WEIRDLAND: "Something to Live For" (1952) directed by George Stevens

Saturday, September 27, 2014

"Something to Live For" (1952) directed by George Stevens


Advertising executive Alan Miller (Ray Milland), a reformed alcoholic who now does interventions on behalf of Alcoholics Anonymous, is called by Billy (Bellaver), the elevator operator of a residential hotel, to come and intervene in the case of one of the guests, struggling actress Jenny Carey (Joan Fontaine). Alan takes her out and manages to sober her up. By the end of the evening, though, even if they’re not admitting it—and especially because Alan is married with two small kids—they’ve fallen in love.

Milland was of course no stranger to movies about alcoholism, having starred in the far better known Billy Wilder piece The Lost Weekend (1945). For that matter, Fontaine had already appeared in a classic of doomed love, Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948).

But, while Something to Live For has far less of a reputation than either of those, in certain aspects it far transcends them. The chemistry between Milland and Fontaine (who much of the time here uses a throwaway diction that seems almost to anticipate mumblecore) is excellent, nowhere more so than in the movie’s most romantic scene. Source: noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com

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