Joan Bennett does the maternal love thing so well.
Kendrick Young is an estimable young man, but I'm afraid he isn't overly endowed with intelligence. He shouldn't have turned his back on Gabriel, and he should have figured out what it was that Melanie couldn't bear to tell him. Instead he tortured her with thoughts of Stella in her grave.
Did they intend to write many permutations of Karlen-Barrett romance stories with different characters, in different times? Or did it just work out that way, I wonder?
Interesting question. It seems to me that the writers created the role of Melanie with Nancy Barrett specifically in mind, but that Kendrick wasn't necessarily created with John Karlen in mind. There are, as far as I can remember, five young men in this storyline: Morgan, Quentin, Gabriel, Kendrick, and Gerard Stiles. Take away the names, and you could toss all the names in a a couple of hats to see who would play whom. I can't imagine Keith Prentice as Kendrick, but having seen him in only one role, I can't judge his capabilities.
I'm glad, however, that they gave David Selby the role of the ex-con, because I'm really enjoying this particular Quentin, and Selby's performance. Quentin starts out as just one of the Collins brothers, and the least noticeable of them in terms of personality, but now Gabriel's insane and Morgan's possessed, so Quentin's the only competent Collins brother left. I wanted to see how Quentin would approach Kendrick in the Inn, but apparently that confrontation never happened because Kendrick came to get Melanie. What a shame.
