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A young widow is criticized for trying to build a new life in "My Reputation," a 1946 film starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Lucile Watson, and Eve Arden. Some time after Stanwyck's husband dies from a protracted illness, the lonely and devastated woman goes on a skiing trip and meets an army major, played by George Brent. She falls in love with him, but gossip circulates about her and affects two sons.

The film is dated, but Stanwyck is wonderful in an emotional role of a woman who all her life was cowed by her mother's ideas of convention and always afraid to stand up for herself. Brent is okay as her leading man, but if he was supposed to be this love 'em and leave 'em type, he didn't pull it off. He seems too staid. Eve Arden has a small role that perhaps was cut down - she has very little to do and disappears for the last half of the film. It's strange because she seemed to be encouraging the relationship, but why isn't she present to come to Jessica's defense? It's the same crowd of friends, so it's odd that she's missing.

This is an entertaining film with an excellent performance by Stanwyck.

This is a terrific film; lushly produced at WB in 1943 and with a performance by Stanwyck that I am still thinking about days later. I am puzzled at some of the negative comments and reviews as I went completely with this film and her performance; not once did I consider it a 'weepie' or felt it was a Crawford or Davis cast off. ... although it did remind me that it could have been almost a sequel to NOW VOYAGER (see both and you will recognize what I mean). MY REPUTATION deals in a very adult and modern manner with the perils of gossip and perceived social status and the mental straight-jacket that entraps the vulnerable. It also deals with a woman's sexuality post widowhood and the effect it has on her teenage sons. The sequence late in the film where she explains this to the boys is one of the great scenes in 40s cinema. The use of shadow (James Wong Howe photography) is ideal. Barbra Stanwyck is breathtakingly beautiful all through this very humane intelligent film; with a supporting cast of strong humorous characters led by the gargoyle Mother played by stone-faced Lucile Watson... giving Gladys Cooper (VOYAGER) a run for her money, or Laura Hope Crewes from the genuinely shocking SILVER CORD from 1932. I had never heard of this title so I was genuinely enthralled and thrilled at MY REPUTATION. It appears the release was botched in 1946 leaving this 3 year old film on the shelf until then which made certain parts of the romance irrelevant to post war audiences. MY REPUTATION is an excellent film, with beautiful sets and art direction, hilarious whimsy and very strong adult themes. Even the Max Steiner score is lovely. Do not be put off by any carping about any aspect of this well intentioned drama... MY REPUTATION is intact (which is more than I can personally say for me today).

"My Reputation" is a good example of a certain kind of vintage Hollywood product: it's glossy, yet carries certain real truths. In beautifully modeled black and white, set in a tony upper-class milieu, and with one of Max Steiner's creamiest scores, it examines a young matron's search for autonomy, when her husband dies after a long illness. Set in 1942, it makes numerous references to the war, so possibly this post-war film was meant to allude to the loss that many wives suffered due to the war (or it was one of those films made during the war but not released for several years).

I think Barbara Stanwyck was incapable of giving a bad performance. Whatever the material, she shone and was absolutely "there." Early in the film there is a scene in which she reads a letter that her late husband had written in the knowledge that it would be read after his death, and she is devastating. There's a kind of bookend scene at the film's end when she tries to explain to her children the nature of her love for a man who has come into her life after their father's death, and again she breaks your heart. In much of that scene she is in shadow as she speaks, so that her voice alone carries the emotion.

MY REPUTATION was one of several pictures produced by Warner Bros. during World War II and then held back for release. Others included THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN (filmed in 41, released in 44) and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (filmed in 41, released in 44). MY REPUTATION was filmed in 1943 and released for military use in 1944. The Tower Books photoplay edition of the original novel, "Instruct My Sorrow," was published in 1945. The film was finally released to the public in 1946. The military prints and theatrical release prints carry two completely different sets of main titles. There is no difference in footage or scenes between the two release versions.

Having just lost her husband after an extended illness, "Jessica Drummond" (Barbara Stanwyck) has two boys and a controlling mother to contend with while she becomes increasingly lonely. The constant pressure on her to conform in the manner that a widow is expected to act in the early 40's begins to wear on her terribly. So, when it all gets too much she decides to accept the advise of a close friend named "Ginna Abbott" (Eve Arden) to accompany her husband "Cary Abbott" (John Ridgely) and her to Lake Tahoe for a winter vacation. While there she meets an army major by the name of "Scott Landis" (George Brent) who suddenly makes her feel alive again after such a long time. Unfortunately for her, the high society in which she has lived all her life doesn't accept the fact that she has begun seeing another man even though she hasn't done anything wrong. At any rate, rather than divulge the entire story I will just say that this is a good drama about social pressures during the period of time when America had just entered World War II. There is some moralizing here but the film also gives another point-of-view at the same time as well. A pretty good movie all things considered.

Barbara Stanwyck gets a "10" vote for her performance. She is incredibly skilled and she delivers beyond description.

The cinematography is wonderful (esp. firelight scenes). It rates a "10". The classy, orchestrated musical score doesn't rate a "10" but is perfect for this movie.

Fine supporting acting. The old actress who portrays Stanwyck's mom is terrific in a very unsympathetic role. Her stodginess provides a rock-hard theme throughout the film. Even the child actors are all very good. Eve Arden- excellent.

Brent is a problem. I can't figure out how he can do such a poor job in a role that he practically patented. Who better to hire for the "George Brent" role than THE George Brent? For some reason he just seems uninterested in this film project. The ending of the film is also problematic. It includes a well-staged interior scene with her sons and beautifully filmed train station scenes, but the script at this point becomes truncated and slapdash.

This movie is definitely on my "recommend" list due to Stanwyck's outstanding work. It has many good qualities that make it watchable, but is dragged down to an overall "7" due to only two negatives- Brent's lack of effort, and the unsatisfying ending.

Barbara Stanwyck's self proclaimed favorite amongst her films this classy soap opera is uniformly well acted and well appointed. It would seem after viewing the film that she was so fond of it because it afforded her the opportunity for many shades of emotion as a recent widow struggling with conflicting feelings. First there are the responsibilities to her young sons who are still recovering from the loss of their father something that is being constantly pointed out by her shrew of a mother, the great Lucile Watson. At first she seems resigned to basically being a professional widow sacrificing any life of her own for her duties and then suddenly George Brent enters the picture and she starts to realize that perhaps there might be a chance for something of her own again, an idea supported by her good friend Eve Arden but then her judgmental mother and false friends make her question her right to happiness. Good stuff movingly enacted.

My Reputation (1946)

This comes at the real peak of Barbara Stanwyck's career, a couple of years after her now most famous film, "Double Indemnity." And she's terrific, playing from the first minute a widow who now has to put her life back together, all with the equally terrific Lucile Watson as her strong willed mother. There is also the dependable Eve Arden as a sidekick, not so different than Joan Crawford's in "Mildred Pierce," and the perfectly cast Jerome Cowan as a suitor who moves in on her before she has quite realized she's a widow. Eventually the stellar cast is filled in by George Brent, ever stable and likable…with his inevitable appeal to the main character.

So this is a great 1940s drama, filled with deep sentiments, tight friendships, distraught characters who need more than they can ever get, and rays of hope. It fits the needs of an audience which was filled with women recently widowed, either literally or figuratively with men returning from the war not ready to be the men they were before going away. It is 1946, after all, a giant tipping point in American social life.

Do you want more reasons to love this movie? The music is by the legendary Max Steiner (who scored "Gone with the Wind" for starters). And the cinematography is by the superb James Wong Howe (who shot the stunning "Sweet Smell of Success").

What slows the film down at all is plain old chemistry—Brent is not a convincing leading man, for me, and he and Stanwyck don't seem capable of really smoking on screen. The plot does imply a formality at first, and so it makes sense as far as that goes. But eventually we are meant to feel both characters in their loneliness, and their longing for each other. The war literally comes into play, and it must of struck painful chords in many.

One of the more interesting aspects is the problem of a widow dating a new man with the eyes of her friends and neighbors watching, and disapproving of, her every move, reaching the point of scandal for no reason. I'm sure the point of the movie is partly to push that point, so the world would be be more understanding. There is a huge scene at a party, just before the new couple rushes to Chicago for a dramatic New Year's Eve.

So imagine a vividly photographed, highly emotional drama that fit into the needs of the times perfectly. Does the movie rise to its intentions—quite well, very intelligently, yes. I say see it, and you'll find many things to love.

Wartime soap-romance with Stanwyck, and she's excellent even by her own lofty standards, as a young Chicago widow with children whom the Lake Shore Drive set doesn't know what to do with. Her pompous mama, an amusing Lucille Watson, and her two sensible sons want her to be a conventional widow. Then she meets George Brent... The mid-century problem of what role a woman without a man is supposed to play is dealt with with some insight, and it must have resonated mightily in 1946, with so many women thrust into this unfamiliar territory. Brent, so handsome in his youth, was by this time puffy and artificial-looking, and isn't an ideal love object. Nor is Eve Arden given enough to do in a conventional best-pal role. But Stanwyck's so graceful and sturdy, and the Warners production so assured, that you stick with it and root for the pair to triumph over their gossipy milieu. It ends pretty abruptly and not altogether convincingly, but there are many good scenes along the way, and we sure do love Babs.

The plot of MY REPUTATION seems a lot like a forerunner of ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS--the Douglas Sirk sudser that had Jane Wyman as a widow whose children disapprove of her choice of a new mate. Here, the children are younger (Scotty Beckett is the youngest boy), and the war widow theme probably rang a bell with audiences that this was intended to appeal to during World War II.

But the hitch is, Warners released it in 1946, three years after it was filmed, when the war was over, which made it dated even then. BARBARA STANWYCK is the widow who's afraid that gossip is going to destroy any chance she has of finding romance with another man.

A trivia note about billing: Warners, it seems, had a backlog of films to be released in the early forties and did the same with DEVOTION (filmed in '43) starring Olivia de Havilland and Ida Lupino. It was released three years after de Havilland left Warner Bros. and won a legal suit against them. As punishment, she was taken off top billing and given third place behind Paul Henried. Jack Warner did the same with GEORGE BRENT. He was no longer with Warners by the time MY REPUTATION was released and Jack Warner saw to it that Brent's name was reduced in all the ads so that Stanwyck had the spotlight to herself. Those were the billing practices then. (I'm surprised Brent didn't care enough to sue over this infraction by the studio).

Frankly, Barbara deserved solo spotlight in MY REPUTATION because never have I seen a more stolid, colorless performance from Brent. Bette Davis often referred to him as "wooden" and that certainly applies here. Stanwyck's scenes might just as well have been played opposite a mannequin wearing a Captain's uniform.

Sharp witted EVE ARDEN's role is practically written out of the story toward the end and she has less punch lines than usual. Yet, all in all, the old-fashioned story itself has enough cozy type of holiday scenes to give it a somewhat softer glow than it otherwise would retain.

Helping to keep the romance warm and believable is Max Steiner's score, particularly one theme that sounds strikingly similar to the kind of music he wrote for SINCE YOU WENT AWAY, especially in that final farewell railroad scene between Stanwyck and Brent.

If you're a Stanwyck fan, this is good for a rainy day, but it's not one of her strongest roles and it's really just passable as drama.

Barbara Stanwyck as a widowed socialite in her early 30s--naturally expected by her two boys, her mother and her friends to grieve her husband's death for a lengthy period of time--who instead meets and falls for for a randy, masculine soldier who clearly informs her he's not the marrying kind. Although she isn't quite the motherly type, Stanwyck gives yet another of her sterling performances in the lead. Whether standing up to the gossipy biddies in town or trying to explain her definition of love to her sons, Stanwyck never hits a false note. Warner Bros. apparently had little faith in the film's appeal, keeping it on the shelf for two years, and yet it's a solid example of the "woman's picture", a classy nosegay with one of those beautiful Hollywood finales at the train station. **1/2 from ****

Barbara Stanwyck, sometimes underrated as an actress (four Oscar nominations and no wins) and always undervalued as a star, shows why she lasted so long - she could do anything. Usually cast as a mobster's tough tart or a hard-luck dame and everything in between, here she plays a first-class lady, a widowed mother of two, a fine upstanding citizen who lives in that Never-Never Land called the Upper Middle Class laughingly depicted by Hollywood as a place where women belong to country clubs, constantly appear dressed in mink and evening gowns, are constantly making grand entrances and exits and are forever worrying what the neighbors will think. Joan Crawford fit right into this nonsensical neighborhood once she joined Warner Bros. and may well have been offered this script but thankfully Stanwyck took the part and created from the ground up another unforgettable performance in a forgettable (but very popular in its day) film. The story is nothing special but oh! how Barbara dominates every scene she's in, and does it without really trying (or so it seems). While Davis and Crawford had a tendency to remind audiences that they were acting, Stanwyck just rolled up her sleeves and got the job done. Such truth in her work! Watching her is an electric experience, she connects with an audience like few stars had or have before or since. Splendid!

It's 1942. Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck) is depressed after her husband died leaving her with two teen boys. Family friend Frank Everett is the executor of the estate and has a crush on her. She struggles with society expectations and a lecherous date. She is invited to a ski vacation at Lake Tahoe by Ginna Abbott. She gets lost in the woods and is rescued by Major Scott Landis. She falls for the soldier despite resistance from her family and the societal disapproval. Scott does not get along with Jessica's mother in-law. Her friends' gossips infect her young boys.

Other than Barbara Stanwyck, there isn't much to this film. I don't really understand the social boundaries being crossed by her relationship. As a soldier, I'd expect Scott to be a respectable prospect. He's literally going off to war to defend home and country. It's another era and I guess widows were expected to mourn their late husbands until the end of time. Then it doesn't make sense that she goes on that earlier date. It may be helpful if the gossip is told on screen. Even if it doesn't make sense, it would at least make for heightened tension. The kids are more understandable and their questioning is heart-breaking. It's less helpful that the child actors are so stiff. Honestly, the premise is damning but I must remember the times. I guess love doesn't conquer all.

Barbara Stanwyck's husband dies after a 2 year illness and she is left with sons 12 and 14.

Her mother, placed excellently by Lucile Watson, wants her to wear black and continue to mourn. Within 2 scenes, mother is suggesting that she become more friendly with a family friend- a banker. Watson insists upon wearing black clothes. She marches on screen as if she is Queen Victoria. The best part is that her husband has been dead for 25 years. It is only at the end of the film that Watson offers excellent advice to her daughter and again shows the wonderful character actress traits that made her such a good thespian.

Eve Arden, as a friend of Stanwyck, is given little to do here other than comforting her and getting her to go on vacation with her and her husband only to have George Brent, as Col. Landis, enter the picture. Arden has only one wise-crack remark in this film and that is unusual for her.

Vicious gossip ensues in the town as romance buds. The boys, naturally, are adversely affected by the gossip that will invariably lead to an appropriate ending.

Despite the flaws I mentioned, the film is a good one as it deals with a problem of widowhood and children. The solution given here was quite adequate and with a fine cast, the picture rises above any criticism depicted.

Great melodrama. Soap opera, for sure. Hollywood's bland yet nice attempt at addressing the grief process. Probably topical for its time.

Not for non-fans of Stanwyck. A must for fans of character actress Lucille Watson. Not to mention Eve Arden. George Brent is weird, always has been, always will be.

I watch it over and over because it's simple. Like Clueless. And Legally Blonde.