Ten North Frederick
Directed by Philip Dunne
Written by Philip Dunne from a novel by John O’Hara
1958/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/YouTube
Kate Drummond: Ann, a stuffed shirt didn’t give me that ruby.
This, another in the line of slightly racy Peyton Place-type melodramas of the era, didn’t wow me.
The story begins at Joe Chapin’s (Gary Cooper) wake. His widow (Geraldine Fitzgerald) is hosting the biggest wheels in town and all are engaged in their customary backstabbing. Relations are not warm between mom and her daughter Ann (Diane Varsi) or drunken son Joby. We segue into flashback as Ann considers the sins of her parents.
Somehow Joe was both a man of high integrity and willing to buy himself a political nomination. His aspiration was to be Lieutenant Governor on his road to the Presidency (why this would be a winning strategy is never made clear). He gets in with some mighty unsavory party hacks in the process. We sense that much of this is done to appease the rabid ambition of his wife. Anyway, the push to get the nomination means that both wifey and cronies will do anything to avoid scandal. So when Ann marries (horrors!) a trumpet player, both her happiness and her unborn child must be sacrificed.
Poor Joe cannot catch a break, Ann leaves home for New York, and his bad marriage steadily deteriorates. So when Joe becomes acquainted with Ann’s roommate (Suzi Parker), she is almost irresistible despite the pair’s vast age difference.
At least this time Gary Cooper is playing a father rather than strictly a romantic lead and his age is acknowledged. This is fairly well put together but too sudsy for me. The movie was not aided by the print available on YouTube or by watching it in parts.
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