Home
search
more | tips
SHOP RECKLESS...
Amazon.com Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk Amazon.de Amazon.fr
IMDb > The Reckless Moment (1949)

The Reckless Moment (1949)

advertisement
Register or login to rate this title
User Rating: 7.3/10 (515 votes)

Overview

Director:
Max Ophüls
Writers:
Mel Dinelli (adaptation)
Henry Garson (screenplay)
more
Release Date:
29 December 1949 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Film-Noir
Plot:
After discovering the dead body of Bea Harper's lover, Bea's mother Lucia hides the body under the assumption... more | add synopsis
User Comments:
The Fragile Surface of Middle-Class Life more

Cast

 (Complete credited cast)

James Mason ... Martin Donnelly
Joan Bennett ... Lucia Harper
Geraldine Brooks ... Bea Harper
Henry O'Neill ... Tom Harper
Shepperd Strudwick ... Ted Darby
David Bair ... David Harper
Roy Roberts ... Nagel
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
The Blank Wall (USA) (working title)
more
Runtime:
82 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
UK:12 (re-rating) (2005) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #13937) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15
MOVIEmeter: ?
V 6% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Lucia Harper: Just once, David, I'd like to see you fully clothed. more
Movie Connections:
Version of The Deep End (2001) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
21 out of 23 people found the following comment useful:-
The Fragile Surface of Middle-Class Life, 1 May 2003
Author: mackjay from Out there in the dark

Burnett Guffey's fluid camera pulls the viewer into THE RECKLESS MOMENT, grasping and constantly renewing our gaze. Lucia's (Joan Bennett)lakeside house seems impossibly enormous and labyrinthine as the heroine moves through it in a near-somnabulistic state. The camera's grip on the viewer is no less powerful when Lucia goes outside the house: this is because the dangerous outer world has invaded the safe American family home. For 80 minutes, the two worlds will be inseparable.

Others here have praised Joan Bennett's performance. It is also of interest to note that this is Bennett's transitional picture from single woman to matriarch. One year earlier, the actress appeared in THE SCAR, a still-underrated, oppressively dark film noir in which she is not a femme fatale--as she had so memorably been in SCARLET STREET and THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW--but a lonely doctor's receptionist drawn into the shadowy scheme of her lover/employer. Beginning with THE RECKLESS MOMENT, Bennett would go on to embody several maternal characters: among the most noteworthy would be in the next film, FATHER OF THE BRIDE.

The mother character is important here because it re-casts the family melodrama in Post-War terms. It is the mother, not the absent, disembodied father, who must restore the normality of her household. This is no weak, helpless woman. Lucia demonstrates assurance and bravery from the very beginning, as she enters the seedy underworld of Ted Darby, her young daughter's lover, played brilliantly by a virtually ignored Sheppard Strudwick. Later, when things go horribly wrong, Lucia never tells her husband about it. It is up to her to maintain a grip on the safe veneer of middle-class life.

At every turn, Bennett is matched by James Mason as Martin Donnelly. This a role Mason would be better know for, if this film had any real circulation apart from pirated video copies. For some reviewers, Martin is the most interesting character: his development is far more dramatic and thorough than that of the heroine. Mason is completely inside Donnelly and forces the viewer to believe the transition.

The film's supporting cast has little to criticize apart from David Blair as Lucia's incredibly annoying son. The seemingly ubiquitous Roy Roberts makes a authentically frightening villain. And Geraldine Brooks shows why this actress was so often cast in films during this period. There are several bit players to be noted: Kathryn Card and William Schallert, to name a couple. who, like Strudwick and Bennett herself would go on to later careers on the small screen.

THE RECKLESS MOMENT is badly in need of restoration and distribution on home video.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more

Message Boards

Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for The Reckless Moment (1949)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Significance of shopping list? jp63
Television Showing in the UK (BBC2) Danielle_May
DVD Release? Please, Please, Please bscarrol
DVD release in Sept. 18, 2006 famalberts
This was shown at the... danielj_old999
more

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Shed No Tears Black Angel The Two Jakes Tracked by Bloodhounds; or, A Lynching at Cripple Creek Ghost
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
IMDb Drama section IMDb USA section Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.