The Guilt of Janet Ames

The other IMDb reviews, positive and negative, make valid points about the virtues and flaws of this obscure 1947 film. It grabbed my interest immediately in the title sequence. Russell and Douglas, almost always cast up to then in comedies(romantic or otherwise),in a dramatic film. (Easy to know it was a drama from the title and from the title music.)

And the music, all through the film--gorgeous, moving, and like no 1940's score I've ever heard. By George Dunning, it was straight out of the mid to late 1950's. A minor revelation to me, a film soundtrack buff.

Back to the fascinating cast: Betsy Blair (Gene Kelly's surprisingly wafe-like wife, who I'd only seen in "Marty"), Nina Foch (a talented, skilled "serious" actress, who made too few films), Sid Caesar (before his genius TV comic career).

Once into the film,I was grabbed by Melvyn Douglas's masterfully realistic and believable performance, not a hint of acting with a big A.

Can't say the same for Russell--she hit the right emotional notes, but always seemed to be ACTING.

One more grabber was the extended, purposely and artfully artificial trance sequences, playing out the heroine's mind. Very effective though obviously done on a low budget.

As of this writing, in Nov. 2017, the film is uploaded on YouTube in murky but watchable 15 minute segments. Definitely worth a watch.

I'm surprised THE GUILT OF JANET AMES is not better known; I find it a very affecting film, even if the fey whimsy is a little overdone in the dream sequences. From its opening moments the movie has a palpable post-war atmosphere, a melancholy feel that must have resonated with audiences at the time, many of whom had suffered grief and loss due to the war. The movie also demonstrates the increasing prominence of psychoanalysis in American culture at that time. I will not rehash the plot in detail here, since other reviewers have already done so. Suffice to say that this is the story of two people scarred by the war and how they help each other to heal. It is a story about forgiveness, new beginnings and the possibility of new love blossoming from the ashes of death. The film rides on the great talents of Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas, two of classic Hollywood's finest actors. Russell, so well known as a comedienne, excels in the dramatic psychological role of the suffering war widow Janet Ames, and Douglas is imposingly brilliant as the depressed alcoholic journalist Smithfield Cobb. Look out for a young Sid Caesar portraying a stand-up comedian (not too much of a stretch there!) and Hugh Beaumont (Beaver's dad on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) as another one of the war comrades whom Janet visits in a dream sequence.

An interesting storyline of a grieving war widow could have been a much more satisfying film. The story is told in imagery of what her husband's war buddies might have been like, but it would have been harder edged if we had been shown the real individuals. The underlying message of don't grieve too long for loved ones killed in the war through their own bravery is clear, but it falls a bit flat.

I'm afraid that for one to appreciate The Guilt Of Janet Ames one would have to have seen the Gary Cooper film Peter Ibbetson which came out from Paramount a dozen years earlier. I think that in 1947 there were probably new adult moviegoers who did not get the reference.

Based on a Daphne DuMaurier novel Peter Ibbetson is the story of a paralyzed and imprisoned man who meets and has a whole life with his true love through dreams.

In this film Rosalind Russell plays an embittered war widow. Her husband was killed by jumping on a live grenade and saving five others around him. Russell feels that none of these people could have been worthy of the sacrifice he made that got him the Congressional Medal Of Honor. She resolves to meet them all to confirm her suspicion.

One of them is Melvyn Douglas who has become quite an alcoholic since his war service. He was the editor of a newspaper and a crusading journalist before the war.

Russell gets hit by a car and his name is found in her pocket along with the other four. Nothing too serious in physical injuries, but she has a hysterical paralysis now. Douglas is sent for when they find the scrap of paper and he's known to the hospital staff.

Knowing who she is, but her not knowing him, Douglas stimulates her imagination and she discovers what the others could be like with some small bits of information. The fantasy scenes are really quite good, the best being a young Sid Caesar in a standup routine about psychological films of which this is surely one. Thinking of the recently released Spellbound, I wonder what Alfred Hitchcock must have thought when he saw Caesar's routine. It's worth seeing the film for that alone.

In the end Russell and Douglas learn a good deal about each other and themselves. The Guilt Of Janet Ames is not on par with a film like Spellbound, but it does have its moments and the stars acquit themselves well.

Loved the premise for 'The Guilt of Janet Ames', back when the fascinating subject of psychiatry was very much fashionable to portray on film and stage. It has always been a brave one and interesting from a psychological standpoint. A further interest point was the opportunity to see Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas in atypical roles, darker and more tortured and not the sparkling comedy or debonair kind of roles they were better known for.

'The Guilt of Janet Ames' is not a perfect film, can see why it is not to others' tastes, and is not on the same level of relatively similar themed films that have already been named such as 'Spellbound' and especially 'The Snake Pit'. 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' still struck me as very interesting and atmospheric, and although the first half is better than the second it always engaged me enough and deserving of more credit.

Am going to start with naming what could have been done better. The whimsy in the dream sequences for my tastes was overdone at times. Will agree with others that Sid Caesar was out of place, and not in a slight way but a case of when he appeared it took me out of the film and didn't gel tonally.

It got a little too melodramatic and silly towards the end.

However, 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' has so many good things. It looks great, being in particular beautifully and atmospherically shot. It is also beautifully scored, in a haunting and at times melancholic sense. The direction is always taut yet sympathetic. 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' also benefits from an on the most part thought-provoking script that is very insightful in what it has to say about guilt postwar and the consequences of paranoia.

Which is depicted harrowingly often, and this is evident in the story which is often suspenseful and poignant. The characters are strongly defined and both Russell and particularly Douglas provide hard hitting portrayals of true intensity and raw emotional power without being overwrought.

Overall, good if not great. 7/10.