The Woman on the Beach
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''The Woman on the Beach'' is a 1947
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 ' ...
directed by
Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...
and starring
Joan Bennett Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...
,
Robert Ryan Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for ...
and
Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...
. It was released by
RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
. The film is a
love triangle A love triangle or eternal triangle is a scenario or circumstance, usually depicted as a rivalry, in which two people are pursuing or involved in a romantic relationship with one person, or in which one person in a romantic relationship with so ...
drama about Scott, a conflicted
U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...
officer (Ryan), and his pursuit of Peggy, a married woman (Bennett). Peggy is married to Tod, a blind former artist (Bickford).


Plot

Scott, a mounted Coast Guard officer, has recurring nightmares involving a maritime tragedy. He sees himself immersed in an eerie landscape surrounded by a shipwreck and walking over skeletons at the bottom of the sea, while a ghostly blonde woman beckons him from afar. He thinks he is going mad. He proposes to Eve Geddes, a young woman working at a local shipyard catering to the Coast Guard. She accepts. Eve has a strong resemblance to the ghostly blonde of his nightmares. While riding by the seaside on his horse Scott meets Peggy, the mysterious wife of Tod, who was a painter before going blind. He rides by her as she stands near a shipwreck protruding from the sand, like an eerie echo from his nightmares. After a conversation, they discover that they share similar metaphysical anxieties. A bond develops between the two, but the situation becomes tangled when Tod tries to befriend Scott. Tod's attitude toward Scott is ambivalent. The retired artist tests Peggy and Scott to gauge how far they could go in their relationship. Tod tells Peggy that he knows she could never leave him and that he finds Scott, a much younger man, virile but banal. Tod cannot come to terms with the fact that, because of his blindness, he can not paint any more. He tells Scott that dead painters' works always appreciate in value. He expects the value of own his paintings to increase, considering he is now 'dead' as a painter. Scott is suspicious of Tod's motives, and also suspects that Tod is not actually blind. Scott is increasingly interested in Peggy, and she returns his attentions. Scott sets up and outing to test Tod. He him near the edge of a cliff, thinking that he will be forced to see and therefore avoid falling. However, Tod falls. After this mishap, he eventually recovers. Soon after the mishap, Tod is abusive toward Peggy when he realizes that she has hidden his masterpiece, his nude portrait of her. Seeing this, Scott tries to protect Peggy. Eve, because of Scott's infatuation with Peggy, becomes distant and asks Scott to delay their marriage plans. Scott attempts to drown both Tod and himself during a fishing trip. Peggy alerts the authorities, and Tod and Scott are rescued by the Coast Guard. Tod burns all his paintings along with the house he and Peggy live in. Peggy frantically tries to stop Tod and save the paintings. She fails, and Scott forces her out of the collapsing house. After they have moved safely away, Scott asks Tod why he did it. Tod says the paintings were a symbol of the obsession he had with his previous, sighted life. He asks Peggy to take him to New York City, where they have happy memories of their earlier life together. He tells her that afterwards, she may "do as she pleases". Peggy embraces Tod, and Scott leaves them.


Cast

*
Joan Bennett Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...
as Peggy Butler *
Robert Ryan Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for ...
as Scott Burnett *
Charles Bickford Charles Ambrose Bickford (January 1, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was an American actor known for supporting roles. He was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for '' The Song of Bernadette'' (1943), '' The ...
as Tod Butler *
Nan Leslie Nanette June Leslie (June 4, 1926 – July 30, 2000) was an American actress. She was known for playing Martha McGivern in the American western television series '' The Californians''. Life and career Leslie was born in Los Angeles, Cali ...
as Eve Geddes *
Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no pe ...
as Otto Wernecke *
Irene Ryan Irene Ryan (born Irene Noblitt, Noblett, or Noblette; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress and comedienne who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her por ...
as Mrs. Wernecke *
Glen Vernon Glen Vernon (born Glenn Vernon; October 27, 1923 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor. Glenn Vernon hailed from Fall River, Massachusetts, and pursued a dramatic career upon graduation from high school. He used his given name of Glenn Ver ...
as Kirk *
Frank Darien Frank Darien (March 18, 1876 – October 20, 1955) was an American actor. He appeared in 225 films and between 1915 and 1951. Filmography References External links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darien, Frank 1876 births 1955 deaths American ...
as Lars * Jay Norris as Jimmy


Production

''The Woman on the Beach'' was based upon the novel ''None So Blind'' by Mitchell A. Wilson, and had the working title ''Desirable Woman''.
RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
offered
Joan Bennett Joan Geraldine Bennett (February 27, 1910 – December 7, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actress. She came from a show-business family, one of three acting sisters. Beginning her career on the stage, Bennett appeared in more t ...
the starring role in 1946, hoping to capitalize on her recent success with the films noir ''The Woman in the Window'' and ''Scarlet Street''. Bennett was allowed to choose as director
Jean Renoir Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent film, silent era to the end of the 1960s. ...
, who had been France's premiere director before fleeing from the Nazis to Hollywood in 1940.
Charles Koerner Charles Koerner (September 10, 1896 – February 2, 1946) was an American film executive, best known for being executive vice president over production at RKO Pictures from 1942 to 1946. Koerner is best remembered for firing Orson Welles fr ...
, the RKO chief of staff, promised carte blanche to Renoir, and even helped craft the story to Renoir's vision of the film. Renoir chose
Val Lewton Val Lewton (May 7, 1904 – March 14, 1951) was a Russian-American novelist, film producer and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a pain ...
as producer, however Lewton left soon after shooting began, in effect leaving Renoir as his own producer. His freedom was productive; the shooting went so well that Renoir and the cast were even able to improvise on set. Soon after, Koerner died. Whereas he had balanced his business acumen with an appreciation for the artistry of movie making, the new executives were baffled by Renoir's film. A consumer preview was held, attended by high school and college students who were uninterested in the movie's dark themes. After the catastrophic preview, Renoir spent the next six months reediting the film, even reshooting several sections, causing him much distress. It was ultimately released in 1947 as ''The Woman on the Beach''.


Reception

The film recorded a loss of $610,000.Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016 The staff at ''
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), ...
'' liked the film and wrote, "Thesping is uniformly excellent with the cast from top to bottom responding to Renoir's controlling need for a surcharged atmosphere. In subtle counterpoint to the film's surface vagueness, the settings are notably realistic in their size and quality. Choice camerawork sustains the film's overall impact while sweeping through the entire production is a magnificent score by Hanns Eisler which heightens all of the film's pictorial values." In 1992, Leonard Maltin was less complimentary, calling the film an "overheated melodrama" and noting it was "easy to see why this was Renoir's American swan song."


References


External links

* * * *
''The Woman on the Beach''
informational site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images)

at Film Noir of the Week by
Wheeler Winston Dixon Wheeler Winston Dixon (born March 12, 1950) is an American filmmaker and scholar. He is an expert on film history, theory and criticism.Bill Goodykoontz, December 23, 2012, USA TodayDefining Tarantino Accessed Aug. 25, 2013, Quote = "...long, invo ...
* from Warner Bros. Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Woman on the Beach, The 1947 films 1947 drama films American black-and-white films Film noir Films about blind people Films about the United States Coast Guard Films based on American novels Films directed by Jean Renoir RKO Pictures films American drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films