I wonder how the conversation at Warner Brothers went the day they dreamed up this movie. Was it something like: "Hey, Casablanca was a big hit. I wonder if we could cash in on that? Let's try retelling the same story, and just change a few superficial things, so it isn't too obvious. You know, keep the story about the woman who has an affair with another guy during the war because she thought the man she was in love with had been killed. And then he comes back, and meets the interim guy, and there's jealousy and all that. Maybe have her pull a gun on the interim guy again, the way Bergman did on Bogart. That was a good scene! And then she finally goes off with her first love again. Something like that, you know, but we just change a few details. And say, we've still got Paul Heinried under contract. We can get him to play the guy who gets cheated on again. He was good at that. And maybe use Claude Raines again. We'll just change a few of the details." And so they did, and so Deception was born.
This time, we see more of it through the woman's eyes, this time played by Bette Davis. And this time, the man and the woman weren't actually married before, so if she had an affair with another guy when she thought the first one was dead, there wasn't actually anything wrong with that. But the first guy still gets jealous.
Did Heinreid get tired of playing the noble cuckold? I wonder.
Did Davis object to having to play a watered down, less attractive version of a role Ingrid Bergman had already immortalized?
This isn't a bad movie, though it is often VERY melodramatic. Unlike Casablanca, I don't know how many men could have sat through it.
It shows the difference you get with even very fine actors when the script just isn't that interesting.
This time, we see more of it through the woman's eyes, this time played by Bette Davis. And this time, the man and the woman weren't actually married before, so if she had an affair with another guy when she thought the first one was dead, there wasn't actually anything wrong with that. But the first guy still gets jealous.
Did Heinreid get tired of playing the noble cuckold? I wonder.
Did Davis object to having to play a watered down, less attractive version of a role Ingrid Bergman had already immortalized?
This isn't a bad movie, though it is often VERY melodramatic. Unlike Casablanca, I don't know how many men could have sat through it.
It shows the difference you get with even very fine actors when the script just isn't that interesting.