The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

This oft-ignored noir has a lot going for it and should be better-known, especially as it appears to be in the public domain and freely available in discount bins (in transfers of varying quality).  The four leads are Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, and Kirk Douglas in his very first film.   Now although I have a number of Douglas' movies in my collection, as he has appeared in some excellent flicks, and although he has an obvious talent, I have never warmed to the man; his roles usually seem to be screaming: "look at me and how macho I am!"

It wouldn't surprise me one little bit if this was a calculated reaction,  an instinctive kneejerk to the very weak and wishy-washy character he plays in this debut.  Stanwyck, Heflin, and he grew up together and share a dark secret concerning the death of her wealthy aunt.  Heflin had run away from his abusive family on the night in question; after seeing the world and distinguishing himself in battle, he returns to the town that Stanwyck now controls some eighteen years later.  He finds the other two married, with Douglas as the local district attorney, but it is clear who holds the reins and who wields the power.  Despite Heflin's interest in glamorous parolee Scott, Stanwyck -- not the most moral of women here and therefore a typical noir heroine -- wants him for her own just as much as she craved his company when they were teenagers.  Heflin is actually the first male lead in this movie and one can just about credit him and Stanwyck as contemporaries, but it takes a certain suspension of belief to believe that the then 30-year old Douglas and the 39-year old Stanwyck were childhood friends.  That apart, all of the acting is polished and the melodramatic action grinds to a satisfying denouement.  

Tags: Kirk Douglas, Barbara Stanwyck