9. The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers
In 1928, young Martha Ivers, along with Sam Masterson (Darryl Hickman) from Iverstown (Janis Wilson) attempts to escape from life under the rule of her aunt Mrs. Ivers (Judith Anderson). Their attempt fails but that night, during a power outage, Martha kills her aunt, and the only witness is Walter ONeil, the son of Marthas tutor, Mr. ONeil (Roman Bohnen). Martha and Walter lie to Mr ONeil about what actually happened. Years later, Mr. ONeil, who was always suspicious of what actually happened that night, has Martha testify that an innocent man killed her aunt, and then blackmails her in to marrying Walter. After the 1928 prologue, we skip ahead to 1946, where we follow two parallel storylines that converge. Sam (Van Heflin) makes a stop in Iverstown due to needing his car fixed. He meets a young woman named Antonia Toni Marachek (Lizabeth Scott) who has broken her parole, which required her to go home to Ridgesville. Sam looks to his old friend Walter (Kirk Douglas), now the District Attorney, to get her out of jail. Walter is an alcoholic whose relationship with Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) is strained, and Sams return causes even more trouble, since Walter believes Sam knows Martha killed her aunt and is back to blackmail him and Martha. Stanwyck is excellent in the film. She had a gift for playing women who, while calm, collected and sharp tongued on the outside, are vulnerable on the inside. The most powerful moments in the film come when we realize how tormented Martha has been for nearly her entire life. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is essentially about the eternal theme, very prevalent in film noir, of the past coming back to haunt you. In Marthas case, the past has never left her- shes been constantly tormented for nearly twenty years due to essentially killing an innocent man, and being married to a man she doesnt love. Kirk Douglas, in his debut role, is perfect as the man who is still, in Sams words, a scared little boy. The shadow of his father still looms over Walter, a man who dictated Walter's entire life. While Stanwyck and Douglas are great, in many ways this is Heflins film. For me, the heart of the film is the scenes between Sam and Toni. Their dialogue is like watching a tennis match. I like the contrast between Martha and Walters relationship, which is almost entirely without passion, one thats doomed- and the budding romance between Sam and Toni, which has a potentially more optimistic future.