This starts out as a soap opera to end all soap operas. Shocking revelations follow one on another like kernels of corn popping in a pan.
The casting is not the greatest, either. Ronald Reagan, whom I often like in movies, isn't bad and Robert Cummings isn't bad, either. But he is not right for the character around whom a sprawling epic ought to be swirling. The ladies fare better. Kaaren Verne, in a small role, is extremely appealing. Imagine that she was married to the brilliant actor but not really studly Peter Lorre at the time!
As it moves along, it gains momentum. The scene in which Parris (Cummings) returns to his family home is wrenching. All the supporting players, even the usually (to me) usually risible Maria Ouspenskaya, are very effective. (How can one beat Betty Field and Claude Rains?!)
In a sense, the star is the famous but still poignant Korngold score. He was a very fine composer who wrote some gorgeous operatic arias; and his talents are very much on display here.
The casting is not the greatest, either. Ronald Reagan, whom I often like in movies, isn't bad and Robert Cummings isn't bad, either. But he is not right for the character around whom a sprawling epic ought to be swirling. The ladies fare better. Kaaren Verne, in a small role, is extremely appealing. Imagine that she was married to the brilliant actor but not really studly Peter Lorre at the time!
As it moves along, it gains momentum. The scene in which Parris (Cummings) returns to his family home is wrenching. All the supporting players, even the usually (to me) usually risible Maria Ouspenskaya, are very effective. (How can one beat Betty Field and Claude Rains?!)
In a sense, the star is the famous but still poignant Korngold score. He was a very fine composer who wrote some gorgeous operatic arias; and his talents are very much on display here.