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Female on the Beach

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Wikipedia article




'Female on the Beach' is a 1955 American crime-drama film directed by Joseph Pevney starring Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler in a story about a widow and her beach bum lover. The screenplay by Robert Hill and Richard Alan Simmons was based on the play 'The Besieged Heart' by Robert Hill. The film was produced by Albert Zugsmith..

Plot



Lynn Markham (Crawford) visits a beach house that once belonged to her dead husband. There, she meets real estate agent Amy Rawlinson (Jan Sterling) and Drummond "Drummy" Hall (Chandler), an attractive beach bum who wanders in and out of the house as though he owned it.

Lynn learns the house was once rented to Eloise Crandall (Judith Evelyn), an older woman whose cause of death (suicide, accident, or murder) remains undetermined. Lynn later discovers "Drummy" is the accomplice of card sharks Osbert and Queenie Sorenson (Cecil Kellaway and Natalie Schafer), and that he heartlessly pursued Crandall in order to set her up for card games with the Sorensons. Lynn's physical attraction to Drummy is overpowering and she marries him. Events on their honeymoon lead Lynn to believe he murdered Eloise. It transpires, however, that Amy Rawlinson killed Crandall because she wanted Drummy for herself.

Cast



* Joan Crawford as Lynn Markham

* Jeff Chandler as Drummond Hall

* Jan Sterling as Amy Rawlinson

* Cecil Kellaway as Osbert Sorenson

* Judith Evelyn as Eloise Crandall

* Charles Drake as Police Lieutenant Galley

* Natalie Schafer as Queenie Sorenson

* Stuart Randall as Frankovitch

* Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Murchison

Production



The script was based on an unproduced play by Bob Hill, 'The Besieged Heart'.BREEN IS RETIRED AS MOVIE CENSOR: At Own Request, Director of Code Leaves Office -- Chief Aide Successor

By THOMAS M. PRYOR New York Times 15 Oct 1954: 18.
Albert Zugsmith bought the rights and worked on the script with Bob Hill. He then sold the project to Universal who were looking for a vehicle for Joan Crawford. The studio also hired Zugsmith to produce, starting a relationship between him and Universal which lasted several years.

Reception



Critical response

A review in 'Harrison's Reports' said that the movie offered "a fairly interesting though somewhat seamy mixture of sex, murder and suspense."[https://archive.org/stream/harrisonsreports37harr#page/n135/mode/1up Harrison's Reports], film review, July 16, 1955. Accessed: August 9, 2016.

Film critic Bosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review, writing "Their progress is rendered no more fetching by the inanities of a hackneyed script and the artificiality and pretentiousness of Miss Crawford's acting style. At the end, the guilty party is revealed in a ridiculous way. Jan Sterling, Cecil Kellaway and Natalie Schafer are the supporting players you may remotely suspect."[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9904EED6103AE53BBC4851DFBE66838E649EDE Crowther, Bosley], film review 'The New York Times', August 20, 1955. Accessed: July 4, 2013.

See also



*List of American films of 1955

References




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