Most films of this era are predictable. The leading lady winds up with the leading man. She doesn't end up with the guy billed further down. And especially when the leading man is tall, handsome, and elegant, and the other guy is short, gruff, and charmless. Robert Young versus Frank Lovejoy? Young, of course. So it was both jarring and unsatisfying when, in the end, Joan Crawford's Agatha Reed rejects Robert Young for Frank Lovejoy.
It wasn't so much that Agatha rejected Jim Merrill for Matt Cole. It was that she rejected Young for Lovejoy. Take the identical script and cast, say, Gregory Peck as Matt Cole, and the ending would have been neither jarring nor unsatisfying. It's no criticism of Frank Lovejoy. He was simply wrong for the part. And the film's ending suffered as a result.
It wasn't so much that Agatha rejected Jim Merrill for Matt Cole. It was that she rejected Young for Lovejoy. Take the identical script and cast, say, Gregory Peck as Matt Cole, and the ending would have been neither jarring nor unsatisfying. It's no criticism of Frank Lovejoy. He was simply wrong for the part. And the film's ending suffered as a result.