Crime Street presents The Second Woman (1951)

Director - James Kern

Watch cLASSIC MOVIES

Plot
Film Notes
Cast and Production Credits

The Plot

Architect Jeff Cohalan (Robert Young) has been tormented by a string of bad luck. His fiancé was killed the night before their wedding. His horse dies. His dog dies. His post-modern masterpiece of a coastal home burns. His architectural plans for a new hospital disappear. Is he cursed? Is he crazy? Or is someone out to destroy him?

Film Notes

Entertaining Minor League Hitchcock

The Second Woman has game ambitions, but at best reaches the level of a minor-league Hitchcock film. That however doesn't mean it's not more than worth a viewing. Though the film sometimes seems slow, the story continues to pull on the attention.

Director James Kern and Pioneer cinematographer Hal Mohr provide the film with a fluid and atmospheric look that captures an ever-shifting California coast that mirrors the psychological mystery of Robert Young's subtly paranoid personality. The film is stark black and white, but the mood and plot use shades of grey.

Robert Young Doesn't Know Best, But He Tries Hard

Robert Young, best known for his roles as the all knowing Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby MD, attempts a modulated, but complex approach to his role in The Second Woman. In the end, his ambitious interpretation is beyond the reach of his limited talents (though the script is also to blame). Never-the-less, he is interesting to watch.

Russian to Conclusions

Russian composer Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky died in 1893, but that did not stop Hollywood from making tremendous use of his work in films of the 1940s and 50s. The Second Woman is just one of those films.

I Love Trivia

Veteran director James Kern directed the entire 5th season of I Love Lucy. The Second Woman was the last film he directed.
Betsy Drake was married to Cary Grant when she made The Second Woman.

-- Ed Schneider - Alameda TV

Cast

Robert Young	Jeff Cohalan
Betsy Drake	Ellen Foster
Florence Bates	Amelia Foster
Morris Carnovsky	Dr. Hartley
Henry O'Neill	Ben Sheppard
Jean Rogers	Dodo Ferris
Raymond Largay	Maj. Badger
Shirley Ballard	Vivian Sheppard
Vicki Raaf	Secretary
Jason Robards, Sr.	Stacy Rogers
Steven Geray	Balthazar Jones
Jimmy Dodd	Mr. Nelson
Smoki Whitfield	Porter

Production Credits

Produced by United Artists
James Kern	Director
Mort Briskin	Producer / Screenwriter
Robert Smith	Producer / Screenwriter
Hal Mohr	Cinematographer
Nathaniel W. Finston	Musical Direction / Supervision / Composer (Music Score)
Joseph Nusbaum	Musical Direction / Supervision
Walter Thompson	Editor
Boris Leven	Production Designer
Joseph H. Nadel	Associate Producer
Harry M. Popkin	Executive Producer
Jacque Mapes	Set Designer
Maria P. Donovan	Costume Designer
Mac Dalgleish	Sound / Sound Designer
Ben Winkler	Sound / Sound Designer
Henry Vilardo	Makeup
Maurie M. Suess	First Assistant Director

For more on...

Tchaikovsky On Film
Alfred Hitchcock

Submit a Review

Share your views of Crime Street with fellow Alamedans...