The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Sorry, this movie sucks

A lot of fun.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The tagline could just as easily have read 'There's no-one better than Barbara when she's bad' and here Miss Stanwyck is as bad as can be. When not beating her aunt to death she's doing all she can to make sure her weak, alcoholic husband is re-elected DA while cheating on him with her childhood sweetheart. Lewis Milestone's "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" is an overheated melodrama of small town corruption full of rotten characters and Barbara is the most rotten of all with hubbie Kirk Douglas not far behind. Van Heflin is the good guy who used to be a bad boy and Lizabeth Scott is the shop-soiled girl he falls for, (she's the film's weakest link). Milestone directed from a Robert Rossen screenplay and it's reasonably entertaining if a little convoluted. We could also be doing with a bit more of Stanwyck though both Heflin and Douglas, in his first film, are excellent and there's a nice supporting turn from Judith Anderson as the aunt who gets it. No classic then but very watchable.

What made Martha's character truly evil was rather than saying the hateful aunt's death was an accident she blamed an innocent man for the crime sending him to death row and ultimate execution. At this point viewers had no sympathy for her character. We could however feel sorry for her wimpy husband whom she dominated although he was also a kind of jerk.

There are a few good moments in this noir film from 1946, and it's a fine cast with Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, and Kirk Douglas, but overall it's overwrought, muddled, and I have to say, about 30 minutes too long. It starts off strong enough, with a young girl accidentally killing her cruel aunt during a thunderstorm in a house without power, in front of a boy who is a friend of the family and her boyfriend who she had intended to run away with. Flash forward 17-18 years, and Van Heflin (the boy who ran away on his own) returns to find the other two (Stanwyck and Douglas) married and in positions of great power in the town. Perhaps one character who confuses the script more than she's worth is Lizabeth Scott, playing a love interest of Heflin's. The film degenerates into melodrama, a confusion of motivations, dramatic music that will remind you of the old Star Trek series, and poor dialogue. It is interesting towards the end as Heflin tries to determine who the evil mastermind is between Stanwyck and Douglas, but the ending itself is poor. This one is overrated, and it's hard to understand the high review scores.

"Strange love of Martha Ivers" must be one of my all-time favorite movies ever - one of those truly classics that I return to from time to time and watch in awe, always finding new details and enjoying it immensely. It has everything - b&w beautiful picture with lots of shadows, thunders, lighting, immoral characters, beautiful houses, shabby hotels, detectives, criminals, delightful slang expressions of the time, excellent actors and brilliant script. I could live in this movie. After a long absence, Van Heflin stumbles by accident in his hometown (driving drunken sailor who is uncredited future director Blake Edwards!) where his unexpected return raises alarming suspicion of local big fish (Kirk Douglas in his first movie role!) now married to Heflin's old flame. Kirk Douglas and Barbara Stanwyck live in marriage from hell, one of those strange, sadistic relationships made only for the sake of appearance and their scenes are frightening and fascinating to watch - Stanwyck is cold as ice towards her intellectually inferior husband but he is snake as well. Stanwyck composure falls apart when she sees Van Heflin who is simply amused, while Douglas watches from a side, knowing her too well and understanding she is slipping from his grasp. I won't go into details about the story - it must be seen to enjoy properly - but trough the movie we actually feel a little bit of sympathy for Stanwyck who was caged in this prison of marriage hoping to escape somehow one day.Her role is negative in "moral" sense and still Stanwyck manages to appear human under that cold posture.Acting is excellent - Kirk Douglas is weak alcoholic bowing in presence of strong wife but cruel otherwise, Stanwyck tough as nails and scared little girl in presence of love of her life, Van Heflin our good-guy-with-a-past who hides a good heart under tough exterior (and he can fight too, not afraid of any policemen or detectives sent to scare him away) and there is a excellent supporting role for Lizabeth Scott who is here as his love interest, balance for cruel Martha Ivers. However, this is film noir so even Lizabeth Scott is not exactly goodie goddie, she also has dark past and her own secrets however Van Heflin is ready to overlook this and take her under his wing the way she is, bruised butterfly and all. For years I have been fascinated with Scott's acting and role in this movie and although she is only a supporting role here, I always loved her. In fact, sometimes I watch the movie because of her - I admit its impossible to overshadow Barbara Stanwyck but Scott is darn close. Great movie, truly a classic.