Top Secret Affair

Solid performances by both Hayward and Douglas and a nice turn by Jim Backus in this battle-of-the-wills comedy. Hayward is head of a Time/Life-style empire that attempts to smear the record of war hero general Douglas. As worthy opponents the sparks are subtle and adult, especially for the time. It avoids politics in an obvious way while showcasing why Kirk Douglas had legions of female fans, and why Susan Hayward was the thinking man's movie fave. Not a knee-slapper, but fairly realistic as a smart comedy. Worth a watch and better than Leonard Maltin thinks it is.

Susan Hayward was a contract player at Warners and di a fww brief shots in WB films. Beautiful Susie left WB and went to Paramount where she got some plum roles such as Gary Cooper's Beau Geste, Frederic March I Married A Witch and Loretta Young in And Now Tomorrow

This film was set to be aBogey-Bacall film but the great Bogie developed cancer and both Bogie and Mrs Bogart aka Lauren Bacall droped out and Jack Warner asked Susan Hayward to return to WB where Susie was given a star Bungalow on the WB lot and her fave cinematographer Stanley Cortez (Cortez did the great train shot with Jennifer Jones and Robert Walker in Since You went Away), and her fave costume exec Charles LaMaire. Susan looks beautiful in this Carrolton Production her own production company named after her adopted town in Georgia (Susan married Floyd Eaton Chalkley a former FBI agent who was a strong Catholic and Susan converted to Catholicism and both Chalkley and Susan are interred in the Church graveyard.

Kirk Douglas replaced Bogart in this beautifully filmed movie.

In "Top Secret Affair" both Kirk Douglas and Susan Hayward were allowed to do the things that they did best. They were respectively cast as intense, inner directed, talented people in search of soul mates. their initial antagonism (primarily on Hayward's part with Douglas oblivious to it) is based on her misunderstanding of Douglas' true character and personal qualities. In reality both are highly patriotic , driven individuals with only the good of their country at heart. They are perfect partners with matching vitality and values. This is one instance where Hollywood started over from scratch, ignoring the contents of a good book but creating an original piece of light entertainment in the process.

Dottie Peale (Susan Hayward) is the formidable anti-military head of a media empire. Maj. Gen. Melville A. Goodwin (Kirk Douglas) is a fast-rising popular figure who has been appointed to a political position. Dottie wants that position for a family friend and is looking to take down Goodwin to get it.

I want a better meet-cute at an earlier point. She shouldn't be in a mind set before their first meeting. If he could get her goat sooner, she would be that much more driven to take him down. This has to accept the required precepts of the great meet-cute. The aim should be a love-hate relationship, but this starts with hate-hate. It's not quite right, but they do move in the right direction. Drunken Hayward is fun. It is an interesting pairing with the age-appropriate Hayward. I don't know if they do other movies together. Bogie and Bacall is probably the more standard pairing.

This movie starts out like the kind of romantic comedy that Hollywood often does well. Susan Hayward is a powerful publisher who wants to discredit an army general (Kirk Douglas) in her magazine. For the first part of the movie, while their relationship is more adversarial, the film moves along fine and is both amusing and enjoyable. However, as the relationship changes and the story gets more complicated, the movie starts to run out of steam. This is a strange phenomenon, as one can almost pinpoint the exact moment when the air starts to go out of the balloon.

On the plus side, the film has two top-notch stars and a fine supporting cast including Paul Stewart and Jim Backus. But since, in my opinion, the film gets weaker instead of stronger as it goes along I can only give it a marginal recommendation.