Ma vie à moi

A LIFE OF HER OWN (1950) TCM It's 1950, it's pure melodrama, and it's anchored on the star being and staying gorgeous from beginning to end. No one does this better to me than Lana Turner and she does it again here. Someone else can spill out the plot. I mainly want to add that I watch very few dramas, and I was so hooked from the beginning that I passed up a potentially good mindless romcom for this. So Lana, her beautiful clothes, and fine acting sucked me in again, but I don't mind because she was in top form here despite the script not being up to the standard of "Imitation of Life" which is one of the greatest melodramas ever. I seriously doubt I'll ever watch this movie again, but if you love melodramas and Lana Turner, then this is a classic to see at least once.

By the time Lana Turner and Ray Milland were paired in this romantic drama, they both seemed to have the "mark" of their respective studios written over them.

Turner's was MGM, and indeed this film was made at that studio. Milland's was Paramount, and he seemed a "guest visitor" to the Metro ambiance.

While both actors were certainly equally successful in their respective careers, their casting did seem a bit strange to me. I kept thinking, what's Paramount doing at MGM?

Not that Milland offered anything but his usual solid work; he just seemed a bit unusual in the total scheme of things. However, being the solid pro he was, he carried off his "slumming millionaire" role with aplomb; likewise Turner gave her part her all.

The script was fair, and Director George Cukor made the most of what he had to work with. In the end an interesting "hybrid," adequately carried off by two thespian entities of varying affiliations.

Lana Turner fresh off a two year "break" in film-making, returns to the screen with MGM and George Cukor. Her time off (due to suspension from refusing MGM's crappy scripts) resulted in a marriage to multi-millionaire Bob Topping and the resulting (and slightly double-chinned) effects of partying and drinking champagne for the duration.

She's supposed to be a "fresh-faced" model from a small town who makes it big in NYC. It's quite a stretch at her age (30)since the role belongs to a MUCH younger actress, but she IS Lana Turner and still beautiful. But don't expect an explosion of Cukor's magic combined with Lana's beauty; it's not happening.

This movie is watchable if you love Lana or Cukor, but the real draw in this film is Ann Dvorak. She plays a washed-up, alcoholic and depressed super-model who mentors Lana briefly upon her arrival in the Big Apple and she steals EVERY scene she's in. The first 20 minutes of this film are the best and belong to Ann Dvorak all the way.

Ray Milland is sleepwalking, boring and unbelievable as the married man smitten with Lana. Not to mention that someone who looks like Lana would hardly be attracted to him! But his wheelchair-bound, suffering and loving wife is played beautifully, deeply and touchingly by Margaret Phillips in one of her only 3 film roles. She is so good that she actually inspires Lana to "act" in the scene they share (gasp!). Barry Sullivan can always be relied upon to play the creepy guy and Lana gets off some good n' nasty verbal shots at him.

There's definitely some glamour moments, but they are far too rare. As George Cukor had noted during filming, costumer Helen Rose was "bereft of talent" and Lana wears some of the geekiest looking and unflattering outfits. But every now and then a mink coat, the right angle and lighting and some stylish camera work highlight the magic of director Cukor and star Turner. But poor Sidney Guilaroff must have been on valium; watching the tight curls on the the side of Lana's head multiply, shrink or stare at you like a group of peonies is part of the show.

The original ending was met so badly at pre-release screenings that a new ending was filmed later on command of the studio. Could it really have been worse than the one released?!?!!

Never a good idea when making a movie to kill off your best character twenty some odd minutes in. Referring, of course, to the unhappy, aging, neurotic, dipso model played to self destructive, sardonic perfection by Ann Dvorak. When she throws herself out of a top story apartment window a lot of the quality and all the energy of this film goes with her. Did you notice, for example, how Isobel Lennart's dialogue, so sharp and insightful when Dvorak is around, turns mushy and labored? And how George Cukor's directorial pacing seems to be off a tic or two once Ray Milland (rhymes with bland) and his dull love interest character enters the picture? Gone is the breezy tone of the first fifteen minutes when Lana Turner's character gets a crash course from Tom Ewell in Modeling 101 and the tension inherent in the nightclub scene with sleazy Barry Sullivan, Dvorak, Turner and nice but not too nice Louis Calhern.

Bottom line: It's not the worst Cukor film ever made (that dubious distinction goes to "Chapman Report") but we're a long way from "Adam's Rib" or even "The Actress", for that matter. Give it a C.

PS...Milland as a copper baron from Montana is about as convincing as John Wayne playing a librarian.

Lana Turner heads an excellent cast in "A Life of Her Own," a 1950 film directed by George Cukor. Its other stars are Ray Milland, Louis Calhern, Margaret Phillips, Barry Sullivan, Tom Ewell, Ann Dvorak, and Jean Hagen.

Both the beginning of the film and the end are the best parts; the in between is incredibly slow. Turner plays a young woman from Kansas who comes to New York to break into the modeling business. She meets what could be her future if she's not careful: a washed up, alcoholic, desperate has-been, beautifully portrayed by Ann Dvorak. No need to tell you what happens there - you've seen it a million times.

As her career progresses, Turner meets a married millionaire, Steve, played by Ray Milland. She knows he's married and it starts off platonically enough. But, as we learn what seems like hours later, he's a lot more than married.

This is a great cast, right down to the smaller roles, which includes Phyllis Kirk, one of my favorites, and Hermes Pan, who so often worked with Fred Astaire on choreography.

Turner is excellent and has some fine dramatic scenes; Milland is handsome and sympathetic as her boyfriend. Margaret Phillips, as his wife, does a marvelous job, and Tom Ewell is a joy. Actually, everyone is very good.

Alas, there's not much of a script here and you know what's going to happen along the way. The very end shows Cukor's directing mastery. Given what he had to work with by way of a script, it's a very well done movie. I shudder to think what it would have been like in someone else's hands.