Woman in a Dressing Gown

I remember watching this film as a young girl. It was a bit over my head as far as the complexity of emotions but the situation was quite clear. The story of a middle aged couple: the husband, still attractive and a bit worldly, has become attracted to a young woman...the wife, a bit shop-worn and, having been a housewife and entirely devoted only to her family for nearly two decades, appears dull in the eyes of her husband. However, so moving was the performance of Ms. Mitchell as the wife, so clear the pain and desperation she displayed in attempting to keep her husband when it becomes clear she is losing him, that I remembered nearly every bit of the movie and retained it until years later when I could feel full empathy for her. I see this movie as a sad, sweet study of a universal type of woman: the house-bound, devoted and totally self-sacrificing wife who has, perhaps, given too much of herself to her family and kept too little for herself.

This is Yvonne Mitchell's film, of course, and definitely her best performance. Anthony Quayle is as always one of the most reliable actors there ever was, and here for a change he is to play an extremely ordinary part: this could happen to anyone, and it usually happens sooner or later to everyone. The situation couldn't be more common. Sylvia Syms is beautiful as usual and doesn't have to act much, it's enough for her just to be seen, and she actually plays no great part - she is just the other woman. The acting is all Yvonne Mitchell's.

Of course you have to worry about her, as her heart is torn apart, as her world is turned to shambles, as she desperately tries to find a way out and fails in every single effort, and how she stills goes on just to carry on. She is the most helpless of all, and yet she is the one who carries through and gets through the crisis in a wreck of only shambles, as if you needed to get your whole world totally ruined just to find it all perfectly normal, as if nothing had happened, as if it just had to pass by like an ordinary shower of rain...

The direction is superb throughout with all its diverting manoeuvres focussing on petty dertails for a relief, like a missing button, the baby next door (apparently Mitchell's own), the soap problem with the engagement ring, and above all the shabby old drsssing gown - the very symbol of the film, nothing much, just an ordinary old worn out dressing gown, which you never really get out of...

You rapidly lose patience with Anthony Quayle for being such a weak fish that he completely fails to realise there's far more to a wife than just keeping the place tidy.

Yvonne Mitchell is an absolute delight in the tousle-haired title role. With her raucous laugh she tears about the set so fast the only way the director could possibly keep up with her is by constantly switching the camera's position into yet another of the notorious 'J. Lee Thompson' shots he's so often derided for.

A radiant young Sylvia Syms likewise is her usual charming self, and at least goes some way for the audience to sympathise with Quayle's plight.

I recently saw this film on Talking Pictures, and intended to switch-off after a few minutes, as it didn't seem like my cup of tea (eg film noir). I then gradually found myself bewitched by Yvonne Mitchell's stunning performance - one of the best I can recall by any actress. The domestic scene where she attempts to get the flat and herself ready, while getting steadily plastered, is a masterpiece of the actor's art. I also have to say, I find her drop-dead gorgeous - so why anyone would want to dump her is a bit of a mystery !

I have only recently seen this film, and it's baffling how I missed seeing such a good film for so long. The story could be looked on as a humdrum kitchen sink drama, but it's so much more than that. It centres on a common situation in which a married man becomes disillusioned with his marriage and has an affair with a work colleague. The acting of the main players is totally believable, and flawlessly evokes the emotional complexities of their situation. Special mention should be made of Yvonne Mitchell, who plays the the wronged wife. She gives one of the best performances I've ever seen by any actress. She deserved to be oscar nominated for this. If you haven't seen this film then it's a MUST see. It's that good.