A Night At The Movies With Joan Bennett and Dom

[David]

Last Thursday, Jan 22, Dom came to San Francisco and joined me & two of my local friends to see our beloved Joan Bennett in 1949s ``The Reckless Moment`` at the beautiful Castro Theatre, our City`s landmark 80 year old movie palace. Still single screen, the Castro shows classic Hollywood revivals, film festivals, and gay/lesbian cinema.

39 year old Joan was quite lovely, and quite good, in this film noir about a mother who`ll do ANYTHING to protect her reckless daughter. Her role in the film forshadowed her DS role. Early movie scenes between mother & daughter were quite similar to  pre~Barnabas scenes between Carolyn & Elizabeth.

Many of Joan`s scenes with James Mason in the film were IDENTICAL to many of Liz`s scenes with Jason McGuire.

The theatre manager introduced the film, citing Joan as a major star of the 30s and 40s who made the film noir genre her own, and that she was a producer as well. He did not mention DS.

We all had dinner before and coffee afterward. It was great to meet Dom, who`s a neat guy, and a terrific night at the movies.

Reckless Moment is now on VHS/DVD thru mail order only. Go to filmnoir.com, where you`ll find a few other rare Joan Bennett movies.

And check out Deep End, made, I think, in 2001.
British actress Tilda Swinton essays Joan`s role in this remake. The daughter from the original becomes the gay son in the remake.

[Luciaphile]

It's a great movie. What I really love is how Max Ophuls takes the idea of the home and by the time we're done, it's more like her prison than anything else. Some really nice performances in it all around.

And it's a great counterpoint to the generic Hollywood ideal of family and the home that we get in say, another Bennett film like Father of the Bride.

The Reckless Moment has never been released on VHS or DVD. Copies do exist, but they are bootlegs. Caveat Emptor and all that.

It was originally based on a novel called "The Blank Wall."

[David]

Reckless Moment is now in public domain, so I`m not sure if that qualifies what filmnoir.com is selling as bootleg.

The entire filmnoir.com catalogue is public domain.
They were in the theatre lobby selling tapes & discs & giving out catalogues, so they must be legal.

[Luciaphile]

This is awesome news! Thanks David 

Did you buy a copy? What's the print quality like?

And now, I'm heading off to bookmark their site . . .

[David]

Wish I could answer you, Lucia.
I picked up a catalogue but didn`t buy anything at the theatre.

Will do that mail order & report back later.