''No Man of Her Own'' is a 1950 American
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
directed by
Mitchell Leisen
James Mitchell Leisen (October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) was an American director, art director, and costume designer.
Film career
He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments. He directed his fir ...
and featuring
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
,
John Lund,
Phyllis Thaxter
Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1919 – August 14, 2012) was an American actress. She is best known for portraying Ellen Lawson in ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944) and Martha Kent in ''Superman'' (1978). She also appeared in ''Bewit ...
,
Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl (December 14, 1883 – June 22, 1950) was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lachrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.
Biography
Cowl was born Jane Bailey in Boston, Mas ...
and
Lyle Bettger
Lyle Stathem Bettger (February 13, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was an American character actor who had roles in Hollywood films and television from the 1950s onward, often portraying villains. One such role was the wrathfully jealous elephant ...
. The production is the second film Stanwyck made with director
Mitchell Leisen
James Mitchell Leisen (October 6, 1898 – October 28, 1972) was an American director, art director, and costume designer.
Film career
He entered the film industry in the 1920s, beginning in the art and costume departments. He directed his fir ...
, and its
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
was adapted from
Cornell Woolrich
Cornell George Hopley Woolrich ( ; December 4, 1903 – September 25, 1968) was an American novelist and short story writer. He sometimes used the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley.
His biographer, Francis Nevins Jr., rated Woolrich th ...
's 1948 novel ''
I Married a Dead Man
''I Married a Dead Man'' is a 1948 novel by American crime writer Cornell Woolrich under the pseudonym William Irish.
Plot
Eight months pregnant and alone, Helen Georgesson's only hope is the five dollar bill and the train ticket back to her ...
''. Woolrich is cited in the film's opening credits by one of his commonly used
pseudonyms
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
, "William Irish".
Plot
Helen Ferguson, filled with dread, holds her baby as Bill Harkness reads a book. The phone rings, and police tell Bill that they are on the way to their home. She puts the child to bed, praying that the boy will not suffer for her mistakes and whispering that she was desperate.
A year earlier in New York, Helen is eight months pregnant, unmarried, and broke. She goes to her unfaithful boyfriend Stephen Morley, tearfully pleading for help as she stands in the hallway outside his apartment door. He refuses to answer, but slips under the door an envelope for her, one containing a five-dollar bill and a one-way train ticket to San Francisco. Retrieving the envelope, Helen pulls out the ticket, causing the money to fall to the floor, unseen. Helen, humiliated and exhausted, realizes she has no choice but to go to the station and board the train. Helen's train later crashes during the journey, and when she is found by authorities in the wreckage, she is mistaken for another pregnant woman, Patrice Harkness, who was killed in the crash. Helen gives birth to her child in the hospital and is accepted by the Harknesses, the family of the dead woman's husband, Hugh Harkness, who was also killed in the train crash. Since the family has never seen their son's new wife, they believe Helen to be her and, for the sake of her child, she does not reveal her true identity. The family decides her lapses of memory and uncertain behavior are aftereffects of the train wreck. With a better life provided for her son, Helen continues the ruse while Bill Harkness, who is the elder brother of the deceased Hugh, falls in love with her.
Helen's ex-boyfriend, the father of her child, tracks her down several months after the accident. Stephen was called in to identify the body at the morgue after the train accident, but instead of telling the truth, he said that the dead woman was Helen. After figuring out that she is living under an assumed identity and that she has wealthy in-laws, he blackmails Helen into giving him a check for $500 and marrying him. She gets a gun, goes to Stephen's office, where he is living, and finds him dead on his bed but fires the gun at him. Bill comes to the office and helps Helen dispose of the body and conceal evidence of her relationship with Stephen. Bill and his mother have realized that Helen is in trouble and, because they love her regardless of her past, will do anything they can to protect her.
Bill's mother dies of heart failure, but not before writing a letter that she gives to her maid, making her swear to give it to Helen only if police come for her. In the letter, Mrs. Harkness claims to have killed Stephen, which she could not have done. Three months later, when police find his body and the check Helen gave to him, they do come for her. Helen confesses to shooting him, but she is told that her bullet missed him and was found in his mattress, that a bullet of another caliber was found in his body, and that his girlfriend has confessed to shooting him. Bill and Helen embrace.
Cast
Credited
*
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
as Helen Ferguson
*
John Lund as Bill Harkness
*
Jane Cowl
Jane Cowl (December 14, 1883 – June 22, 1950) was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lachrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor.
Biography
Cowl was born Jane Bailey in Boston, Mas ...
as Mrs. Harkness
*
Phyllis Thaxter
Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1919 – August 14, 2012) was an American actress. She is best known for portraying Ellen Lawson in ''Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (1944) and Martha Kent in ''Superman'' (1978). She also appeared in ''Bewit ...
as Patrice Harkness
*
Lyle Bettger
Lyle Stathem Bettger (February 13, 1915 – September 24, 2003) was an American character actor who had roles in Hollywood films and television from the 1950s onward, often portraying villains. One such role was the wrathfully jealous elephant ...
as Stephen Morley
*
Henry O'Neill
Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s.
Early years
He was born in Orange, New Jersey.
Career ...
as Mr. Harkness
*
Richard Denning
Richard Denning (March 27, 1914 – October 11, 1998) was an American actor who starred in science fiction films of the 1950s, including ''Unknown Island'' (1948), ''Creature from the Black Lagoon'' (1954), '' Target Earth'' (1954), ''Day the ...
as Hugh Harkness
*
Carole Mathews
Carole Mathews (born Jean Deifel, also credited as Jeanne Francis; September 13, 1920 – November 6, 2014) was an American film and television actress.
Early years
Born in Montgomery, Illinois, near Chicago, Mathews lived with her grandmothe ...
as Blonde
*
Harry Antrim
Harry Antrim (August 27, 1884 – January 18, 1967) was an American stage, film and television actor.
Biography
Antrim was born on August 27, 1884, in Chicago, Illinois. By 1906, he was working in vaudeville. During the early 1930s, he moved to ...
as Ty Winthrop
*
Catherine Craig
Catherine Craig (born Catherine Jewel Feltus; January 18, 1915 – January 14, 2004), sometimes credited as Kay Craig, was an American actress.
Early years
Catherine Jewel Feltus was born in Bloomington, Indiana, where she was a member of Phi ...
as Rosalie Baker
*
Esther Dale
Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen.
Early years
Dale was born in Beaufort, South Carolina. She attended Leland and Gray Seminary in Townshend, Vermont. In Berlin, Germany, she stud ...
as Josie
*
Milburn Stone
Hugh Milburn Stone (July 5, 1904 – June 12, 1980) was an American actor, best known for his role as "Doc" (Dr. Galen Adams) on the CBS Western series ''Gunsmoke''.
Early life
Stone was born in Burrton, Kansas, to Herbert Stone and the forme ...
as Plainclothesman
*
Griff Barnett
Griff Barnett (born Manley Griffith, November 12, 1884 – January 12, 1958) was an American actor.(17 January 1958) ''The New York Times''
Barnett was born in Blue Ridge, Texas in 1884.
In the early 20th century, Barnett was a member of the ...
as Dr. Parker
*
Mary Lawrence as Lucy Hunt
Uncredited
*
Georgia Backus
Georgia Belden Backus (October 13, 1901 – September 7, 1983) was an American character actress on stage, radio and screen. She was also a writer, director and producer of radio dramas. In 1930 she was named dramatic director of the Columbia Bro ...
as Nurse
*
Virginia Brissac
Virginia Brissac (June 11, 1883 – July 26, 1979) was a popular American stage actress who headlined theatre companies from Vancouver to San Diego during the heyday of West Coast Stock in the early 1900s. An ingénue and leading lady known for ...
as Justice of the Peace's Wife
*
Kathleen Freeman
Kathleen Freeman (February 17, 1923August 23, 2001) was an American actress. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she portrayed acerbic maids, secretaries, teachers, busybodies, nurses, and battle-axe neighbors and relatives, almost in ...
as Clara Larrimore
*
Helen Mowery
Helen Emily Inkster (April 25, 1922 – July 14, 2008)Helen Emily Webster in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, retrieved froAncestry.com/ref> was a former Miss Wyoming who acted on the stage, in films, and on television.
Ea ...
as Harriet Olsen
Reception
In his May 4, 1950 review of the film for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
generally compliments the principal cast's performances, but he pans both the structure and tone of the
screenplay
''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993.
Background
After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
itself:
The widely read entertainment
trade paper
A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular trade or industry. The collective term for this ...
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' was far more upbeat in its review. After previewing the film in Hollywood on February 17, 1950two and a half months prior to the feature's national releasethe critic for ''Variety'' endorsed the film and drew special attention to the quality of Stanwyck's and Lund's performances and to the overall quality of the motion picture's production values:
Adaptations
The film is based on the novel ''
I Married a Dead Man
''I Married a Dead Man'' is a 1948 novel by American crime writer Cornell Woolrich under the pseudonym William Irish.
Plot
Eight months pregnant and alone, Helen Georgesson's only hope is the five dollar bill and the train ticket back to her ...
'', which was also adapted for a variety of other screen productions, including the Japanese film ''Shisha to no Kekkon'' (1960), the Brazilian TV miniseries ''A Intrusa'' (1962), the Bollywood movie ''
Kati Patang
''Kati Patang'' () is a 1971 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film produced and directed by Shakti Samanta. It was a box office success. The film stars Asha Parekh as a woman pretending to be a widow, and her ensuing trials and tribulations ...
'' (1970), the French film ''J'ai épousé une ombre'' (1983), and by Hollywood again for ''
Mrs. Winterbourne
''Mrs. Winterbourne'' is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama (film and television), drama film starring Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, and Brendan Fraser. It is loosely based on Cornell Woolrich's novel ''I Married a Dead Man'', which had already ...
'' (1996) starring
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24, 1934) is an American actress, author, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades over her seven-dec ...
,
Ricki Lake
Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film ''Hairspray'', for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for B ...
and
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor known for his leading roles in blockbusters, comedies, and dramatic films. Having graduated from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he made his film debut in '' ...
.
[Thomas S. Hishak, ''American Literature on Stage and Screen: 525 Works and their Adaptations''. McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers (2012). p. 99]
See also
*
List of American films of 1950
A list of American films released in 1950.
Fred Astaire hosted the 23rd Academy Awards ceremony on March 29, 1951, held at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. The winner of the Best Motion Picture category was Twentieth Century-Fox's ''All A ...
References
External links
*
*
Streaming audio
''No Man of Her Own''on the
Screen Directors Playhouse
''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...
: September 21, 1951
{{DEFAULTSORT:No Man Of Her Own
1950 films
1950 drama films
American black-and-white films
Film noir
Films directed by Mitchell Leisen
Paramount Pictures films
Films based on American novels
Films based on works by Cornell Woolrich
Films scored by Hugo Friedhofer
American drama films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films