"The Reckless Moment" Review

 

by Daniel White

A fascinating look at the American middle class, Max Opul's The Reckless Moment (1949) is a must-see for all those interested in film from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Opuls (dumbed down from Ophuls), with the clarity of an outsider, directs this absorbing tale of a housewife (Joan Bennett) being blackmailed after covering up her daughter's accidental killing of her much older boyfriend.

Opuls and his team of scenarists waste no time getting the story rolling. In just under 25 minutes Lucia Harper (Bennett) has confronted cad Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick), warned him away from daughter, Bea (Geraldine Brooks), discovered his lifeless body and disposed of it. She is one efficient lady! However, there's a fly in the ointment -- blackmailer Martin Donnelly (James Mason). In possession of love letters Bea has written to Darby, he demands 5000 dollars from Lucia. Darby's body has been discovered and is being investigated as a homicide.

The under-appreciated Joan Bennett is fabulous as the taut, finagling, exasperated Lucia. With her husband overseas at work and no capable man around to help her (her father-in-law is too old, her son too young), Joan must do EVERYTHING to protect the self-absorbed Bea. And she does, or at least attempts to. Opuls has presented a tribute, of sorts, to the proficiency of the modern American woman: tend house, take care of children, and oh yes, find money for blackmailer to prevent daughter from going to prison for manslaughter!

James Mason is his usual brooding self as the Irish Donnelly. A conflicted con artist out to make a quick buck, he soon falls under Bennett's spell and begrudgingly begins to admire her for being so industrious! This flick is both camp and convincing! Of course no woman can do it completely on her own and Joan gets some much-needed assistance from her live-in housekeeper, Sibyl (Frances E. Willams). Treated as an equal and allowed to behave like a human being and not a caricature, Williams is a formidable Ethel to Bennett's Lucia.

The movie is based on the story "The Blank Wall", by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. Distributed by Columbia Pictures, with the talented Burnett Guffey handling the cinematography, Walter Wanger has produced another suitable star vehicle for wife Joan Bennett. The Reckless Moment is currently available on YouTube.

Final note: The film was remade in 2001 as The Deep End, with Tilda Swinton in the Joan Bennett role. Both flicks are worth viewing.