El séptimo pecado

Somerset Maugham's taste for exotic locales is used to good purpose in this story of how a doctor's wife "finds" herself after an extramarital affair. I happened to catch this film half-way through (missed Parker's affair with Aumont), however, the Chinese locale and the level of acting kept me watching until the end, especially as I had just seen John Ford's "Seven Women" recently on the TCM channel. The question is, why did Ford's movie fail (for me), and this one succeed? Both were shepherded by distinguished directors, and the casting in both is impressive --so should we fault the script? In fact, one might say that the Neame & Minnelli team elicted better performances than did Ford in his China setting. Despite the impressive cast and Bancroft's intensity, everything about Ford's film seemed "wrong," and the setting in China was totally incidental to the struggle between the two leading ladies. In "Seventh Sin," however, Parker's struggle seemed very real, despite her cool demeanor (what would Deborah Kerr have done with this role?), and her inter-action, and later friendship with the Mother Superior appears honestly won.

Unlike another reviewer, I did not think that Bill Travers' performance was wooden. His reticent honesty works well here. It is a decided contrast to the stagy performance he gave with Jenifer Jones in "Barretts of Wimpole Street," where he seemed to shout through his role (this movie failed for me on other counts, too). In "Seventh Sin," the casting of George Sanders as the sympathetic local who marries a Chinese works quite well as a foil to the bluff but kind Travers, and for once, Sanders acts against type and gives a commendable, unmannered performance. In fact he is quite likable and also mastered some Chinese for the role. His Chinese wife is not credited, but I found her acting to be stiff and lacking in warmth or charm; her accent and the year 1957 when the movie was filmed made it likely that she was had spent at least a decade in Taiwan, rather than being born in the "imperial" family that Sanders claims and escaping to Hongkong.

As for the Chinese/Hong Kong setting, one wonders whether it could have been interchangeable with Algeria, or Africa. Was it incidental to the plot, as one could argue with "Seven Women"? No, I don't think so.

A character like the one Parker portrays had to discover her inner resources in a foreign country, and among persons who were less than amenable to her -- the Chinese, whose language she didn't understand, and the sisters of the convent -- definitely an essential feature of the Maugham original. Francoise Rosay is particularly convincing as the Mother Superior; this is a role that cuts to the heart of the character (unlike Margaret Leighton's role vis a vis Anne Bancroft's in "Seven Women"). The Mother Superior is not a one-dimensional person, but someone who has lived and who ultimately is the one who understands Travers' final words. She is able to interpret them correctly for the Parker, thereby absolving the guilty wife of her personal anguish. This is a very moving way to end the story, and contrasts with the heroic but blatant staging of Bancroft's suicide in "Seven Women." These parallels may not seem obvious to others, but they kept cropping up for me as I watched it.

I think for those who are interested in how China/Hong Kong is presented in Western film (compare for example, with "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" or "Sand Pebbles"), and for the rendering of stories by literary authors such as Maugham, "Seventh Sin" carries a sincerity of tone which makes it notable. Also, anything directed by Ronald Neame ("Blithe Spririt," "Major Barbara," "This Happy Breed" and other distinguished films), not to mention Vincenti Minnelli, makes it is definitely worth a look.

Given the premise I expected this to be high camp. It wasn't. I'm sure the Garbo version was over the top.

The actors do a good job. The director kept everyone reigned in. The script isn't too bad. You don't feel like you're watching some tawdry melodrama.

The film is about maturing and forgiveness. About the difference between infatuation on love.

Will Eleanor Parker repent and ask her husband's forgiveness and grow to love him and want him back? Will her doctor husband forgive her infidelity? Does Ellen Corby speak with a believable French accent? Do they survive the cholera outbreak?

You'll just have to watch and find out.

Originally, I had no intention of watching this film on TCM, but the presence of Bill Travers got my attention, and I gave the movie a shot.

Frankly, I am surprised at how much I enjoyed it. All of the leading performances are excellent, and the back lot filming appropriately evokes the implied locations. Sanders is, indeed, the most thoroughly explored character, supporting or not. Travers portrays the brooding husband quite effectively, and Parker has perfected the role of a selfish woman in many films.

Having not read the original novel, I cannot comment on the translation to the screen. However, as a stand-alone film, the results are intriguing, and well done. "The Painted Veil" certainly makes a better title, however.

I love Somerset Maugham's novels, but they tend to be full of internal monologues and emotional and spiritual struggles that can be difficult to dramatize (his short stories make much better material for movies). THE PAINTED VEIL is a terrific book and a good read, veering from sexual melodrama to spiritual regeneration, full of psychological insight, tension and vivid descriptions of life in China during a cholera epidemic.

But this movie is just dreadful. It's dull, literal-minded and a travesty of a great story and promising concept. The credibility problems start (but don't end) with the fact that handsome Bill Travers was miscast as the cuckold. Tall and masculine with sensual features, a brooding sexiness, and a resonant, beautiful voice, it's absurd that we are expected to believe he is unappealing to Eleanor Parker. How can she not want to grab him and ride him ten ways from Sunday? I have often liked beautiful Eleanor Parker, but her archness here is hard to take and not what the part needs. The only bright spot is George Sanders, cast against type as a warm, sympathetic guy.

One thing I'm curious about is why Vincente Minnelli abandoned the project (his name appears nowhere in the final credits). Had he directed it (preferably in Technicolor) it might at least have been more enjoyable. Skip this dreary soap opera. Or if you see it and actually like it, read Somerset Maugham's novel, which is far better and certainly more entertaining.

THE SEVENTH SIN is a remake of the Greta Garbo vehicle, "The Painted Veil", taken from a Somerset Maugham novel about a woman's journey to redeem herself. This time the unhappily married woman is ELEANOR PARKER and the husband is played by BILL TRAVERS (rather than the jilted dullard Herbert Marshall played in the Garbo version). Obviously designed to satisfy movie-goers who loved romantic stories of this sort, it manages to hold interest without ever becoming a great film.

Parker is poised and beautiful throughout, giving a very understated performance as a woman caught in the throes of what she believes is a great romance with JEAN-PIERRE AUMONT, who disappoints her when he refuses to divorce his wife. She flees to China with her doctor husband who is going to administer to those caught in a plague of cholera, eventually realizing that her selfish nature is capable of undergoing a change and working at a convent for orphaned Chinese children.

The plot resolution is a bit disappointing for anyone expecting a happy ending, but it's all tastefully handled material performed admirably by Parker and Travers. GEORGE SANDERS, as a brandy guzzling friend with some acid comments (in the Sanders manner), gives the story a lift with his wit and cynical charm.

Not bad as these sort of melodramas go, but nothing really special.