O Amor Tudo Vence

There's nothing better than Lana's voice when she's being quietly emphatic about whatever ... she can purr with the best of them and takes you back to her earliest days in film. Otherwise, the movie seems to jump all over the place as far as plot/who we really want to focus on. In many ways Zimbalist and Robards should have switched parts: to see Hamilton get riled up each time he has a conversation with the incredibly passive Zimbalist is laughable. Great '60s period piece, great cast - the inimitable Thomas Mitchell (Pa O'Hara from "GWTW"), Everett Sloane and Barbara Bel Geddes ("Miss Ellie" from "Dallas") add to the fun of this soaper (I agree with the review that says "Sirk - without Sirk") and it was a good find.

James Gould Cozzens wrote two novels that were truly great-Guard of Honor and the Just and the Unjust--and ,occasionally, melodramatic junk that was wildly over praised at the time of publication.The ne plus ultra of his ;iterary artlessness was undoubtedly By Love Possessed. When it was published, it was a wildly praised best -seller. The only dissents came from Dwight McDonald, who wrote a hilarious assault on the book called "By Cozzens Possessed", and William F.Buckley, Jr. who took a page and a half to sink it beneath the waves in his National Review. Of course, like all melodramatic best sellers, it eventually had to be made into a Hollywood film. However, the only Hollywood directors at the time capable of making it into a good movie were Sirk (and maybe, just maybe, Preminger).Sirk, in fact, with his exquisitely controlled irony, and his insight into American manners and mores would have produced a chilly, superbly calibrated, yet compassionate melodrama, comparable to All that Heaven Allows, Written on The Wind, or Imitation of Life. Unfortunatly, Sirk had fled Hollywood, and Preminger was busy making Advise and Consent. So the decadent Hollywood system in its "genius' gave it John Sturges. Result: a movie that looks like a Sirk film( thanks to Russell Metty), sounds like a Sirk film, and has the cast and plot of a Sirk film..but isn't a Sirk film. Result..bloated, turgid, melodrama, without a drop of genuine wit, irony, compassion , or human insight. Well, maybe Cozzens deserved it, at least for this one. On the other hand, having carefully read Guard of Honor and The Just and the Unjust, both could be made into superb films-with the right direction and/or cast. Paul Thomas Anderson, are you paying attention?

Despite coming off the success of 1959's classic sudser, "Imitation of Life", and 1960's mystery/soap, "Portrait in Black", Lana Turner made a poor career choice with "By Love Possessed". Not a bad film exactly, it does pale in comparison to the other melodramas of Turner's later career. The great cast includes Efrem Zimbalist,Jr., Jason Robards, George Hamilton, Susan Kohner(the black daughter passing as white in "Imitation of Life"), and Barbara Bel Geddes. In this vehicle, Turner plays the alcoholic, pleasure-deprived wife of a handicapped lawyer(Robards). So, she begins an affair with his law partner(Zimbalist), despite the fact that he is married to Bel Geddes and has a son(Hamilton). Hamilton is involved in a lacking side plot in which he's in love with a rich, but mentally unstable local girl(Kohner). The film is super plush and has a great score. However, the character development is so lacking, that by the end of it all we don't care about them. Too bad. It could all have been so good. This movie's only worth a look if you're a big fan of Turner's.

It is certainly not a great movie, but it makes enjoyable television watching. The cinematography is great. It's fun just watching the marvelous rooms with the elaborate woodwork, sweeping hallways. These folks live very well. The camera is quite static so it is a visually appealing, quiet movie with very literate characters. It is fun just watching these drab folks live among such rich colors. Their lives may not be a rich tapestry, but their backgrounds sure are.

OK, the plot is very melodramatic and a bit contrived. Folks have very big problems (infidelity, crimes, court drama, family break ups) but nothing much really seems to happen. They sure talk a lot. Oh well, but late at night, when you don't want to go to sleep, this is almost perfect.

Likely to be lumped together with Turner's other late 50's/early 60's glossy, starring vehicles, this is actually more of an ensemble piece, based on a large, sprawling novel, and Turner is denied a chance to really take the reins. The plot (which is based on only the last part of the 25 year-long story in the novel) concerns small town lawyer Zimbalist, who, in the matter of a day or two, discovers that his wife (Bel Geddes) is discontent, his son (Hamilton) resents him, his father-in-law (Mitchell) is mishandling the firm's funds and his partner's wife (Turner) has the hots for him. Turner's husband (Robards) is impotent as the result of a car accident, so she turns to the bottle for comfort and eventually to Zimbalist. Meanwhile, Hamilton is fed up with the expectations of his family and of the town in which they live and disses fiancée Kohner for town floozie Craig. This kicks off a series of troublesome events which wind up affecting all of the characters, bringing some of them closer together, but destroying others. The film has a splendid musical score by Elmer Bernstein (even if his music for Turner and Zimbalist's fateful meeting sounds more apt for a swashbuckler than an illicit rendezvous.) It's also helmed by the rather solid Sturges, though it seems he wasn't the man best-suited to material like this. An irresistible cast flounders and flops it's way through the strained storyline with only the occasional unintentional laugh to make it bearable. Zimbalist, never the most dynamic actor, lacks the charisma to hold up the film. Robards is given little to do and does pretty little with it. Hamilton (well-cast as Zimbalist's son) never conveys the necessary emotion or depth for his role. Mitchell quite easily steals most of his scenes with his customary bombast and presence. Turner (decked out in one of her worst-ever hairstyles and looking quite bloated facially at times) is given a smallish, fairly ludicrous role to play. Her clothes in the film, despite having a name designer doing them, cover all the bases from drab to garish to unflattering to preposterous with only one or two making the grade of appealing. Apart from that, Turner is often bland and wooden, not to mention insincere and bored-looking. Tellingly, she shares no scenes with the stage-trained Bel Geddes who, even with virtually no make-up and even duller clothing, completely waltzes off with the acting honors in the film. The glamor-proof Bel Geddes adds texture and feeling to yet another silly role in the film (her character is in the hospital for a week due to an accident on the tennis court??) Kohner is a close second, injecting emotion into her cipher-like role of the dejected sweetheart. The real hoot is Craig, who refers to herself in the third person and plays the town squeeze with notable haughtiness (her mom in the film is also a brief treat.) It's got expensive (but strangely unappealing) sets, luxurious trappings, a rather seedy storyline and a name cast, but somehow remains dull, drab and unengaging. Worth a look for pre-"Dallas" Bel Geddes and for fans of Kohner and Turner completists.