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Woman Obsessed

1959, Movie, NR, 102 mins

Woman Obsessed: Review

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A generally satisfying adventure and love story that was aided greatly by Hathaway's vigorous direction. Hayward is the widow of Franz, who is out of the movie early when a forest fire takes his life in the wilds of Canada. Hayward is left with son Holmes, precious little money, and a farm she can't handle alone. She hires Boyd, a rough-hewn handyman, to help her run the place. Holmes and Boyd get along well (not unlike Alan Ladd and Brandon de Wilde in SHANE). He is a dour man with a history that seems to have been one rotten break after another. Everything is going along fine but people in the nearby town are beginning to talk about the widow and her handsome laborer. Since fortune has tossed them together anyway, Boyd asks Hayward to marry him. Holmes is not sure he'll like Boyd as a father, but Hayward tells the boy that everything will be just the same as before except that she and Boyd will be sleeping in the same bed. As soon as the marriage vows have been spoken, however, a subtle alteration begins. Life isn't easy in the woods and Boyd doesn't make it any easier for Holmes, who resents the way he's treated. Boyd thinks it's better not to coddle Holmes but to equip him for what he'll face later in his adulthood. Boyd is not always able to express himself in words and when he is at a loss, he is quick to hit both Hayward and Holmes. Hayward learns that she's pregnant just as Holmes and Boyd get into a violent hassle. Later, Boyd goes into town, has a fistfight with a local, and is thrown into jail for 30 days to cool off. When he is released and returns to the farm, Hayward has put all of his gear in the barn. Then Hayward is caught in a rainstorm, miscarries, and almost dies. Boyd finds her and totes her to Bikel, a local doctor, through the wind and the rain, before he takes off to search for Holmes. In the woods, Holmes sees Boyd and, thinking the man may have killed Hayward, lures him into a pool of quicksand. It looks as though Boyd will die, but Holmes has a change of heart and saves him. Eventually we learn that Boyd is determined to make Holmes grow up tough because Boyd's kid brother fell apart in the past, and Boyd's former wife perished in a fire from which she could have been saved if his brother had acted quickly and coolly. When Hayward recovers and returns home, Boyd is about to move on, but she persuades him to stay and begin anew. Cinematographer Mellor became ill during the shoot and was replaced by Leon Shamroy, although the latter received no screen credit. All of the predictable disasters expected in an outdoor film are here, plus some fine acting on the part of the three principals. Barbara Nichols has a few good moments as a townie. It was shot in the same general area in which Henry Hathaway lensed THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE more than 20 years before. leave a comment
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