I may be in the minority here, but I had such a great time with The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Directed by Lewis Millstone, 16 years after his Best Picture winning film All Quiet on the Western Front, Millstone experiments with a noir genre that was raving in the 40’s. He secured a couple iconic noir actors with the queen herself, Barbara Stanwyck, and Kirk Douglas, who found his early success in the genre. This was also his debut role!

This was a great time from start to finish. Stanwyck plays her iconic femme fatale role, with great supporting performances from Van Heflin and Kirk Douglas. But a new face for me, and the real standout in this film was Lizabeth Scott. While not one of the major three characters with Ivers and her lovers, Scott plays stunning town guest, Toni, who falls in love with Van Helfin’s character, Sam. She becomes jealous of Martha after finding out Sam’s feelings for her. Scott really gives it her all here, and my favorite scene in the film is an emotional one, as Toni is caught crying after seeing Sam kiss Martha in her car. I also loved the way they lit and shot her, as if her beauty was radiating and glistening through the screen. It felt like the way Ingrid Bergman looked in Casablanca. I’m definitely going to check out more of her work from her rather short career, although she still became a film noir icon.

Like most noirs, this film is overly dramatic, and its story can be seen to be a little ridiculous. But I actually loved this film for how bizarre it is. It’s rather heartbreaking opening scene sets the tone for the entire film. It’s an interesting look at the physical and emotional toll that comes with holding in a secret to that degree, that it’s bound to tear apart every party involved. Watching these characters reuniting years into the future is so interesting to watch unfold. And those melodramatic final 30 minutes solidify this as a memorable 40’s noir.

Barbara Stanwyck Ranked

I may be in the minority here, but I had such a great time with The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Directed by Lewis Millstone, 16 years after his Best Picture winning film All Quiet on the Western Front, Millstone experiments with a noir genre that was raving in the 40’s. He secured a couple iconic noir actors with the queen herself, Barbara Stanwyck, and Kirk Douglas, who found his early success in the genre. This was also his debut role!

This was a great time from start to finish. Stanwyck plays her iconic femme fatale role, with great supporting performances from Van Heflin and Kirk Douglas. But a new face for me, and the real standout in this film was Lizabeth Scott. While not one of the major three characters with Ivers and her lovers, Scott plays stunning town guest, Toni, who falls in love with Van Helfin’s character, Sam. She becomes jealous of Martha after finding out Sam’s feelings for her. Scott really gives it her all here, and my favorite scene in the film is an emotional one, as Toni is caught crying after seeing Sam kiss Martha in her car. I also loved the way they lit and shot her, as if her beauty was radiating and glistening through the screen. It felt like the way Ingrid Bergman looked in Casablanca. I’m definitely going to check out more of her work from her rather short career, although she still became a film noir icon.

Like most noirs, this film is overly dramatic, and its story can be seen to be a little ridiculous. But I actually loved this film for how bizarre it is. It’s rather heartbreaking opening scene sets the tone for the entire film. It’s an interesting look at the physical and emotional toll that comes with holding in a secret to that degree, that it’s bound to tear apart every party involved. Watching these characters reuniting years into the future is so interesting to watch unfold. And those melodramatic final 30 minutes solidify this as a memorable 40’s noir.

Barbara Stanwyck Ranked

“This is thy sheath, there rust, and let me die.” ahh ending. It’s a Romeo and Juliet reference for those who are not as intellectual as me.

“This is thy sheath, there rust, and let me die.” ahh ending. It’s a Romeo and Juliet reference for those who are not as intellectual as me.

she's so good at mistreating men we all ought to try a little harder

she's so good at mistreating men we all ought to try a little harder

Yet another fantastic 40’s romance drama, this genre, especially from this time period, is becoming one of my go-tos for a good time and Lewis Milestone’s The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a perfect example of what I love about it. I think the best place to start is with the acting since it was all so great, this is definitely my favorite Stanwyck role so far next to Double Indemnity, Van Heflin delivered a highly entertaining lead and his chemistry was great with Lizabeth Scott who I also loved, and Kirk Douglas’ was solid in his debut role too. With the story I was loving this complex love quadrangle, from what I’ve seen these movies typically gravitate towards a triangle which I’m still a fan of but I really liked the rather unique dynamics here. I had some decently high expectations for the visuals with Milestone being the creator one of the greatest visual accomplishments of all time in All Quiet on the Western Front but I was still shocked by how good this looked. The editing can look rough but that just comes with this era of film, outside of that the shot creation was phenomenal and yet again a noir delivered with the beautiful lighting. There’s not much more to add, I was throughly enjoying this story’s twists and turns, like I said the acting across the board was impressive and they really nailed the ending which I find pretty rare for this era, there isn’t much more you could want from one of these.

“A sure thing is never a gamble.”

“No? What odds you give that that’s a fact?”

Yet another fantastic 40’s romance drama, this genre, especially from this time period, is becoming one of my go-tos for a good time and Lewis Milestone’s The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a perfect example of what I love about it. I think the best place to start is with the acting since it was all so great, this is definitely my favorite Stanwyck role so far next to Double Indemnity, Van Heflin delivered a highly entertaining lead and his chemistry was great with Lizabeth Scott who I also loved, and Kirk Douglas’ was solid in his debut role too. With the story I was loving this complex love quadrangle, from what I’ve seen these movies typically gravitate towards a triangle which I’m still a fan of but I really liked the rather unique dynamics here. I had some decently high expectations for the visuals with Milestone being the creator one of the greatest visual accomplishments of all time in All Quiet on the Western Front but I was still shocked by how good this looked. The editing can look rough but that just comes with this era of film, outside of that the shot creation was phenomenal and yet again a noir delivered with the beautiful lighting. There’s not much more to add, I was throughly enjoying this story’s twists and turns, like I said the acting across the board was impressive and they really nailed the ending which I find pretty rare for this era, there isn’t much more you could want from one of these.

“A sure thing is never a gamble.”

“No? What odds you give that that’s a fact?”

this is my harley quinn and joker

this is my harley quinn and joker