NEW FEATURE: Look Alive People…Anyone Among Us…Could Be ‘THE BIGAMIST’!

By Brad Eastland, Dr. of Ancient Filmology

The title grabs you right away, huh?

Me too.

But before I get into it, let me just say that this column—being a new column—is something I am evolving with every day. For instance, it has become clear to me that since this is a column about very old movies that are generally obscure, and you probably haven’t heard of any of them, there would seem to be no point in me reviewing an old movie that I didn’t have a fairly high opinion of. So expect to get a generally positive recommendation from me every time, on anything I review, even if it’s a “B” movie and not a classic. That’s a promise. Besides, I love “B” movies. And “C” movies for that matter.

Also, I have discovered to my delight that these old movies are not only always available to purchase physical copies of on-line, but that they also can usually be instantly “rented” on-line via Amazon.com so that you can queue them up and watch them right away on your computer. So knock yourself out.

“The Bigamist” was released in 1953, and stars Edmond O’Brien in the title role. O’Brien plays Harry Graham, a traveling salesman (okay, a cliché, but it works) who lives in San Francisco and has been married to Eve, played by Joan Fontaine, for eight years. They have a generally loving and fulfilling marriage, but it’s not perfect. For one thing Eve can’t have children, and this gnaws at Harry. Anyway, Harry’s business requires that he make several sales trips a year to Los Angeles where one day he meets Phyllis, a perky, effervescent waitress played by Ida Lupino. Eve is often away visiting her sick father, which renders Harry lonely, and Harry is lonelier still whenever he comes to L.A., so soon he finds himself seeing Phyllis regularly, and soon after that, Phyllis gets pregnant. Despite his love for Eve, Harry finds that he can’t leave Phyllis, and also finds—to his surprise and eternal self-loathing—that he loves her too, and so he marries her. Time gets away from him, and years go by before he can find the courage to tell either wife about the other.

Harry’s double life might have gone on indefinitely were it not for Edmund Gwenn, the beloved old character actor from “Miracle on 34^th Street”, who plays the adoption agent for the baby Eve and Harry have been trying to acquire. When Gwenn’s character tracks Harry down in Los Angeles, shows up at his door and hears the baby crying (Phyllis’s baby), Harry is forced to break down and reveal everything, and the movie continues on from that point in a series of flashbacks, as Harry tells Gwenn’s character the story of how he became happily married to two women at the same time.

This movie is a hit for a variety of reasons. First of all it’s only 78 minutes, so it moves right along. Secondly, it is directed by Lupino herself, Lupino being really the first woman to achieve mainstream success as a director in Hollywood history. She directed seven major features during her career, and in “The Bigamist” she does an outstanding job of roving back and forth between Harry’s San Francisco and Los Angeles lives while presenting the previously taboo bigamy issue from the woman’s point of view. She makes sure Harry’s character is both sympathetic and worthy of condemnation. She also proves once again that she is a darn good actress, once describing herself, modestly, as “a poor man’s Bette Davis”.

And perhaps most intriguing of all is that the film’s producer and screenwriter, Collier Young, in real life, was married to both women! That’s right, Young was married to both Joan Fontaine and Ida Lupino….albeit at different times. Unlike Harry. But one has to wonder if Mr. Young didn’t feel like Harry Graham, like a bigamist, as he was wed to Lupino from 1948 till 1951, divorced, then married Fontaine pretty much right away in 1952, shortly before production on “The Bigamist” wrapped; the movie then being released in 1953. You have to respect a man with the balls to produce a film about bigamy starring both his dangerously new current wife and his ex-wife. That’s called confidence.

“The Bigamist” is well worth your time, and is certainly a thought-provoking piece of cinema. Thumbs up.

Finally, a word or two about the bigamist himself, the film’s star, Edmond O’Brien. He’s brilliant. Under Lupino’s skillful direction he manages to play this difficult role with both grace and believability, while still betraying the palpable degree of human frailty of a man who loves two women and can’t say no to either. O’Brien is a terrific actor, though by now largely forgotten. But don’t be surprised if more Edmond O’Brien movies are trumpeted in this space.

One other aspect of “The Bigamist” that is refreshing is that the chunky, flabby-faced O’Brien is obviously not a particularly handsome or dashing man. It is refreshing to see such an average looking “everyman” attracting the ardent attentions of characters played by the glamorous Fontaine and the vivacious Lupino. Equally refreshing that producer Young and director Lupino didn’t feel the need to select a Cary Grant or a William Holden to play the role of a man capable of wooing two women at once. The problem, of course, is that O’Brien’s character can’t summon the moral fiber to employ his charm on one woman at a time. And as the movie ends we can’t help but wonder if, sadly, his actions have perhaps cost him both of his lives….

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Brad Eastland, our Dr. of Ancient Filmology, is a movie buff and film historian, as long as the film was made before 1985 or so. (If you want to hear about new release films, pick up a Times.) Special effects and gratuitous anything have no special place in his celluloid world. Primarily a fiction writer, Brad has written four novels and over 20 short stories. Here are some samples of his work:

http://www.bosonbooks.com/boson/fiction/gamble/gamble.html
http://www.bosonbooks.com/boson/fiction/basket/basket.html
http://www.bosonbooks.com/boson/freebies/freebies.html