Blue Heaven

In this dull, issue-oriented film, Leslie Denniston and James Eckhouse are a middle-class married couple. The husband starts out administering playful spankings to his wife, then drifts into more intense beatings. Even after she's black and blue, Denniston keeps coming back to her husband, who, of course, just beats her more. The film tries too hard to make its points and usually comes off looking silly and nearly hysterical. Technically the production is reasonably good, and the performances survive the ridiculousness of the script, but the whole thing sinks under the weight of its social attitudes. It all has been done better elsewhere.