My Reputation

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.

An ideal script for Douglas Sirk, charting the emotional liberation of a widow, but filmed without Douglas Sirk. Instead, Curtis Bernhardt commands a lush postwar production: the $5000 limits on set construction were lifted, and it shows. Extras crowd the screen, even in modest scenes, plus James Wong Howe contributes rich low-key lighting, Max Steiner produces an expressive [if undistinctive] score, and Edith Head whips up tasteful costumes. Bernhardt works best in the big scenes, but misjudges some of the lighter moments and cannot light a fire under his leading man, George Brent at his most stolid. Still, there's much to enjoy here: thoughtful dialogue, the stylized upper-crust social milieu, and expert performances, including an unusually sensitive one from Barbara Stanwyck. However, that slight [but crucial] ironic distance of Sirk is sorely missed.

"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.

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.