Man on Fire

A subject which is still topical today in 2022. Time has passed,but how many parents are still fighting for the custody of their child(ren)?

Bing Crosby shines in his part of a father whose wife eloped with a government man and after two years wants half of the custody ;from the very start ,the young boy hates his stepfather ,Mister Seward ,he calls "sewer" ;the best moment is the scene with the judge (at the time, there were few women judges ,;today they would not even notice it ) ; the actress,Anne Seymour, although she only has a fleeting part , displays a strong sense of psychology and humanity ,even though her verdict may seem unexpected; queen Solomon indeed :the ending bear this out.

In spite of Inger Stevens ' unquestionable talent (debut) ,her character is cardboard ; you can predict what she will do as soon as she appears; that she can blow the party single-handedly is hardly credible ;she's not a woman ,she's a good fairy with a magic wand. On the other hand ,the part of the mother (Mary Fickett) is too underwritten : she suffers too, because her boy is part of her body -and one learns a sad secret towards the end ;she and her new husband (EG Marshall ) are not the villains. The stepfather ,as the film progresses,finally wins the audience over , when he talks about the famous biblical story of the two women claiming a baby.

A hot topic ,still today.....

Spirited performances by Crosby, Stevens, Seymour, and E.G. Marshall notches this one above its clinical routes. William Schallert has a wonderful bit as Judge Seymour's secretary. In many ways, a 20-year predecessor to Kramer vs. Kramer -- and in its own way, no less poignant.

Wealthy industrialist Earl Carleton (Bing Crosby) has full custody of his son Ted for the last two years after his divorce. His ex-wife Gwen is back in town with second husband lawyer Bryan Seward. Bryan is a skilled government lawyer and they're looking to share custody. Sam Dunstock (E. G. Marshall) is Earl's lawyer.

Bing is doing a more serious role without any singing. He's still Bing, but the character's stubbornness gets rather awful. He has a seething anger just under the surface which blows up after the judgement. It's a very modern role and a very modern subject matter. The big climax seems to happen in the middle. The self-pitying Earl is not a fun watch. I don't care much about the new romance. After all, it is all about the boy. My mind keeps drifting to Kramer vs Kramer. In a way, this movie is not as good, but it also shows how forward thinking this is. I do have two issues. First, the judgement is rather short-sighted. She should order the boy to go for a summer vacation. This seems to be done for dramatic purposes. Second, the boy is way too stupid. I get that he needs to ask questions about King Solomon, but he sounds so stupid. It would work better if the kid is younger.

The first time I saw this movie I was a teenager, barely older than the boy in the movie. (By the way, Malcolm was 13 and his voice was changing -- why did they have to say his character was 10?). It made me very angry. I was the son of divorced parents and I didn't even know where my father was. I envied the boy his relationship with his father. I thought the situation in the movie was unfair to men because it undervalued the importance of male bonding between father and son. Now that I've watched it again in my 60s I see I was wrong about it. Of course it's best for a kid to have two parents who love each other and stay married, but when we can't have what's best, we have to decide from the options that are available. I think this movie does a very good job of being fair to everybody.

A film that is rarely seen today is a must see if you get the chance. The acting is terrific with Bing Crosby giving a performance worthy of another Oscar nomination - in fact all the cast do an excellent job in this well constructed drama about the ugly side of divorce and custody. The film deals very well with these issues and is still relevant even though it was made in 1957. Also this is one of the very few films in which Bing Crosby doesn't sing - except over the titles at the start of the film. Hopefully this will eventually gain a DVD release and a chance to be seen by more people as it only achieved a limited release in 1957 and hasn't been seen a lot since.