User Reviews

Zoe Akins, Dorothy Arzner's favorite screenwriter in the pre-code days, adapts a Henry James story about two old lovers who meet many years later and the budding romance of her daughter and his nephew. George Sanders and Constance Cummings are perfect as the older couple and Robert Vaughn -- a very young Robert Vaughn -- is his usual, believable stiff-necked self. Long-time director John Brahm directs this piece surely and I have to award kudos for all hands.

I must admit to not enjoying this piece very much, but that is largely due to the source material. I take little pleasure in James' fascination in showing the flaws of his class -- even his own brother called him a bore. Also the snapper ending is pretty well figured in advance. George Sanders, giving a typically graceful performance as he did so often, is the real reason to see this piece.

This episode of Screen Directors Playhouse is an adaptation of a short story by Henry James titled "Louisa Pallant". After watching the film, I sought out and read the story online out of curiosity, as I had never before read anything by James. The film varies considerably from the story, but maintains the basic premise.

The film introduces us to a gentleman and his nephew who meet in Europe where the uncle is escort the young man on a vacation. While there, the uncle (who narrates James' short story) meets a former flame who is accompanied by her daughter. The uncle (played ably by George Sanders) deals with his feelings for the mother (played by Constance Cummings), but the primary part of the story is about the feelings that might be developing between the younger pair (played by Robert Vaughn and Cynthia Baxter).

The mother has definite ideas about what she wants to happen with the young couple. Those ideas are revealed at the end of the film, which ends rather abruptly. Like James' original story, the narrative is more about motivations and intentions than actions. Some viewers may find the ending disappointing.

Screen Directors Playhouse: The Bitter Waters (1956)

** (out of 4)

An American uncle (George Sanders) and his nephew (Robert Vaughn) are touring Europe when the uncle runs into a former lover (Constance Cummings). Soon his nephew falls for the woman's niece (Cynthia Baxter) but the aunt is haunted by something she did in the past. THE BITTER WATERS contains some fine performances and some strong direction by John Brahm but the screenplay is just so bland that as a viewer you can't help but want to turn off your brain because you really don't care about anything that's going on. We can start off with the good and that's certainly the performances. Sanders and Vaughn looks strikingly similar so you really don't have any trouble believing that they're related. Sanders, as usual, delivers a very strong performance and you really believe the scenes where his heart is breaking and his mind curious about the secret from his past. Vaughn plays the stiff character he has always done but he works well here. Cummings is also extremely strong and ends up stealing the movie as the woman with the big secret that gets revealed towards the end. I won't ruin the twist at the end but I really enjoyed how Baxter played it when this secret does come out. Brahn has no problems with the beautiful look of the film and he handles his actors just fine but there's just no denying that the story itself is flat, boring and it's just impossible to care about any of the characters.