The Reckless Moment (1949)

[MissGoddess]

This wonderful movie is now on YouTube! For those of you who have never seen it, I HIGHLY recommend this fantasic movie. It's one of the most emotional films, Joan Bennett gives what I think is her best performance and this is BY FAR my favorite James Mason performance. He actually breaks my heart, and he is an actor who always left me very cold.

Enjoy, and let's hope TCM can air this incredible movie by director Max Opuls:

[ken123]

Joan who ?

[MissGoddess]

Joan who ?

If you've never seen it (and I'm sure you have), it's a phenomenal performance. I saw it on the big screen a couple of months ago and was simply out of breath.

[srowley75]

I've also seen this film and it is a winner on all counts. Intriguing, suspenseful story that Ophuls takes his sweet old time to tell and thereby keeps you on the edge of your seat. And Mason and Bennett are both perfect (though I must say I don't know how you ever arrived at that opinion about Mason, unless all you've seen of his work are Lolita and Georgy Girl).

It's annoying that Ophuls' English-language films aren't available on DVD in the U.S., and I keep hoping that Criterion (about the only distributor who gives a damn) will release them soon. Caught is also pretty good, but Letter from an Unknown Woman is even better, and it's a crime that one hasn't yet seen the light of day. (I own the R2 of Reckless Moment.)

Of course I'm sure you (and most everyone else on the list) knows that the film was remade in the early 2000's as The Deep End, with Tilda Swinton. I've never seen that version but maybe someone else who has can comment further.

[charliechaplinfan]

Have you not had any of Ophuls English language films released in the US. That's terrible, he's such a great director, I've collected them as they've come out here. Letter From an Unknown Woman is one of my favorite movies. Lets hope Criterion read this thread.

Miss Goddess, it surprises me that you don't like James Mason, I think he's underrated. That's part of the recipe for a good forum, differing opinions.

[MissGoddess]

I've also seen this film and it is a winner on all counts. Intriguing, suspenseful story that Ophuls takes his sweet old time to tell and thereby keeps you on the edge of your seat. And Mason and Bennett are both perfect (though I must say I don't know how you ever arrived at that opinion about Mason, unless all you've seen of his work are Lolita and Georgy Girl).

Hi Srowley!

I actually feel that if the film has any flaw, it's that it is too short and tight. Why, the very first scene is not a typical introduction to the Harper household but shows Lucia (Joan Bennett) meeting in a seedy hotel bar with a grifter who's been seeing her daughter and who tries to blackmail her. We're shown right from the start that Morning Glory Circle and Skid Row are about to clash and I find that fascinating.

It's rare a film depicts a wife and mother in such circumstances. Usually, like in many Hitchcock films, it's a well off middle class man who's thrown in contact with life's more dangerous and unpredictable side. I find The Reckless Mement a fascinating exception. I also think it introduces a more critical look at the typical ideal family home, something that would become more apparent in films of the 1950s.

I've seen many James Mason films and performances that I admire tremendously, but he is far from being a warm actor in my opinion. His brand of emotion and torment does not move me. Martin Donelley was a wonderful change of pace for me.

And I will rejoice if I never have to see Georgy Girl or Lolita ever again.

It's annoying that Ophuls' English-language films aren't available on DVD in the U.S., and I keep hoping that Criterion (about the only distributor who gives a damn) will release them soon. Caught is also pretty good, but Letter from an Unknown Woman is even better, and it's a crime that one hasn't yet seen the light of day. (I own the R2 of Reckless Moment.)

I have both The Reckless Moment and Letter From an Unknown Woman on R2 and hope they see a U.S. release as well. They are among my favorite films and deserve a far wider exposure.

Of course I'm sure you (and most everyone else on the list) knows that the film was remade in the early 2000's as The Deep End, with Tilda Swinton. I've never seen that version but maybe someone else who has can comment further.

Modern film generally escapes my notice (for which I'm grateful) but I believe CineMaven is familiar with this version.

[MissGoddess]

Hi ccfan!

Have you not had any of Ophuls English language films released in the US. That's terrible, he's such a great director, I've collected them as they've come out here. Letter From an Unknown Woman is one of my favorite movies. Lets hope Criterion read this thread.

I can't understand it myself, I think both these films would find a very appreciative audience here. Letter From an Unknown Woman has a very special place in my heart since I first saw it as a teenager, and later read the book.

Miss Goddess, it surprises me that you don't like James Mason, I think he's underrated. That's part of the recipe for a good forum, differing opinions.

Oh, I certainly don't dislike him, I just find him remote and rather chilly, emotionally. For many of his more ambivalent or villainous roles, this quality serves him well. This movie allowed me to see a warmer, more protective side of his nature and I must say it moved me to tears. This is what I crave most from performances and movies, and I feel myself indebted to any that can provide such emotional satisfaction.

[charliechaplinfan]

Well said, I do know what you mean. I recently watched Pandora and the Flying Dutchman and thought the chemistry between him and Ava was lacking, A Star is Born is a perfect partnership between him and Judy. I haven't seen Lolita, yet, as I'm reading Shelley Winters book I should do. Now Georgy Girl I love because of Alan Bates.

Last night I saw Lola Montes, pieced together and shown as Ophuls intended. I was impressed with Ophuls in black and white, my goodness this in colour was a feast for the eyes. Martine Carol was so beautiful I completely believed how this woman could have bewitched so many men. Told part in flashbacks and part in a circus atomosphere, I felt the film was charming. A criticised masterpiece but very definetly a masterpiece.

[CineMaven]

"Of course I'm sure you (and most everyone else on the list) knows that the film was remade in the early 2000's as The Deep End, with Tilda Swinton. I've never seen that version but maybe someone else who has can comment further." - << srowley75 >>

"Modern film generally escapes my notice (for which I'm grateful) but I believe CineMaven is familiar with this version." - << MissGoddess >>

Hi there,

I know of the movie, but I'm afraid I haven't seen it. I'd be curious as to how Tilda Swinton handles the role of protective mother. If I ever do see it, I'll be sure to post my thoughts. But you know what...the original was so moving, I'm kind of scared to see the re-make.

O' what's a Maven to do?

[jdb1]

I haven't seen Lolita, yet, as I'm reading Shelley Winters book I should do.

Alison, I thought Mason was really, really good in Lolita, in a part not many other actors would have attempted. Just last month I re-read the novel, after not having read it for decades. The movie is highly revisionist - understandable considering the time frame. I haven't seen the more recent version with Jeremy Irons, which I understand to be far more graphic. If it is more true to the book, than the character of Humbert Humbert couldn't possibly be as sympathetic as Mason makes him.

As the ads for the first movie used to say "How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?" They did it by toning down the subject matter, and by making a pedophile into a sad and slightly ridiculous character. In the novel he is pretty pathetic, but far more self-deluded and sinister, and Lolita isn't quite the predatory "nymphet" she is in the movie (although she is pretty manipulative in the book). Mason's Humbert is criminal, but far from hateful.

I found Winters to be perfect casting as Lolita's blowsy mother. A role she was born to play, as they say.

[charliechaplinfan]

I think I'm going to have to watch the film and read the book. I don't really know why I haven't done so before.

It's not the first role James Mason took on that was less that heroic, Norman Maine is a sad character but they way Mason plays him he's not without sympathy. I can't imagine Cary Grant in that role, he was offered the role first.

[Ollie]

I've got to figger out how to stop MissG from torturing me with more and more great films. Darn - how many days of the week does she think I have?!!

[srowley75]

Hello Miss G,

Sorry to be so long with my reply but the job search (which, sadly, is still progressing) has consumed quite a bit of my time lately, as have holiday preparations.

Perhaps pacing is one of those aspects that can seem relative depending on the story being filmed. Personally, I felt the story was relatively simple and straightforward (one that could've fit into a standard episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents) and that Ophuls often builds suspense through his depiction of Bennett's character sweating through her ordeal with Mason while trying to maintain the illusion of normalcy to the rest of her family (except her daughter, of course).

-Stephen

[feaito]

Yesterday I watched this small gem with a couple of friends and I was utterly impressed by the film, the adult, unusual storyline and situations -by Hollywood's standards of the time- and principally by Joan Bennett's, James Mason's, Geraldine Brook's and Frances E. Williams sincere performances. Ophüls mise-en-scene is fabulous; the way he made this suburban household look frightening and claustrophobic is indeed an achievement. The multilayered performances and the treatment of the story makes this film ideal for multiple viewings, in order to fullly comprehend its messages. Joan Bennett in the hands of such masterful directors as Lang, Sirk, Korda and Ophüls really gave her best performances. It is a shame that this film has not been released in the USA -the DVD Edition I own was released in Europe and includes a very enlightening interview with Todd Haynes, who analyzes the film thouroughly.

[Mr. Arkadin]

I've seen (and own) The Deep End (2001).

While I don't think it's quite fair to compare modern reworkings of older films (especially something directed by Ophuls), the performances anchor the movie and give this budget conscious work a surprising depth. Swinton carries the film and deserved an Oscar nod in my opinion.

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