipulates as a weapon against Paul. Somehow, Paul believes that the status quo is better for the kids than dispensing with Liz who is anything but a fit parent.

Meanwhile, poor Rae becomes fabulously wealthy but must remain as Paul's kept woman, lurking in the back streets (actually she lives in locations that are anything but the back streets; she's ensconced in lavish villas in Rome and Paris). Her great career as a designer appears to allow her to leave the office at any moment for a tryst. And so, this nonsense continues until the final castastrophe. Remember, during the Hays censorship Code era (which lingered until 1968), adulterers had to suffer terrible punishment.

The characters are completely lacking in nuance in this film. Liz is all bad. Paul is saintly, responsible, and long-suffering. Rae is incredibly talented, ridiculously loyal, self-sacrificing, and monogamous to a fault. The film has lots of soaring (but highly derivative) music, gorgeous locations, stunning costumes, and utter lack of plausible human motivation.

Anybody who can succumb to this over-produced, absurd movie has a definite weakness for weepy soap opera plots.

Even in 1961, this had to be taken as a parody of the plush, woman's picture genre. The story had already been filmed in 1932 and 1941, and was creaky by any standard. All the deluxe Ross Hunter trappings (gowns by Jean Louis, jewels by Alexandre) are even more inflated here, with Hayward's gowns designed to match the drapes in the background. The overblown extravagance of the whole production makes Hunter's epics with Lana Turner look like second-string, double feature fare. Oscar-winner Hayward began her descent into strictly camp territory with this warhorse of a soaper; 1963's "Stolen Hours" (a remake of the Bette Davis classic, "Dark Victory") and 1964's "Where Love Has Gone" (co-starring Davis!) continued the trend, until it culminated in Hayward's (indeed, the world's) pinnacle of trash, "Valley of the Dolls" (1967). But back to "Back Street." The well-worn story concerns Hayward, an impossibly chic fashion designer, who is in love with the impossibly handsome (and improbably wooden) John Gavin, a married department store heir. Gavin's wife happens to be rip-roaring alcoholic Vera Miles, who is prone to falling down drunk at parties and threatening suicide. Hayward is nobly self-sacrificing, content to be the "back street" woman for the sake of Gavin's children (who are played by utterly resistible tots). That is, until Miles becomes one of Hayward's couture clients! This is the kind of loopy film where Hayward goes from being a scrappy little dressmaker to world famous couturier in, oh, ten minutes; where elaborate scenes are set up solely to showcase Jean Louis' scrumptious creations (they have no plot bearing whatsoever); and where John Gavin is somehow allowed to play his Really! Big! Scene! as if he's had a full frontal lobotomy (of course, he's so damned gorgeous, you really don't care). Oddly enough, Miles walks off with the film--her teeth are so firmly set into the scenery, you couldn't remove her if you tried, unless you wanted to pull back a bloody stump. (Lana Turner would never have let a supporting player upstage her show!) Hayward clearly took note to never let that happen again, and would give nothing but nostril-flaring, eye-bugging performances for the balance of her career. Look also for Natalie "Lovey Howell" Moorehead in a small but hilarious role as one of Hayward's gossipy clients. As swoony as all this is, "Back Street" is perfect lowbrow entertainment with highbrow trappings, and a sad reminder that, once upon a time, Hollywood DID make stuff like this--when even "bad" movies at least had a healthy shot of glamour to make them enjoyable.

I first saw this movie when it was released in 1961 as a freshman in college. Several of us skipped classes and went to the movies. We all sobbed our hearts out at this sad story. Of course, John Gavin was soooo handsome and we all fell in love with him. I was given this as a stocking stuffer for Christmas several years ago as I went through a sort-of other woman thing(he was getting divorced though). Today the movie is rather dated but it still evokes a tear at the end. I consider this a "chick-flick" probably for the older set and not the sophisticated females of today.

If your're one of those people who think that old movies have dated story lines, then don't watch this wonderful heart wrenching tale of love and heartbreak. I get so tired of reading reviews people write after they see a movie that deals with emotional struggles in a time when Hollywood was at it's best. They criticize the clothes. the plot, the implausibility and Hollywood itself for even making the film. This is a beautiful and vivid tale and certainly one of Susan Hayward's finest roles. Can you imagine what people will think of Star Wars 50 years from now. Although adultery is morally wrong now as well as then, people commit it all the time but never in such a beautiful way as what you will see here. The lesson here is that there can be consequences, even for rich and beautiful people. Some call this a woman's movie, but John Gavin certainly is the driving force in the relationship. Vera Miles is perfect as the bitchy, alcoholic wife.

The Universal/Ross Hunter film era of the 1950's was at its prime when director Douglas Sirk was at the helm. However, once Sirk took an early retirement in 1959, the Universal/Hunter team could not match the quality of the Sirk flicks with their assembly line of homogeneous, sudsy replications, which started with 1960's "Portrait In Black" and ended with the 1966 film "Madame X". But boy did they try! And 1961's "Back Street", the dated, recycled tale of a woman's sacrifice, was no different.

This time around, producer Ross Hunter recruits fading star Susan Hayward and his favorite up-and-coming star(who never came up, by the way)John Gavin, to play lovers torn apart by circumstance. Hayward plays Rae Smith(rae, all lower-case), a wannabe fashion designer stuck in Podunk, U.S.A. Rae, in an outrageous serious of coincidences, meets Paul Saxon(Gavin)while he is on a lay-over in Podunk, and they begin a brief romance. We all know the romance won't last - and it doesn't. Rae's car runs out of gas while she is on the way to meet Paul for a flight to Chicago. He thinks she has stood him up. Years pass and Rae becomes a top designer....remember, this is Ross Hunter-land, where characters fall in love in minutes and the women become rich & successful seemingly overnight. Many years later, Rae and Paul meet again. But this time, a woman, not circumstance, try to tear them apart. And who is this woman? Why, it is none other than Paul's alcoholic, nut-job wife, played to crazed perfection by the always reliable Vera Miles. Rae somehow manages to accept being Paul's kept woman, while he tries valiantly to deal with his psychotic wife. This can't be going to a pretty place - and it doesn't. Tragedy ensues for all.

While Hayward receives top-billing, it's actually Miles who steals her thunder with a fantastic performance. And John Gavin is....well....John Gavin - stiff, stoic and simply beautiful. "Back Street" tries to be a lot of things - heart-wrenching, three-hanky weeper; emotionally-gripping drama; a showcase for Hayward. And it fails in all areas. Where it does succeed is in being a chunk of mass-produced melodrama - a hastily thrown together women's movie. But somehow, someway, Ross Hunter takes some beautiful gowns, sparkly sets and throbbing music(courtesy of the always dramatic Frank Skinner), and makes this nonsense work. At least for fans of this schlock.

For me, "Back Street" has always been a wonderful film. Each time you watch it, it takes you back to a wonderful time in the early 60s when so many films were developed. Others have mentioned "Imitation of Life" and "Madame X," and I agree that they are especially fine movies as well.

But, of course, what sets this film apart is the stars: Susan Hayward, John Gavin and Vera Miles. I detested Vera Miles' character in the movie, but Vera did an extraordinary job in this part.

I don't agree with the adultery part of the movie, but it is the catalyst of the film - Rae's and Paul's love for one another and the unhappiness that it brings to all involved. Rae, Paul, Liz and their children. It is a love that shouldn't happen but does. I think it is a beautifully crafted movie. I cried like a baby at the end!

I miss the stars (the legends of Hollywood of the 50s and 60s). They just don't make movies like those of the 50s and 60s any more...really quality films!

This film asks too much of the still very beautiful Susan Heyward,who is excellent, but can't save this movie from itself. Amateurish script,poor direction, poor supporting cast with over the top, overly dramatic scenes doom this picture.