TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
jjnxn-1
Trim little noir actually benefits from its small budget since it necessitates a focus on the main story with little extemporaneous exposition. Intriguing premise is well directed by the little known Welker and well played by most of the cast. The one weakness of the story is in the main character's devotion to a husband who is nothing more than a venal lout. She tells other characters in the film what a good guy he use to be but all we see is an incredible jerk that she is clearly too good for and her almost super human patience with him borders on sadomasochism. That aside the picture does sweep you up right from the beginning and keeps you curious about the resolution.The two best performances come from Joan Leslie, as the woman given a second chance to correct a tragic mistake and Richard Basehart as a sort of Greek chorus devoted standby. They are supported by a fine cast who all add nice touches to their scenes. Difficult to find but worth the time to seek out.
utgard14
I sought this out because I saw the cool movie poster online and thought it looked like an interesting movie. The story is about an actress (Joan Leslie) who shoots her cheating husband (Louis Hayward) on New Year's Eve. She goes to see her producer friend for help but when she arrives at his apartment, she finds that time has turned back a year. She now has a chance to relive the past year and prevent things from happening that led to the shooting.Curious blend of fantasy and film noir melodrama is a nice starring vehicle for Joan Leslie. She's a little over the top at times but so is the rest of the cast. Louis Hayward, Tom Conway, and Virginia Field are all fine. Richard Basehart is miscast as Leslie's weird poet friend who's in love with her. Think of Clifford Webb in "Laura" and you can imagine how wrong Basehart is for a part like that. The 'Whistler' style narration is a bit much and the movie gives in to soap opera theatrics often. Still, it's interesting and enjoyable to watch, particularly for fans of Joan Leslie.
dbborroughs
Sold to me as a minor classic, this is a good (its hard for any film with Tom Conway to be bad) little film about a woman who shoots her husband dead on New Years Eve. She wishes that she could do it all again as the clock strikes midnight and is transported back a year. She now has to see if she will make the same mistakes or change things for the better.Good little film, I don't think its quite the classic, is worth seeing because its so nicely dark and moody. The cast is the major selling point here with Joan Leslie as the woman, Louis Haywood as the husband we all would gladly shoot, Richard Basehart as a friend of the wife and Tom Conway as a theatrical producer all turning in performances near the top of the game.This is one to keep an eye out for.
danashley
WhenI was a kid in the 50's, this film was always shown on TV on New Year's Eve. I would look forward to it and always enjoyed it. As New Year's Eve approaches this year, I just happened to think about it for the first time in years and could not find it on TV, VCR or DVD. I was happy to read the very positive user comments on the quality of the film and lamenting its lack of availability. I note that Leaonard Maltin even dropped this film from his 2006 edition of his guide, perhaps because there is no tape or DVD version. I hope someone, somewhere, with rights to this little gem does release it for home viewing or a TV channel like TCM or PBS finds it in their library and decides to show it, perhaps on a New Year's Eve.