Sans ton amour

Well done soap-opera theatrics where injured soldier, Jeff Chandler, falls for nurse Loretta Young and the two soon wed and have a lovely daughter. Sounds typical with a poor girl marrying a rich, handsome businessman like Jeff.

The big secret is that Loretta was in jail as no one believed her innocence in the participation of a robbery.

She never told Jeff about her former life. Years later, the guy who led her down this path, suddenly shows up one afternoon and kidnaps her with the child. After another robbery, there is a high speed chase and the guy is killed instantly. Loretta and daughter survive the wreck physically-but there are plenty of emotional problems as a result.

An enraged Jeff accuses Ms. Young of being a tramp and immediately files for divorce and gains full custody of the child.

Loretta takes a job as an entertainer for children's parties. Her sister-in-law comes has her come over. Since this is years later, the child does not know that Loretta is her mother. The kid has hangups. (Who wouldn't after all this?) Unexpectedly, Jeff comes home and there are fireworks.

While we see many clichés here, the film is nicely done with Chandler showing that he was a good actor. His emotional outbursts are believable. Young is subdued but as always turns in a competent performance.

The film was originally supposed to be called "Magic Lady," but there is no magic here. Just a tale of tell your entire background to your mate-to-be.

The film is nothing but fluff--not even enjoyable fluff. I watched this film because I'm a fan of Loretta Young. It's a bit of a soap-opera and the plot is so unbelievable it's laughable. I found myself laughing at how silly the story was because it didn't make much sense. I found Chandler's character to be a bit annoying. He was always butt-hurt at something Young's character did or didn't do. What a cry baby!

A perfect choice if you love old melodrama ;the subject is not unlike that of "Madame X "which was filmed several times : a good woman,deprived of the custody of her only child, thrown out of her desirable house ,complete with servants..

Loretta Young is not very convincing as a gangster's moll with a blond wig ,but she's the nurse every patient would like to have ;and she's even better as a conjurer's assistant ; the "magic performance" scenes are the best and we do believe the show can brighten up a sullen child,suffering because something is defin itely lacking in her life of luxury; the scene when Young appears to Chandler in the mirror in also a good moment.

Nothing can be confirmed about the true events regarding Loretta, Clark Gable, and their daughter, Judy. Loretta and Clark had an affair and Loretta went to a lot of trouble to keep anyone from knowing she had an affair or a child conceived from said affair. How it pertains to this film in my learned opinion is interesting. Loretta plays a parent who is forced out of her daughter's life but whose love bridges all adversity and she never stops loving and trying to get back into her daughter's life. It is said that Clark met Judy once and never saw her again. This happened sometime around 1950 when Clark and Loretta made "Key to the City". Was Loretta bothered that Clark saw his daughter once and that's all he wanted? Notably, "Because of You" was released in 1952 and not long after "Key to the City". In this film, Loretta is seen as a parent who could not possibly mirror what Clark was as a father to Judy. Loretta is as prim and proper as she always was during this period. After the first couple of scenes, that open the film, have her as a blond and dating a gangster. She is not exactly playing against type when she's doing that for barely the first 5 minutes. If she meets bad luck after that, the viewer is led to believe it's just her past and happenstance that she is meeting bad luck. She is still seen as proper and "holier than thou". In the past several years, her family has claimed that her affair with Clark was really a date rape and that's how she got pregnant. We(the public) are getting fed that when those events happened nearly a century ago. This is a message film to me and a drama. Not a very good one and made to make Loretta's character appear as the ultimate loving parent. Her co-star's character, played ably by Jeff Chandler, is nothing more than secondary. He probably took the part so he could play the male lead in a romantic saga for the first time. His celluloid career was just beginning but was later cut short by his unfortunate premature death. The drama is flimsy at best and I could write a better screenplay in less than 2 hours. I would guess Loretta, as a big shot long time movie star, got someone to snap up a story like this in no time. And to get it produced and filmed. I think she is indirectly slandering Clark Gable as a father and if Clark saw "Because of You", I'm sure he was aware of this fact. I think he may have had only one meeting with his daughter is really because of mom(Loretta). I hope what happened between that couple and their daughter goes away. We don't need to hear from the estate of that family(Loretta Young's) down the line about the relationship that Clark Gable and Loretta Young had anymore. Loretta saving face for nearly a century after Judy was born has become a tremendous bore. I recommend other films Loretta made that don't have her playing the world's greatest and most loving mother in the history of mankind. Class is dismissed.

Expectations were mixed here before watching 'Because of You'. The subject did intrigue somewhat, though with and do like Loretta Young in other things, always watchable and more and with a long and versatile career. Jeff Chandler too, another actor that died too young tragically with more to give, especially in 'Broken Arrow'. Haven't seen enough of Joseph Pevney's work it has to be admitted, personally am more familiar with him in support acting roles.

Do sadly have to agree with everybody else here regarding 'Because of You'. It has its good things but on the whole it didn't do it for me for reasons said very well already. It is a good representation for Chandler, who apparently considered it his personal favourite of the films he made (can actually name better myself, 'Broken Arrow' included). Not so much an against type Young, good to see a different side to her but the way her character is written lets her down.

'Because of You' has two particularly good things. One is the photography, which is both beautiful to watch and atmospheric. In fact, 'Because of You' is a well made film visually, as the costuming is also true to period and elegant and the settings expansive enough without being overblown, the atmosphere is also present in the lighting. The other particularly good thing is Chandler, who to me was excellent. Especially when he learns the truth agreed, some very intensely moving acting there.

Frank Skinner's score has some suitably haunting moments that fits well and doesn't make the mistake of being melodramatic like most of the rest of the film's components. The highlights dramatically being the big confrontation (which agreed should have happened much later and the film ended with it) and when Steve finds out the truth, the only scenes really to ring true.

In a film that is badly let down by its overwrought soap-opera-heavy and nonsensical story, with too many credibility straining scenes and a very drawn out and not particularly necessary final third. Personally actually thought 'Because of You' did get too maudlin, the sentimentality was hard to stomach and hard to believe in the daughter encounter especially. None of the supporting cast stand out in underwritten roles and Pevney's direction is as soggy as watery cucumber sandwiches.

Really didn't care for the characters, only feeling sorry for Steve in one scene. Not only because they were dull but also because they frequently made decisions that were stupid, came out of nowhere and made little or no sense. While it was admirable that Young played against type here, to me she was very bland (her looks were sensual but her acting wasn't) and suffered the worst from how badly the characters were written, far too passive and quite silly. The script is both under-cooked in depth and overwrought in the delivery of the excessive soapiness it frequently suffers from, it never sounds natural either.

All in all, very conflicted here. 5/10