My Forbidden Past (1951)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Polan Banks (novel)
Leopold Atlas (adaptation)

Release Date:

25 April 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

SHE's the kind of woman that made NEW ORLEANS famous!

Plot:

Barbara Beaurevel lives with her aunt and cousin in New Orleans in the late 1800's. In love with Mark Lucas...

Plot Keywords:

Grandmother | Research | Doctor | Trial | Notoriety

Cast

Robert Mitchum	...	Dr. Mark Lucas
Ava Gardner	...	Barbara Beaurevel
Melvyn Douglas	...	Paul Beaurevel
Lucile Watson	...	Aunt Eula Beaurevel
Janis Carter	...	Corinne Lucas
Gordon Oliver	...	Clay Duchesne
Basil Ruysdael	...	Dean Cazzley
Clarence Muse	...	Pompey
Walter Kingsford	...	Coroner
Jack Briggs	...	Cousin Philippe
Will Wright	...	Luther Toplady

Also Known As:

Carriage Entrance (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

70 min | UK:81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #14149) | UK:12 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-3 (new rating 2001) | Italy:VM14 | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:TV-PG (TV rating)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The box office failure of the film involved 700,000 dollars losses for RKO.

A poor man's melodrama.

The film is much too short .A melodrama demands lavish details ,mainly when it deals with a "forbidden" past.Here Gardner's grandma's racy past is only skimmed over.Her relationship with Mitchum -not convincing as a professor-makes me think of a poor man' s "Jezebel" .And Mitchum's character's attitude does not make much sense when he come s back with a wife.Besides the ending I-hope-she-will -mend-her-ways is unworthy of a great melodrama :never Sirk,Stahl , Minnelli or Wyler would have ended one of their works that way.Ava Gardner is for me the most beautiful actress that has ever been but there are so many works to remember her,better than this one!