No Man of Her Own (1950)

No Man of Her Own
Directed by Mitchell Leisen
Written by Sally Benson and Catherine Turney based on the novel “I Married a Dead Man” by Cornell Woolrich
1950/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Bill Harkness: [returns to car after dumping a dead body onto a moving train] He stayed on, caught on the catwalk or whatever it is, but his hat and… came off.

Helen Ferguson: Don’t.[/box]

The preposterous story and overuse of the internal monologue suck any pleasure from a couple hours with Barbara Stanwyck right out of this film.

As the movie begins, Helen Ferguson (Stanwyck) is banging on the door of sometime boyfriend Steve Morley (Lyle Bettger) in tears.  He stays safely inside his New York apartment with his blonde paramour.  Eventually, he slips a five-dollar bill and a one-way ticket to San Francisco under the door  to the pregnant, penniless waif.  From his knowing smirk to his current girlfriend who says “you will never give me the brush off like that” we know that Steve is a rat bastard.

Helen looks so pathetic on the train that a young married couple, the Harknesses, takes her under its wing.  While Helen and the also pregnant Patrice Harkness are in the ladies room, for some reason Patrice asks Helen to wear her wedding ring.  The next instant there is a horrific train crash.

When she wakes up in the hospital after extensive surgery, Helen discovers she has delivered a healthy baby boy by caesarean section, both “Helen Ferguson” and Mr. Harkness were killed, and she is being addressed as Mrs. Harkness.  Her “in-laws” are showering the baby with presents.  Helen remembers that the Harknesses have never met Patrice and decides to go along with the charade, emerging as Patrice Harkness when she arrives in Mr. Harkness’ hometown.

Of course, “Partice” knows suspiciously little about her husband.  The inlaws attribute this to grief and shock.  The husband’s brother (John Lund) is on to her right away but has fallen so desperately in love with her that he doesn’t let on.  The inlaws adore the baby and are so downright lovable that Helen cannot bear to reveal the deception.  Later the mother-in-law’s heart condition keeps her from spilling the beans.  Then Steve Morley shows up with blackmail on his mind.  The only solution to Helen’s predicament might be murder.

I was not in the mood for a melodrama as over the top as this one.  It was impossible for me to suspend my disbelief at any point.  The ending is an absolute eye-roller.  To top it off we are treated to Helen’s interior monologue throughout.  It is always something obvious like “I can’t possibly get away with this” or “he will never leave me alone”.  The lazy storytelling really got on my nerves.  Stanwyck’s inherent strength of character is totally wasted on this material.

Trailer