Le train du dernier retour

For fifty years, this film which I consider to be near-miss try at a classic drama of ideas has been one of my favorite films. Philip Dunne wanted the world to appreciate lovely and talented Dana Wynter, his leading lady as writer and director on the film; and he also wanted to solve the problem of how to develop its powerful story-line to its fullest. In my judgment, he came close on both counts; there are five parts in the film that really matter, and Wynter has one of them which she does very well. And the film is good, well-liked, well-remembered. But neither the lady nor the project achieved exactly what Dunne had wished. The novel by Southerner Hamilton Basso which was the springboard for the interesting and lushly-photographed screenplay I find to be well-thought out, filled with interesting vignette characters and strong in its praise and condemnation of the South, its peoples' racism at the time and its social mores and ways. The novel has a convoluted style, which involves flashbacks to various periods in the central character Anson Page's life in a Carolina town and in New York. The basic plot device is that he is sent back to his home town for a very important reason by the book publishing company for whom he works in New York City. He is restless, at odds with his Northern wife, and frankly unprepared for how deeply Pompey's Head will affect him. "Time is a treacherous thing," he notes. His assignment is to find out why his now-dead editor, a man who had helped him to write "Shinto Traditions in the American South"--about ancestor worship mostly--has been accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from another' house author', Garvin Wales. He cannot believe his friend and mentor Philip Schuyler would steal; but he has no other explanation for the money, sent off in checks under Schuyler's name to Anna Jones. But the wife of the famous author, a Deveraux from an old family, is demanding money. So he goes home, to a bitter mystery and a dangerous mid-life crisis. The worst danger he faces, other than gossip, running into old friends and classmates and the investigation he must conduct comes seeking him. It is Dinah Blackford, his old sweetheart, now married to Michael "Mico" Higgins, CEO of "Peppo" beverages and a man trying to buy his way into the exclusive society of the town whose poor channel-born son he once was--and in the eyes of the traditional upper class still is. Over time, Page, played by powerful Richard Egan, realizes why he left the South in the first place, over racism and over the power games played by its long-time residents against those newer to wealth, the land and its ways. He finally even finds Dinah shallow, without deep honesty or an interest in ideas; she cannot leave her abusive husband because she wants the wealth of her family's ancestral plantation which she had lost but which he bought for her again with the money from his beverage business. And at the last, he also discovers the truth about the mysterious Anna Jones. Wales is by now a blind, embittered man who had nothing to do with the suit; his wife, Lucy Deveraux Wales began it...and what he finds out causes her to give up the suit and pretend her wrath had always been a silly misunderstanding. Page notes that someday soon she will even believe her own lie...and that that sort of postmodernist-Neanderthal behavior is why he must go back to his life in New York. The direction and the script by scenarist Dunne are far-above- average; in dialogue, beautiful imagery and memorable scenes this is a high-quality motion picture effort. The cinematography by Joseph MacDonald is diamond-like; the art direction by Leland Fuller and Lyle R. Wheeler is unforgettable, filled with location footage. The set decorations by Paul S. Fox and Walter M. Scott are professionally fine as are the music by Elmer Bernstein and the costumes by Charles Le Maire. In the five leads, everyone does very well. Cameron Mitchell brings energy and craft to his portrayal of Mico Higgins; Egan makes a good leading man; and in the role of Lucy Deveraux Wales Marjorie Rambeau is award-caliber, as is Sidney Blackmer as Garvin Wales, in the scenes the script allows him. Dana Wynter is lovely, talented and does a fairly good Southern accent; she is every bit the lovely aristocrat stuck mentally in the 1850s the author painted her to be. What the viewer takes away from this powerful film of personalities and ideas is a strong sense of the Carolina landscape and the magnetic pull of the past upon the lives of those in the present. All those in the film's smaller roles from De Forest Kelley as a hotel clerk to the New York firm's heads are played with intelligence. This is nearly a great film, and one of the most hauntingly memorable, by my lights, of all time...

I saw this movie when I was 11 years old. It was a love story that has never left me. When Dana Wynter says, "Oh Sonny, I loved you so," I just cried and cried. I felt then, I would have some sort of sadness in my love life and later on, I did!

Lush soap opera with many signatures of the big budget 50's studio era, beautiful locations and production design, Cinemascope and an eye for detail..there's a scene where Egan pulls up beside a house and the colors of his suit, car interior & exterior and house all compliment each other and and his complexion and he's in a ghetto! Where it misses is in the casting of the leading man.

Richard Egan was a reliable journeyman actor but he wasn't strong enough to carry this sort of film. His character, who to put it mildly has many conflicts, required the intensity of a Richard Burton or the movie star charisma of a Rock Hudson to make him work, Egan possesses neither. Dana Wynter, Cameron Mitchell and Marjorie Rambeau all provide the requisite punch to their characters but with Egan's bland reliability failing to give them a spark to ignite off of the film never pulls the audience in.

It's not an awful film just empty.

After several attempts at watching blurry copies, I finally found a decent copy with satisfactory sound and was then able to view the entire film. I found this film to be quite absorbing and beautiful. The performances were very convincing. Richard Egan as usual is a very powerful and engrossing presence here always balancing restraint and erotic tension. Dana Wynter is lovely but could have been more impetuous. I read that Jean Simmons was considered for the Dana Wynter role. Perhaps she would have added that fiery impetuousness that was lacking in Ms. Wynter's performance. The acting accolades go to Marjorie Rambeau who was truly commanding in every scene. Sidney Blackner and Cameron Mitchell contribute very strong performances as well. Visually, the production is stunning. The colours, light, shadows and scenery were extremely lush and well thought out. The farewell scene at the train station for me ranks as one of the most beautiful "train station" scenes ever, along with " A Man and a Woman", "Love in the Afternoon" and dare I say, "Brief Encounter." It is unfortunate that a fully and meticulously restored version of this film is still unavailable. I can only imagine what the experience of watching this film must be like on the big screen. I should also not neglect to mention Elmer Bernstein's sweeping music score and moving love theme.

Married New York City lawyer with Southern roots returns to his hometown in Georgia strictly on business, managing to dig up secrets from the past as well as rekindling a distant romance. Despite some flashbacks near the beginning, a lean and straightforward adaptation of Hamilton Basso's book (its inelegant title changed to "Secret Interlude" overseas). The film manages to skirt overwrought melodrama with help from a literate screenplay by Philip Dunne, who also directed. However, with themes of interracial relations and extra-marital intimacy, the picture really shouldn't be so plodding. The performers are well-cast (and their divergent accents aren't a big distraction), but the blaring music by Elmer Bernstein seeks out more intensity on the screen than what we're getting, especially during the romantic clinches. Handsome film is well-produced, yet the plot is merely routine. ** from ****