Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1951
My Forbidden Past
Buy My Forbidden Past now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = My Forbidden Past
| image = My Forbidden Past FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Robert Stevenson
| producer = Polan Banks
Robert Sparks
| based_on =
| writer = Leopold Atlas
| screenplay = Marion Parsonnet
| starring = Robert Mitchum
Ava Gardner
Melvyn Douglas
| music = Friedrich Hollaender
| cinematography = Harry J. Wild
| editing = George C. Shrader
| distributor = RKO Radio Pictures
| released =
| runtime = 70 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross = $1,150,000 (US rentals)'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', 'Variety', January 2, 1952
}}
'My Forbidden Past' is a 1951 film noir directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Robert Mitchum and Ava Gardner. Adapted by Leopold Atlas from Polan Banks' novel 'Carriage Entrance'.
Plot
In the 1890s in New Orleans, Dr. Mark Lucas (Robert Mitchum) wrongly believes Barbara Beaurevel (Ava Gardner) refused him and betrayed him after their previously planned elopement.Thus Mark returns from South America accompanied by Corinne (Janis Carter), a woman he married for her beauty but not for love, due to this still lingering grudge against Barbara. She feels disappointed on meeting Corinne, yet she's determined to win him back. Barbara, already having inherited a large sum from her socially of ill repute grandmother, bribes her cousin Paul (Melvyn Douglas) into seducing Corinne and thereby breaking up the marriage. Unluckily this cold-blooded plan ends up in Corinne's death by accident and Mark finds himself under strong suspicion of murder. In the end, Barbara, realizing her insidious act at the trial, empathetically confesses everything, thereby once again becoming a woman worthy of love but also losing the local gentry's consideration.
Cast
* Robert Mitchum as Dr. Mark Lucas
* Ava Gardner as Barbara Beaurevel
* Melvyn Douglas as Paul Beaurevel
* Lucile Watson as Aunt Eula Beaurevel
* Janis Carter as Corinne Lucas
* Gordon Oliver as Clay Duchesne
* Basil Ruysdael as Dean Cazzley
* Clarence Muse as Pompey
* Walter Kingsford as Coroner
* Will Wright as Luther Toplady
Production
The film was to star Ann Sheridan. Under her contract she had co star approval. RKO claimed she refused all the names offered her and thus terminated the contract, replacing her with Ava Gardner. Sheridan sued RKO for $350,000. The case went to trial and in February 1951 the jury awarded her $55,162, being the minimum amount Sheridan would have earned during filming from April to August 1949 plus $5,162 for costs. It was shown that Sheridan would have approved Mitchum as a co star.$55,162 WON IN SUIT BY ANN SHERIDAN: Federal Jury on Coast Gives Actress Damages for Claim Against R.K.O. Studios Of Local Origin
By THOMAS F. BRADY New York Times 7 Feb 1951: 47.
Reception
The film recorded a loss of $700,000.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, 'The RKO Story.' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p256.
References
Buy My Forbidden Past now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1951