Review of The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) by Steve M — 21 Mar 2007

The Strange of Love Martha Ivers.

Starring: Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, and Barbara Stanwyck.

Director: Lewis Milestone.

When Sam Masterson (Heflin) returns to him home town after a nearly 20 year absense, he is delighted to reunite with this two childhood friends, Martha Ivers (Stanwyck) and Walter O'Neil (Douglas), who are now married. However, the wealthy couple is not quite as happy to see Sam. On the night he ran away from the town, Martha murdered her aunt while Walter watched. They are convinced Sam also witnessed the killing, and they now fear that he has returned to blackmail them... or worse.

"The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" is an overlooked classic that is so well done that the resolution remains in doubt up to the point where it actually happens. It's a perfectly scripted crime drama with film-noir tendencies, populated by flawed characters who are ultimately undone--or saved--by their weaknesses, and played by actors giving great performances. The cinematography and musical score round out this amazing package.

In fact, the film is so well put together that the tale amost grows to the scope of a Shakespearian tragedy as it unfolds... it even has that air of inevitability that hangs over plays like "MacBeth" and "King Lear".

Heflin and Douglas are particularly excellent in their parts, with Douglas particularly shining brightly during the scene where Walter "unmasks" Martha for Sam's benefit. Stanwyck is also great as a woman who has become cold, manipulative, and evil because of a dark secret she's been carrying, a woman who has become everything she hated. Scott's character of Toni serves as a nice counterpoint to Martha--an apparently disreputable girl who is far more unstanding than Martha has been since the night she bludgeoned her aunt to death in a violent rage.

Tending toward the melodramatic at times, but saved by a superior scrpt, deft direction, and brilliantly talented actors, "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers" is a film that any film buff should see. (Those who fancy themselves filmmakers should see it, too... especially if they think they can make thrillers or crime films.).