Most of THE WOMAN IN RED is an excellent film with a particularly good performance by Barbara Stanwyck. It's just too bad that near the end, the movie takes a very strange and rather ridiculous twist that left me feeling cold. Up until then, I anticipated giving the movie a score of 7 or 8, as it was an involving and interesting film.
Barbara plays a professional show horse rider. She's the best there is, though the old established money looks down on her since she has to work for a living (heaven forbid). When she falls for and marries into an old and well-respected family (with almost no money to their good name), she turns a few heads by actually suggesting she and her husband open an honest business--making her hubby the first man to work in her family in several generations. While all these lazy gadabouts will no doubt make the viewers a bit angry, in this odd world of show jumping, it is the working man and woman who are the outcasts! What a bizarre world! Later, when a Barbara and a male friend are on a yacht, there is an accident and suddenly the society people and newspapers all begin yapping like a bunch of chihuahuas. While this made very little sense, it did lead to a courtroom scene that was even worse--with some amazing histrionics that really killed the flow of the film and made it a rather sappy melodrama.
The verdict--80% excellent but ending on a bit of a silly note. Not a bad film, but it sure could have been a lot better.
Barbara plays a professional show horse rider. She's the best there is, though the old established money looks down on her since she has to work for a living (heaven forbid). When she falls for and marries into an old and well-respected family (with almost no money to their good name), she turns a few heads by actually suggesting she and her husband open an honest business--making her hubby the first man to work in her family in several generations. While all these lazy gadabouts will no doubt make the viewers a bit angry, in this odd world of show jumping, it is the working man and woman who are the outcasts! What a bizarre world! Later, when a Barbara and a male friend are on a yacht, there is an accident and suddenly the society people and newspapers all begin yapping like a bunch of chihuahuas. While this made very little sense, it did lead to a courtroom scene that was even worse--with some amazing histrionics that really killed the flow of the film and made it a rather sappy melodrama.
The verdict--80% excellent but ending on a bit of a silly note. Not a bad film, but it sure could have been a lot better.