My Reputation

My Reputation (1946)

This comes at the real peak of Barbara Stanwyck's career, a couple of years after her now most famous film, "Double Indemnity." And she's terrific, playing from the first minute a widow who now has to put her life back together, all with the equally terrific Lucile Watson as her strong willed mother. There is also the dependable Eve Arden as a sidekick, not so different than Joan Crawford's in "Mildred Pierce," and the perfectly cast Jerome Cowan as a suitor who moves in on her before she has quite realized she's a widow. Eventually the stellar cast is filled in by George Brent, ever stable and likable…with his inevitable appeal to the main character.

So this is a great 1940s drama, filled with deep sentiments, tight friendships, distraught characters who need more than they can ever get, and rays of hope. It fits the needs of an audience which was filled with women recently widowed, either literally or figuratively with men returning from the war not ready to be the men they were before going away. It is 1946, after all, a giant tipping point in American social life.

Do you want more reasons to love this movie? The music is by the legendary Max Steiner (who scored "Gone with the Wind" for starters). And the cinematography is by the superb James Wong Howe (who shot the stunning "Sweet Smell of Success").

What slows the film down at all is plain old chemistry—Brent is not a convincing leading man, for me, and he and Stanwyck don't seem capable of really smoking on screen. The plot does imply a formality at first, and so it makes sense as far as that goes. But eventually we are meant to feel both characters in their loneliness, and their longing for each other. The war literally comes into play, and it must of struck painful chords in many.

One of the more interesting aspects is the problem of a widow dating a new man with the eyes of her friends and neighbors watching, and disapproving of, her every move, reaching the point of scandal for no reason. I'm sure the point of the movie is partly to push that point, so the world would be be more understanding. There is a huge scene at a party, just before the new couple rushes to Chicago for a dramatic New Year's Eve.

So imagine a vividly photographed, highly emotional drama that fit into the needs of the times perfectly. Does the movie rise to its intentions—quite well, very intelligently, yes. I say see it, and you'll find many things to love.

A young widow is criticized for trying to build a new life in "My Reputation," a 1946 film starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Lucile Watson, and Eve Arden. Some time after Stanwyck's husband dies from a protracted illness, the lonely and devastated woman goes on a skiing trip and meets an army major, played by George Brent. She falls in love with him, but gossip circulates about her and affects two sons.

The film is dated, but Stanwyck is wonderful in an emotional role of a woman who all her life was cowed by her mother's ideas of convention and always afraid to stand up for herself. Brent is okay as her leading man, but if he was supposed to be this love 'em and leave 'em type, he didn't pull it off. He seems too staid. Eve Arden has a small role that perhaps was cut down - she has very little to do and disappears for the last half of the film. It's strange because she seemed to be encouraging the relationship, but why isn't she present to come to Jessica's defense? It's the same crowd of friends, so it's odd that she's missing.

This is an entertaining film with an excellent performance by Stanwyck.

"My Reputation" is a good example of a certain kind of vintage Hollywood product: it's glossy, yet carries certain real truths. In beautifully modeled black and white, set in a tony upper-class milieu, and with one of Max Steiner's creamiest scores, it examines a young matron's search for autonomy, when her husband dies after a long illness. Set in 1942, it makes numerous references to the war, so possibly this post-war film was meant to allude to the loss that many wives suffered due to the war (or it was one of those films made during the war but not released for several years).

I think Barbara Stanwyck was incapable of giving a bad performance. Whatever the material, she shone and was absolutely "there." Early in the film there is a scene in which she reads a letter that her late husband had written in the knowledge that it would be read after his death, and she is devastating. There's a kind of bookend scene at the film's end when she tries to explain to her children the nature of her love for a man who has come into her life after their father's death, and again she breaks your heart. In much of that scene she is in shadow as she speaks, so that her voice alone carries the emotion.

MY REPUTATION was one of several pictures produced by Warner Bros. during World War II and then held back for release. Others included THE ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN (filmed in 41, released in 44) and ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (filmed in 41, released in 44). MY REPUTATION was filmed in 1943 and released for military use in 1944. The Tower Books photoplay edition of the original novel, "Instruct My Sorrow," was published in 1945. The film was finally released to the public in 1946. The military prints and theatrical release prints carry two completely different sets of main titles. There is no difference in footage or scenes between the two release versions.

Having just lost her husband after an extended illness, "Jessica Drummond" (Barbara Stanwyck) has two boys and a controlling mother to contend with while she becomes increasingly lonely. The constant pressure on her to conform in the manner that a widow is expected to act in the early 40's begins to wear on her terribly. So, when it all gets too much she decides to accept the advise of a close friend named "Ginna Abbott" (Eve Arden) to accompany her husband "Cary Abbott" (John Ridgely) and her to Lake Tahoe for a winter vacation. While there she meets an army major by the name of "Scott Landis" (George Brent) who suddenly makes her feel alive again after such a long time. Unfortunately for her, the high society in which she has lived all her life doesn't accept the fact that she has begun seeing another man even though she hasn't done anything wrong. At any rate, rather than divulge the entire story I will just say that this is a good drama about social pressures during the period of time when America had just entered World War II. There is some moralizing here but the film also gives another point-of-view at the same time as well. A pretty good movie all things considered.