Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Home Before Dark (1958)

Warner Bros.
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Jean Simmons leaves a state mental hospital after one year, only to find herself right back in the situation that put here there. She is trapped in a marriage with a man that not only does not love her, but won't admit he is actually in love with her step sister that lives in the same house. Jean tries to compensate by going on an extravagant spending spree, only to end up looking like her step sister and embarrassing everyone in a restaurant with her dress falling off. She finally comes to her senses and tells everyone off, but it takes nearly 2 hours into the film to get there. This may have been great in the hands of say, Hitchcock, but LeRoy is too afraid to take chances and as a result there is too much melodrama and not enough psychology.

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