I'm surprised THE GUILT OF JANET AMES is not better known; I find it a very affecting film, even if the fey whimsy is a little overdone in the dream sequences. From its opening moments the movie has a palpable post-war atmosphere, a melancholy feel that must have resonated with audiences at the time, many of whom had suffered grief and loss due to the war. The movie also demonstrates the increasing prominence of psychoanalysis in American culture at that time. I will not rehash the plot in detail here, since other reviewers have already done so. Suffice to say that this is the story of two people scarred by the war and how they help each other to heal. It is a story about forgiveness, new beginnings and the possibility of new love blossoming from the ashes of death. The film rides on the great talents of Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas, two of classic Hollywood's finest actors. Russell, so well known as a comedienne, excels in the dramatic psychological role of the suffering war widow Janet Ames, and Douglas is imposingly brilliant as the depressed alcoholic journalist Smithfield Cobb. Look out for a young Sid Caesar portraying a stand-up comedian (not too much of a stretch there!) and Hugh Beaumont (Beaver's dad on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER) as another one of the war comrades whom Janet visits in a dream sequence.
Review of The Guilt of Janet Ames
