Minha Reputação

Barbara Stanwyck gets a "10" vote for her performance. She is incredibly skilled and she delivers beyond description.

The cinematography is wonderful (esp. firelight scenes). It rates a "10". The classy, orchestrated musical score doesn't rate a "10" but is perfect for this movie.

Fine supporting acting. The old actress who portrays Stanwyck's mom is terrific in a very unsympathetic role. Her stodginess provides a rock-hard theme throughout the film. Even the child actors are all very good. Eve Arden- excellent.

Brent is a problem. I can't figure out how he can do such a poor job in a role that he practically patented. Who better to hire for the "George Brent" role than THE George Brent? For some reason he just seems uninterested in this film project. The ending of the film is also problematic. It includes a well-staged interior scene with her sons and beautifully filmed train station scenes, but the script at this point becomes truncated and slapdash.

This movie is definitely on my "recommend" list due to Stanwyck's outstanding work. It has many good qualities that make it watchable, but is dragged down to an overall "7" due to only two negatives- Brent's lack of effort, and the unsatisfying ending.

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.

An ideal script for Douglas Sirk, charting the emotional liberation of a widow, but filmed without Douglas Sirk. Instead, Curtis Bernhardt commands a lush postwar production: the $5000 limits on set construction were lifted, and it shows. Extras crowd the screen, even in modest scenes, plus James Wong Howe contributes rich low-key lighting, Max Steiner produces an expressive [if undistinctive] score, and Edith Head whips up tasteful costumes. Bernhardt works best in the big scenes, but misjudges some of the lighter moments and cannot light a fire under his leading man, George Brent at his most stolid. Still, there's much to enjoy here: thoughtful dialogue, the stylized upper-crust social milieu, and expert performances, including an unusually sensitive one from Barbara Stanwyck. However, that slight [but crucial] ironic distance of Sirk is sorely missed.

"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.

This is a terrific film; lushly produced at WB in 1943 and with a performance by Stanwyck that I am still thinking about days later. I am puzzled at some of the negative comments and reviews as I went completely with this film and her performance; not once did I consider it a 'weepie' or felt it was a Crawford or Davis cast off. ... although it did remind me that it could have been almost a sequel to NOW VOYAGER (see both and you will recognize what I mean). MY REPUTATION deals in a very adult and modern manner with the perils of gossip and perceived social status and the mental straight-jacket that entraps the vulnerable. It also deals with a woman's sexuality post widowhood and the effect it has on her teenage sons. The sequence late in the film where she explains this to the boys is one of the great scenes in 40s cinema. The use of shadow (James Wong Howe photography) is ideal. Barbra Stanwyck is breathtakingly beautiful all through this very humane intelligent film; with a supporting cast of strong humorous characters led by the gargoyle Mother played by stone-faced Lucile Watson... giving Gladys Cooper (VOYAGER) a run for her money, or Laura Hope Crewes from the genuinely shocking SILVER CORD from 1932. I had never heard of this title so I was genuinely enthralled and thrilled at MY REPUTATION. It appears the release was botched in 1946 leaving this 3 year old film on the shelf until then which made certain parts of the romance irrelevant to post war audiences. MY REPUTATION is an excellent film, with beautiful sets and art direction, hilarious whimsy and very strong adult themes. Even the Max Steiner score is lovely. Do not be put off by any carping about any aspect of this well intentioned drama... MY REPUTATION is intact (which is more than I can personally say for me today).