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Super-mega spoiler coming up! Don't say I didn't warn you!
While some might have been surprised by a romance between Sean Connery and Lana Turner due to the difference in their ages, I am sure most Brits actually were more surprised by hearing the Scottish Connery saying he was from Cornwall--in the very southeast corner of Britain. The accents are so very different, I could just imagine the Brits watching the film getting a bit peeved--though at the time, most Americans wouldn't have noticed.
The film is set in the latter portion of WWII. The first few minutes are great--very tense and I felt myself on edge as a man disarmed an unexploded V-2 rocket! Turner and Connery are there because they are war correspondents and it seems they have fallen deeply in love...or at least Turner has. In their scenes together, you can detect a hint of apprehension in Connery. So, when he later divulges that he is married, the audience isn't terribly surprised--but Turner is crushed. But, after thinking about it, she shows she is also a person without character--and STILL wants to marry Connery (I would have preferred her kicking him in the crotch--but that didn't happen). Then, after he agrees to ask for a divorce, he's unexpectedly killed in a plane crash.
Now if you were in Turner's situation, what would you do? Yes, you'd go off to Cornwall to see where Connery lived--and even see his wife and son incognito. This is all a bit creepy and weird--and against her doctor's advice. When she arrives, she is befriended by Connery's widow (Glynnis Johns)--a nice lady who you can't help but like. However, as Turner has some weird sort of Hollywood ailment following Connery's death, she wanders outside of Johns' home later and faints! She clearly isn't do well and so she is invited to stay with Johns for several days. Talk about awkward! When Turner's boss and ex-boyfriend (Barry Sullivan) learns where she is and what she's doing, he's upset and rushes to Cornwall to retrieve her. After all, he reasons that sooner or later the wife is going to learn the truth if Turner stays much longer. Oddly, however, Connery's old assistant (Terence Longdon--who wants Turner to leave ASAP) turns out to be the one who convinces Johns that perhaps Connery was cheating on her. That's because whenever she mentions her dead husband, the assistant looks away and changes the subject--and she suspects something was amiss. What will come of all this? See the film.
While it's hard to believe the plot, hard to like Turner (she is so selfish and a bit goofy) and the music a bit overdone, the film is an interesting soap opera. And, it ended very well. In other words, I enjoyed it even though I know it was a rather flawed film. In fact, Turner made quite a few flawed soaps during this era--and yet they were mostly very enjoyable.
score 7/10
MartinHafer 20 September 2011
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2491465/ |
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13-3-2021 18:06:09
