Evies Blog

Some people call this a noir, and a estimable one. Some call it a psychological witness of guilt. I believe it’s a melodrama, but a well-crafted one. What moves it from noir to melodrama for me is that there are two frail motivating actions for the plot; the first (the death of the aunt) doesn’t have enough power to interpret the drama, and the second (a conviction of an innocent man) is barely mentioned until the kill of the movie.

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Sam Masterson (Van Heflin) is driving west when he decides to go through Iverstown. He has a car accident and has to halt in town until his car is fixed. He meets a young woman, Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott), objective out of jail and on probation for a crime she wasn’t guilty of. Sam decides to go to the district attorney to gaze if he can attend her. Years before as young kids, Sam and the DA, Walter O’Neil (Kirk Douglas), were sort-of friends, tied together by their friendship with Martha Ivers (Barbara Stanwyck) .

Now O’Neil is married to Martha. He’s running for re-election. Martha inherited Ivers Industries and is the wealthiest woman in town. She’s a force to be reckoned with. She inherited millions when her aunt fell down a flight of stairs 18 years ago…the night she and Sam were planning to speed off, when Walter was in the house with her and Sam. Her aunt (Judith Anderson), a rigid, disapproving, condescending woman, fell with the abet of a crack on the head from a cane wielded by Martha. A few years later a man was hanged for the crime, prosecuted by Walter with testimony from Martha. They married and now live a loveless life, with Walter serene the hazardous and sometimes shocked child he faded to be and Martha a controlling woman. Walter drinks heavily and Martha is contemptuous of him. Now Sam is attend, innocently, but Walter in particular is convinced Sam is out to shake them down. “He’s a gambler, a tantalizing shooter, an angle boy,” he says to Martha. “They near through my office by the hundreds. Couldn’t you ogle blackmail in his eyes? ”

Buy,Download, Or Stream The Strange Love of Martha Ivers! Click Here

Things snappily spiral down into a morass of misunderstandings, guilt, what might pass for like, and temptation. Walter loves Martha. Martha loves Sam. Sam loves Toni but is tempted by Martha. Toni loves Sam. All is resolved one night in the Ivers’ mansion with Martha, Walter and Sam playing out a potentially murderous triangle. But it’s 1946, and with the Production Code in location there’s tiny doubt which two people will die and which person will survive as a wiser man. When Martha urges Sam to extinguish Walter so that they can be together, Sam puts his finger on it. “Martha,’ he says, “you’re sick…in your mind, I mean, that’s where you’re sick…so sick you don’t even know the contrast between fair and obnoxious.”

The movie is beautifully photographed, for the most section the pacing is expedient, the establishment of the three leads’ personalities as children is excellently carried over into the performances and personalities of the three as adults. Unfortunately, the death of the aunt fair doesn’t seem to be a strong enough element to explain all the angst. The aunt was in the process of beating Martha’s cat with her cane on the stairs when Martha grabbed the cane and struck her aunt. Any half-way competent lawyer would have been able to gather a young heiress off without relying on Martha coming up with having seen a titanic burglar running from the house. This makes what follows, even with Martha’s intensity, seem out of proportion. Some of the dialogue, especially that given to Stanwyck and Douglas, is solid and uneasy…or maybe it’s their expert line delivery. But a profitable deal of the words Heflin and Scott have to say can sound artificial. “They said they wouldn’t wound you,” Toni says to Sam when she tries to define why she helped plot him up for a beating. “No more parole, they said, if I went for it. I’d device the whole five, they said, if I didn’t. I went for it. Go ahead and hit me, Sam. I’ve got it comin.’” Sam looks at her questioningly…then tenderly. “The one thing you’ve got comin’, kid, is a wreck.”

Even so, as melodrama it’s fun to contemplate. Barbara Stanwyck and Van Heflin do nice jobs, and Kirk Douglas makes a strong impression. He may be playing a musty drunk, but you eye at him while he’s on camouflage.

The DVD portray is in gigantic shape. If you bewitch this movie, be obvious you procure this Paramount version. There are a gigantic number of other public domain versions out which scrutinize poor. There are no extras.

In response to “Agreeable movie yet unpleasant copy” from “Noir”: Your experience is common: videos and DVD’s from Gotham, Sunless City, and Alpha are very abominable quality. I purchased the Image Entertainment DVD of Queer Fancy (ASIN: 6305944369) and can whisper you it’s probably the best print of the film you’re going to bag. Characterize sharpness is qualified, sound is acceptable, and there are no missing frames to cause a “panicked” characterize. The brightness & inequity are normal for most of the film, except for a few early scenes where the record looks washed out and grey. According to the research I’ve read, after this film dropped into the public domain, no one took the responsibility for preserving it, and as a result the best surviving print has suffered a lot of deterioration. However, I can easily recommend the Image Entertainment version of Queer Worship Of Martha Ivers. Please notice, that is NOT a blanket endorsement of all Image Entertainment DVD’s — for example, they did a Dreadful job on another Lizabeth Scott movie, Too Slack For Tears — it looks as awful as anything from Alpha or Gotham, yet Image charges a premium effect for it. Skip Too Slow For Tears, but definitely prefer the Image/Hal Roach DVD of Unfamiliar Fancy. And while you’re at it, why not write to Paramount Studios, 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90038, and ask them to give us a DVD of another Barbara Stanwyck film noir, The File On Thelma Jordan (Paramount owns the rights) . Let’s all let the studios know we will aid film noir and other classic films!
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