Dishonored Lady

Hedy Lamarr once remarked, I believe, that most of her films were pretty forgettable. If she didn't, then most of her critics did. Maybe, looking back on them, none stood out as exceptional. But they can be called good for what they were. This film, Dishonored Lady, is one such example. It may not win any awards and may not be that important in the long scheme of things, but this is a good little programmer (or 'b' picture) that really packs a wallop and entertains for about 90 minutes. We open on Hedy sitting in her car, and after a time and after a cop asking if she's okay, she rams her car into a tree. A psychiatrist saves her and tries to get her to tell him her problems. She's thankful for his interest, but leaves not planning on going back. We then see how things develop as she ultimately leaves her job, wanting to find peace somewhere. She changes her name for a fresh start and meets Dennis O'Keefe, who's another tenant in the apartment. John Loder (who was one of Hedy Lamarr's husbands in real life) plays a client of hers from the fashion job who finds her in her new place and from there, things happen. William Lundigan, Morris Carnovsky as the psychiatrist, Natalie Schafer (from "Gilligan's Island",) Paul Cavanaugh, Douglas Dumbrille, and Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz") make up the rest of the cast. Their names may not mean much to the average person today, but these are all very reliable actors who make the film even more enjoyable. What's unique about Lundigan and O'Keefe being in the same picture here is that usually they were competing for the same type of roles in films, the young man usually on the right side of the law and is set on solving a murder that is thrust upon them. Sometimes they played a detective and other times they were an average Joe, with a murder rap on their head to clear. If you ever get a chance to catch a "Dishonored Lady," see it for yourself. It may be one of the best of Hedy Lamarr's "forgettable films."

I was delightfully surprised in every way by the quality of this film in respect of the sharpness of the picture and the clarity of the sound, AND by its sheer entertainment value. Set in New York in the immediate post-war years, "Dishonored Lady" grabs our attention straight from the outset, as Hedy Lamarr walks to work at her office, and from there it is non-stop interest as the story unfolds, in the office itself, in cocktail bars, the opulent mansion of predatory male, John Loder (twice, as well as twice in his chauffeur-driven limousine), in Hedy's flat where she has started a new life, in the courtroom and at the airport. Hedy, as Madeleine Damien, has a lot of acting to do, and she does it quite superbly. She is well supported by the rest of the cast, in what is a film that deserves recognition as 90 minutes of gripping cinema, with the bonus of seeing Lamarr throughout, whose role as a woman that men can't resist is entirely credible.

It moves rather slowly much of the time, but this is an interesting drama with a performance from Hedy Lamarr that is well worth seeing in itself. The story is rather ambitious, and though it does not always fit together as well as it could have, it has a number of interesting aspects centering on Lamarr's character, Madeleine.

Madeleine is an interesting and complex character, starting out as a hard-driving, self-absorbed art editor, confronting an emotional crisis, and then starting a new life that brings its own challenges. It's a great role, and Lamarr fills it pretty well and makes good use of the material. The character is well-drawn enough to make the movie as a whole worthwhile despite a number of flaws elsewhere.

The supporting cast is solid, though most of the secondary characters don't have as much depth. They usually serve mainly to drive the plot and/or to develop the main character further. The psychiatrist character seems just a little exaggerated now, since the assumptions he makes are no longer accepted unquestioningly. The character would still work all right if he were made less infallible and inflexible.

The first part of the story probably works the best, painting an interesting picture of the changes in Madeleine's life. The courtroom sequence in the second half sometimes seems a bit contrived, but dramatically it works all right. Overall, the movie seems as if it could have been better with a few improvements, but it's worth seeing, and Lamarr provides a good reason to watch it.

It would be a mistake to say that Hedy Lamarr was just a pretty face for two reasons. 1) Pretty would be a gross understatement. She had a gorgeous face, and all the rest of her was likewise, if you get what I mean. 2) She really could act, as she proved taking on a complex role in Dishonored Lady. Okay, she wasn't in a class with Bette Davis. But then Bette Davis would not have been believable in Hedy's role, because no one would believe all those men would have been so obsessively attracted to the frumpy Ms. Davis.

Dishonored Lady is an early example of the "pycho-drama" and possibly one of the best in that typically dreary, and not so entertaining genre. The average American of the late 1940's wasn't really sure what a psychiatrist was, unless he was a WWII veteran suffering from what is now called post-traumatic stress syndrome. But the high-living Hollywood crowd knew all about that shadowy type of doc. So, it is not surprising we started seeing movies about people with structural problems in the upper stories. Joan Crawford at this stage of her career glommed on to this overwrought type of dramas. Not surprisingly, since it would be a major shocker if a dame like her didn't have a shrink on the payroll.

In Dishonored Lady the shrink, played with great verve by Morris Carnovsky, is the pivotal character. Hedy's character is a high-paid advertising designer, surrounded by shallow, dishonorable men who take advantage of her promiscuous nature. I say promiscuous, but I mean by the standards of the late 1940's, when the world was only just starting to go mad. By today's drop-your-drawers-if-somebody-just-looks-like-they-want-you-to standards maybe she would be regarded as a prude. At least she has some guilt feelings about it. In fact she becomes so disgusted with herself that she tries to commit suicide by ramming her speeding car into a stone fence. She has the good luck 1) not to be seriously injured and 2) to fall right into the attentions of psychiatrist Carnovsky, who owns the house behind the fence. He proceeds to help her get over the suicidal urge and to put some corners on her round heels.

Turns out she has found in this psychiatrist one of the best of that iffy bunch. Though we see the couch business in his office as if he were a practitioner of the now-discredited Freudian branch of psychoanalysis, he is in reality a common sense psychologist. Like one of those good, old-time, tough priests, he doesn't mind telling someone he or she is doing wrong and just needs to straighten up. Best line in the movie -- when one of Hedy's rich, carnivorous ex-boyfriends takes offense at Carnovsky's criticism of his ways, the psychiatrist replies, "I usually get paid for insulting people." It goes on from there, and this is a very entertaining movie. It's part psycho-drama, part crime drama, part courtroom drama, part love story. All works well. Heddy's supporting cast, led by Carnovsky and Dennis O'Keefe are all very good. O'Keefe, cast somewhat against type, plays a nice medical research doctor who thinks of nothing but germs until he falls in love at first sight with Hedy (and what man wouldn't). But we get to see a little of his tough guy side before the end. To say any late 'forties movie has good cinematography and fluid editing is redundant.

Dishonored Lady is an enjoyable watch and a good showcase for Hedy Lamarr's beauty and talent.

I don't quite get why Lamarr is systematically held out as a mediocre actress. I found her to be a fine actress in this movie. She's certainly no worse than many other actresses of her time that are thought so highly of.

Madeleine is quite a touching character and her inner struggles may strike a chord with many high achieving and hard working women, although there's obviously a moralizing untertone that has to be expected from a movie shot in the late 40s. Still, the theme is really modern and I was surprised it was deemed admissible at the time.

The psychiatrist came across at time as an unecessary addition to the plot, but that's also in line with the late 40s, when psychiatry was still very influential.

Overall, that's a very enjoyable movie, with an abrupt ending that'll keep you on tenterhooks until about the last minute of it.