The Reckless Moment (1949)

Director:

Max Ophüls

Writers:

Mel Dinelli (adaptation)
Henry Garson (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 December 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Plot:

After discovering the dead body of Bea Harper's lover, Bea's mother Lucia hides the body under the assumption...

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Beautiful Woman | Body Disposal | Car Accident | Mother Daughter Relationship

Cast

James Mason	...	Martin Donnelly
Joan Bennett	...	Lucia Harper
Geraldine Brooks	...	Bea Harper
Henry O'Neill	...	Tom Harper
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Ted Darby
David Bair	...	David Harper
Roy Roberts	...	Nagel

Also Known As:

The Blank Wall (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:12 (re-rating) (2005) | UK:A (original rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #13937) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Martin: Hell is other people...

Movie Connections:

Version of The Deep End (2001)

The Shallow End

A couple of minutes into "Reckless Moment" it became apparent to me that this is the original on which 2001's "The Deep End" was based. From that moment onwards, I found myself playing an involuntary ping pong match between the two versions. While both are worthy films in their own right, a comparison weighs heavily in favor of "Deep End'.

"Reckless Moment" is made with great style in fitting with the noir melodrama. The photography is superb, and director Ophuls is served excellently by both James Mason and Joan Bennett. However the very linchpin of the story is the ambivalent and complex relationship between the blackmailer and his victim and it's in this area that the movie falters badly. It's handling of the relationship is straightforward, shallow and basically unbelievable. "The Deep End" handled this particularly well; it's the very source of the film's power. It also shrewdly updated the protection of a daughter by her mother, from having the love letters she wrote exposed, to a mothers protection of her gay son's videotaped sexual escapades.

Still "Reckless Moment" remains a worthwhile experience, but misses making the grade of a "classic" thanks to an unimaginative, simplistic and shallow screenplay.