Review: My Reputation

Barbara Stanwyck (Best actress to never win an Oscar?) is raising two precocious boys on her own after the recent death of her husband. In walks army man George Brent into her life, and soon they are seeing each other while the boys are away at boarding school. This is apparently scandalous, even to Stanwyck’s status-obsessed mother (Lucile Watson) because apparently widows are meant to become dried up old prunes who are never allowed to be with anyone else, let alone so soon after her husband’s death. The heart wants what it wants, even if Stanwyck’s reputation suffers as a result. Jerome Cowan plays a sleaze who wants to be more than just friends with Stanwyck, while Eve Arden is her supportive best friend.

 

The strength and ability of Barbara Stanwyck as an actress successfully navigates this 1946 drama from director Curtis Bernhardt (“Sirocco”, “Beau Brummel”) through some murky waters. To be honest, it has aged a bit, and it has two obstacles in its way. The first is a giant block of wood in leading man George Brent, he’s pretty mediocre. The other is a plot that sees something scandalous in a widow moving on with her life rather quickly. It results in one rather oddball scene where Stanwyck has to tearfully justify her actions to her own kids. The kids are awfully unbelievable, acting ten years older than they are and frankly it’s none of their goddamn business. The scene would be truly demeaning if not for the fact that Stanwyck plays it so well. So I was at least able to appreciate the film for the time in which it was made. I’ll give it some leeway there, then especially given the film doesn’t appear to hold the view that Ms. Stanwyck need be single and miserable for the rest of her life. It’s lumpy and bumpy, but thankfully the film ultimately sides with her character. The obstacle of Mr. Brent, however, is a little harder to get around. He just won’t do, and no justification for his mediocrity.

 

Thank God for Barbara Stanwyck, surely the most underrated actress of her era (and possibly the most versatile). She’s absolutely pitch-perfect here and makes the whole film worthwhile, even if the material has dated. She was never the star of Bette Davis or Joan Crawford status, but I reckon you could argue that she was a better, more naturalistic actress than those two (though Davis sure is hard to beat). I like Stanwyck in some of her more villainous roles, but I liked seeing her in something more sympathetic like this. She was never the virginal-type, and her strength and steeliness as an actress help keep her character in this (and the film itself) from turning into a hopeless weepie. She may not get much support from Mr. Brent (whose character comes across as a condescending dick in 2015), but is well backed-up by a perfectly horrible Lucile Watson, wonderfully sleazy Jerome Cowan, and well-meaning Eve Arden.

 

It’s a solid, if somewhat lumpy film that would be far lesser without the talented Stanwyck keeping it afloat. It’s definitely worthwhile for Stanwyck fans. Based on a Clare Jaynes, novel, the screenplay is by Catherine Turney (“No Man of Her Own”, also with Stanwyck).

 

Rating: B-