The third version of William Irish's absorbing psychological thriller "I married a dead man",after Leisen's "no man of her own" (1950),starring Barbara Stanwyck, which I have not seen but would like to,Robin Davis's 1982 "j'ai épousé une ombre" starring Natalie Baye.That French attempt,although it did a lot of francs (no euros at the time),was a disappointment,because the heroine ,without her terrible guilty feeling,was devoid of interest, and because the scenarists felt compelled to secure a ridiculous happy end which the novel had not.William Irish's world is noir,desperate ,some of his short novels to rival the best of Poe.
What about Richard Benjamin's work?It's an insult to the great writer who once gave Hitchcock "rear window" .You simply cannot turn an Irish tragic heroine into a Pygmalion/my fair lady character .Connie was not a crude vulgar woman,she was a frail girl who said to us at the beginning of the book-which like Benjamin's film is a long flashback- "We've lost;that's all I know,we've lost".Oddly the part of the father has been ruled out,probably to make room for MacLaine who gets here the lion's share .The director does not know what he wants to do,a comedy or a thriller ,and the movie suffers accordingly.
Best performance:Baby Hughie.
Since I wrote my comment I had the opportunity to see "no man of her own";It's the best by far!
What about Richard Benjamin's work?It's an insult to the great writer who once gave Hitchcock "rear window" .You simply cannot turn an Irish tragic heroine into a Pygmalion/my fair lady character .Connie was not a crude vulgar woman,she was a frail girl who said to us at the beginning of the book-which like Benjamin's film is a long flashback- "We've lost;that's all I know,we've lost".Oddly the part of the father has been ruled out,probably to make room for MacLaine who gets here the lion's share .The director does not know what he wants to do,a comedy or a thriller ,and the movie suffers accordingly.
Best performance:Baby Hughie.
Since I wrote my comment I had the opportunity to see "no man of her own";It's the best by far!