Would a woman rather know the truth than have a secret kept from her, especially if it involves her husband's one betrayal? Push comes to shove for a contented married couple (Anne Baxter and MacDonald Carey) when a possible date with death makes him confess to her that he had an affair with her best friend (Catherine McLeod) while she was away taking a break from their marriage. At first, she's grateful to him for telling her, but surviving a possible plane crash has her giving second thoughts and ultimately going out of her mind. Being a minister's daughter makes divorce unthinkable, but she leaves him anyway, only returning to seek some sort of psychological revenge on him, turning into several different personalities (not splitting from her own however) as she tries to come to terms with it.
I can certainly see why Baxter would want to play such a role. It gives her multiple opportunities (and identities) to act out, but unfortunately, the execution of the idea is very weak and overly forced. She's the spawn of an extremely overly possessive, nagging mother (Frances Bavier, a far cry from the Aunt Bea character she became beloved for), and even her father (a delightful Cecil Kellaway) knows she's out of line. When husband Carey goes to a men's spa after leaving Baxter a note that their marriage is now officially over, she follows both him and her father there, greeted by security guards who attest to the obvious fact that "all men are created hen-pecked", the only really funny line in the film. Max Showalter adds some pep as Carey's drinking buddy, an obvious "bachelor".
For those who only know MacDonald Carey from his three decade long role as patriarch Tom Horton on "Days of Our Lives", this is a far different type of role than the dedicated doctor and family man. Even though he's guilty of infidelity, the bulk of the sympathy in this situation goes to him. McLeod's character seems to have no real motivation here but to provide continued jealousy for Baxter to play off of. Baxter's fantasies alternate between silly and campy (one of them foreshadows her role as the Egyptian Princess in "The Ten Commandments"), but the lessons presented here do nothing to promote the benefits of fidelity as well as the power of forgiveness. This may have seemed like a unique idea on paper, but unfortunately, it becomes rather heavy-handed, attempting "man bashing" when it is the men who come off more likable and the women as silly, vain creatures who only see the situation from one angle.
I can certainly see why Baxter would want to play such a role. It gives her multiple opportunities (and identities) to act out, but unfortunately, the execution of the idea is very weak and overly forced. She's the spawn of an extremely overly possessive, nagging mother (Frances Bavier, a far cry from the Aunt Bea character she became beloved for), and even her father (a delightful Cecil Kellaway) knows she's out of line. When husband Carey goes to a men's spa after leaving Baxter a note that their marriage is now officially over, she follows both him and her father there, greeted by security guards who attest to the obvious fact that "all men are created hen-pecked", the only really funny line in the film. Max Showalter adds some pep as Carey's drinking buddy, an obvious "bachelor".
For those who only know MacDonald Carey from his three decade long role as patriarch Tom Horton on "Days of Our Lives", this is a far different type of role than the dedicated doctor and family man. Even though he's guilty of infidelity, the bulk of the sympathy in this situation goes to him. McLeod's character seems to have no real motivation here but to provide continued jealousy for Baxter to play off of. Baxter's fantasies alternate between silly and campy (one of them foreshadows her role as the Egyptian Princess in "The Ten Commandments"), but the lessons presented here do nothing to promote the benefits of fidelity as well as the power of forgiveness. This may have seemed like a unique idea on paper, but unfortunately, it becomes rather heavy-handed, attempting "man bashing" when it is the men who come off more likable and the women as silly, vain creatures who only see the situation from one angle.