The Guilt of Janet Ames

The other IMDb reviews, positive and negative, make valid points about the virtues and flaws of this obscure 1947 film. It grabbed my interest immediately in the title sequence. Russell and Douglas, almost always cast up to then in comedies(romantic or otherwise),in a dramatic film. (Easy to know it was a drama from the title and from the title music.)

And the music, all through the film--gorgeous, moving, and like no 1940's score I've ever heard. By George Dunning, it was straight out of the mid to late 1950's. A minor revelation to me, a film soundtrack buff.

Back to the fascinating cast: Betsy Blair (Gene Kelly's surprisingly wafe-like wife, who I'd only seen in "Marty"), Nina Foch (a talented, skilled "serious" actress, who made too few films), Sid Caesar (before his genius TV comic career).

Once into the film,I was grabbed by Melvyn Douglas's masterfully realistic and believable performance, not a hint of acting with a big A.

Can't say the same for Russell--she hit the right emotional notes, but always seemed to be ACTING.

One more grabber was the extended, purposely and artfully artificial trance sequences, playing out the heroine's mind. Very effective though obviously done on a low budget.

As of this writing, in Nov. 2017, the film is uploaded on YouTube in murky but watchable 15 minute segments. Definitely worth a watch.

I'm surprised THE GUILT OF JANET AMES is not better known; I find it a very affecting film, even if the fey whimsy is a little overdone in the dream sequences. From its opening moments the movie has a palpable post-war atmosphere, a melancholy feel that must have resonated with audiences at the time, many of whom had suffered grief and loss due to the war. The movie also demonstrates the increasing prominence of psychoanalysis in American culture at that time. I will not rehash the plot in detail here, since other reviewers have already done so. Suffice to say that this is the story of two people scarred by the war and how they help each other to heal. It is a story about forgiveness, new beginnings and the possibility of new love blossoming from the ashes of death. The film rides on the great talents of Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas, two of classic Hollywood's finest actors. Russell, so well known as a comedienne, excels in the dramatic psychological role of the suffering war widow Janet Ames, and Douglas is imposingly brilliant as the depressed alcoholic journalist Smithfield Cobb. Look out for a young Sid Caesar portraying a stand-up comedian (not too much of a stretch there!) and Hugh Beaumont (Beaver's dad on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) as another one of the war comrades whom Janet visits in a dream sequence.

I got a problem: I think Rosalind Russell was/is a beautiful woman.

The fact that she could stand up to the likes of Cary Grant and upstage him practically in His Girl Friday does not deter me from the Opinion, that there was something just so attractive about her, especially in the years she was a leading lady, a time which spans several decades actually.

THIS film is an absolute GEM. I caught it early this AM, and I was completely interested in the well-being of Janet Ames. Dramatically, the story may not be the best, but the way the principals are played by Russell and leading man Melvyn Douglas, cause the viewer to get interested in what happens.

The only slightly-out-of-place item is the semi-comedic section with Sid Caesar- But actually, that part is used as a bridge, and Russel played it totally straight, which put the attention on Sid Caeser and what he was doing, and so, instead of the film going potentially wholly offtrack into a comedic area, it is contained and the viewer is brought back into the solemnity of the story.

This is a very wonderful film and shows a serious side to Russell that is actually refreshing.

Loved the premise for 'The Guilt of Janet Ames', back when the fascinating subject of psychiatry was very much fashionable to portray on film and stage. It has always been a brave one and interesting from a psychological standpoint. A further interest point was the opportunity to see Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas in atypical roles, darker and more tortured and not the sparkling comedy or debonair kind of roles they were better known for.

'The Guilt of Janet Ames' is not a perfect film, can see why it is not to others' tastes, and is not on the same level of relatively similar themed films that have already been named such as 'Spellbound' and especially 'The Snake Pit'. 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' still struck me as very interesting and atmospheric, and although the first half is better than the second it always engaged me enough and deserving of more credit.

Am going to start with naming what could have been done better. The whimsy in the dream sequences for my tastes was overdone at times. Will agree with others that Sid Caesar was out of place, and not in a slight way but a case of when he appeared it took me out of the film and didn't gel tonally.

It got a little too melodramatic and silly towards the end.

However, 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' has so many good things. It looks great, being in particular beautifully and atmospherically shot. It is also beautifully scored, in a haunting and at times melancholic sense. The direction is always taut yet sympathetic. 'The Guilt of Janet Ames' also benefits from an on the most part thought-provoking script that is very insightful in what it has to say about guilt postwar and the consequences of paranoia.

Which is depicted harrowingly often, and this is evident in the story which is often suspenseful and poignant. The characters are strongly defined and both Russell and particularly Douglas provide hard hitting portrayals of true intensity and raw emotional power without being overwrought.

Overall, good if not great. 7/10.

Rosalind Russell faces "The Guilt of Janet Ames" in this 1947 film also starring Melvin Douglas, Sid Caesar, Betsy Blair and Nina Foch. After the war, many, many films concerning psychiatry, mental illness, the mind, nerve disorders, etc. were released. Obviously readjustment and mental trauma were problems faced by many returning soldiers, and loss had to be coped with in many families. So it's no surprise that psychology became a huge subject.

Rosalind Russell plays a war widow whose husband threw himself on a grenade and saved five of his platoon. Angry and bitter, she has the names of the men, and sets out to meet each one to see if any of them were worth her husband sacrificing his life. En route to see one of them, she is hit by a car and has an hysterical paralysis so that she is confined to a wheelchair. One of the names on her list is recognized as that of a reporter, Smitty (Douglas), and he goes to the hospital to identify her. Though he has lost his job, is an alcoholic and due to leave for Chicago soon, he does a mental exercise with Janet that is inspired by the story of Peter Ibbetson. Ibbetson was an imprisoned man in a DuMaurier novel who was able through his imagination to leave the prison and reunite in dreams with his true love. Janet has to imagine each man, what he's like and what problems he's facing in order to gain some understanding of him. One man has a child, another man is married and he and his wife dream of building a house, another does work in the desert, one is a bouncer and another is a stand-up comic.

Once she is through with this exercise, Janet is able to admit some demons she has been carrying with her since her husband's death. Then it's Smitty's turn to face some facts.

Thanks to the acting of Russell and Douglas, "The Guilt of Janet Ames" is truly elevated. Russell looks beautiful, and her acting is wonderful. At first she's hard and angry (the word neurotic is thrown around a lot), but gradually, her character softens. Douglas gets to do more than be the light, debonair leading man here, and as he proved later in his career, he is more than up to it.

The message is that you can't live in the past and put yourself through the torture of what you did or didn't do, and it's an effective one that probably has as much resonance now as it did in 1947. There's still a war on.