Directed by: Lewis Milestone.
Written by: Robert Rossen & Robert Riskin based on the story by John Patrick.
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck (Martha Ivers), Kirk Douglas (Walter O’Neill), Van Hefllin (Sam Masterson), Lizabeth Scott (Toni), Judith Anderson (Aunt).
The
Strange Love of Martha Ivers is an interesting film. Some refer to it as a film
noir, and it certainly has elements of the genre – a deceitful femme fatale,
who tries to draw in the innocent hero into a web of lies and murder. And yet,
strangely, director Lewis Milestone treats it more like a melodrama – a tale of
a warped marriage between Ivers and her husband. This makes for an odd little
film. I didn’t much care what the hell happened to our “hero” – I just wanted
to get back to the warped marriage that is really the film’s core.
The
movie opens in 1928, where a young Martha Ivers is caught running away from
home again. Her parents are dead, and she is being raised by a mean, rich,
powerful Aunt (Judith Anderson, doing what she does best). She has run off with
ne’er do well Sam Masterson to join the circus, but is caught and brought home.
Sam comes looking for her that same night anyway, but when he sees Anderson
Flash
forward 18 years, and Sam (now played by Van Heflin), stumbles back into his
hometown for the first time in years. His car breaks down, and he needs to wait
to have it fixed. As he’s waiting, he meets Toni (Lizabeth Scott), and the two
plan on leaving town together the next day – that is until she is arrested. Sam
happens to notice a poster promoting the re-election of the District Attorney,
who happens to be his old friend Walter (Kirk Douglas, in his film debut), and
learns that Walter ended up marrying Martha (Barbara Stanwyck). Sam decides to
pay a visit to his old friend and see if he’ll do him a favor, and get Toni out
of jail. But Walter thinks Sam has something more sinister up his sleeve –
blackmail. He was, after all, in the house that night, and may well have seen
Martha murder her aunt. And since Walter and his father used this information
to blackmail Martha into marriage, and to put her considerable fortune and
influence behind Walter’s career, maybe Sam wants something similar.
As
the movie wears on, I got tired of all the scenes with Van Heflin’s Sam – which
is a shame since he is the leading man - unless they involved either Douglas or
Stanwyck. I certainly didn’t much care about his relationship with Toni, that
seems to be based on nothing other than the need for the hero to have a love
interest, since they don’t know each other, and Lizabeth Scott is rather bland
in her role anyway.
But
whenever Stanwyck or Douglas are on screen, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
comes alive. Stanwyck oozed sex appeal and danger, and she does a wonderful job
here as the ambitious, deceitful Martha, who you can never quite get a handle
on. Does she, deep down, really love Walter? Or does she despise him, like she
says, and really love Sam? Who is telling the truth about the drifter they
framed for her Aunt’s murder? As for Douglas ,
I always liked him in roles like this – as a sort of slimy, sort of pathetic
bad guy. Really, Walter is not much of a man, a lousy drunk, paranoid and sad
about his life with Martha. And remarkably, in his debut film, Douglas gives Walter added complexity.
Had the movie focused more on Walter and Martha, it could have been great. As it stands, there are far too many scenes of Van Heflin, who is rather forgettable in the role that although he is the central character, feels underwritten. There are too many questions about his motivation that never really add up. But watching Stanwyck and Douglas together more than makes up for Heflin and Scott’s failings. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers may not be a great film, but it is a good one.
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