Collect bonus rewards from our many partners, including AMC, Stubs, Cinemark Connections, Regal Crown Club when you link accounts. When she comes upon the distraught girl, who has just come indoors after her ordeal and reveals it to her mother, Lucia goes to the boathouse; there is nothing amiss and she does not see Darby. The next morning, Lucia finds the body and assumes that Bea has killed her lover. Desperate to keep her daughter out of jail, Bea's mother, Lucia (Joan Bennett), disposes of the body. Her seventeen year-old daughter Beatrice is in love with Ted. Although it is rather well staged, with credible location settings in Balboa and Los Angeles, it is a feeble and listless drama with a shamelessly callous attitude. Synopsis. A characteristic of Ophüls' films is his use of the baroque film style. The next morning Lucia discovers Darbys dead body and believes that daughter Bea will be blamed so she dumps the body in the lagoon far from their house. As Lucia struggles to secure these funds, Donnelly is falling in love with her. She assures him she does not accept her mother's version of things, but he indicates he could do with some money and that it does not mean the two could not continue to be together. | Desperate to keep her daughter out of jail, Bea's mother, Lucia (Joan Bennett), disposes of the body. Her troubles are only beginning however as one of Darby's friends, Martin Donnelly, arrives with some of Bea's letters to Darby in hand and blackmail on his mind. Throughout the movie, major plot points often occur while the characters are simply doing day to day things. When the police find Ted, a stranger, Martin Donnelly, visits Lucia to blackmail her on behalf of his partner, Nagel who has several letters Bea had written to Ted. Nagel had fronted the now-deceased man money and has been holding the writings as collateral. After discovering the dead body of her teenage daughter's lover, a housewife takes desperate measures to protect her family from scandal. Plot Keywords While fighting with girlfriend Bea Harper (Geraldine Brooks), Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick) takes a spill that leads to his death. When Lucia returns home she is confronted by Bea - Darby had telephoned to tell her of her mother's visit. The Deep End (2001) is based on the same source material. Lucia follows in her vehicle. "[2], In the recent years, however, the film has received very positive appraisal and is now generally considered as one of the best films by Max Ophüls. [3] It has been highly regarded by film critics, historians and audience, and entered in the list of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Lucia tells Bea what has transpired but the teenager refuses to believe her. She uses a motorboat and disposes of the body in a swamp; it is found, and a murder investigation begins. When she meets Donnelly to hand this over, he announces that she is in the clear, a man has been arrested in relation to Darby's murder. The Reckless Moment. [5], https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Reckless_Moment&oldid=983613794, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 October 2020, at 07:06. Desperate that her 17 year-old daughter Bea stop seeing the much older man she has been dating, Lucia Harper derives to Los Angeles to confront him. Screen Reader Users: To optimize your experience with your screen reading software, please use our Flixster.com website, which has the same tickets as our Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com websites. The Reckless Moment was filmed in both Balboa, Newport Beach and Los Angeles, California. Later, Donnelly learns that the suspect has been released. The desperate Lucia tries to raise the amount. Ted Darby is exactly what she expected and he's quite amenable to stop seeing Bea - provided Lucia pays him appropriately. Sign up for a FANALERT® and be the first to know when tickets and other exclusives are available in your area. When Darby agrees to leave Bea alone for a price, Lucia refuses to pay him off, convinced that her daughter will have no interest in a man who would accept that kind of money. Yet when Martin and Lucia grow increasingly close, the scheme starts to splinter. When Lucia gets home, her housekeeper says Nagel is waiting in the boathouse. Bea tells Lucia how the police mentioned that, just before dying, the man pinned beneath the vehicle admitted to killing Darby. Meanwhile, Lucia's suspicions that Ted had sleazy friends are confirmed when gangster Martin Donnelly (James Mason) materializes with the intention of extorting cash from the Darbys. Other films based on her stories include Vocalizing (1936), The Bride Comes Home (1935), and The Price of Pleasure (1925). At home, as Lucia is trying to compose herself, her two children return from an evening out. He agrees, but with the caveat that Lucia pay him. In the charming community of Balboa 50 miles from Los Angeles, middle-class housewife Lucia Harper travels to Los Angeles to meet scoundrel, Ted Darby. Get your swag on with discounted movies to stream at home, exclusive movie gear, access to advanced screenings and discounts galore. Another L.A. criminal, handsome and smooth-talking Donnelly, the partner of Nagel, a brutal loan shark, shows up in possession of letters Bea had written Darby. Lucia forbids her daughter to see Darby again but, that evening, Bea sneaks out to the family's boathouse to meet him. Synopsis. Rack up 500 points and you'll score a $5 reward for more movies. Unknown to her, he shakily tries to follow her but accidentally falls and subsequently dies. powered by AFI. when you purchase 3 participating Suave products 9/1-10/31 at Walmart or Walmart.com. He tries to allow her more time, he tells her he has declined his 'cut' and that if she can get half the money, he may be able to mollify Nagel. The characters are often put under duress while talking on the telephone or driving a car. Donnelly arrives and attacks his partner; during the fight, Donnelly is wounded but manages to strangle Nagel to death. She refuses to believe Darby would mention money in the manner her mother suggests happened. Enter your location to see which | [4], The Reckless Moment was preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in conjunction with Sony Pictures, in 1999. As Lucia and Donnelly move from bank to pawn shop to grocery store for the family, the blackmailer develops sympathy for the mother and house wife, and decides to abandon the blackmailing crime. Earn 125 points on every ticket you buy. She responds by telling him he has simplified the situation, that when she tells Bea "how deeply you feel about her" the girl will be glad to break off with him. The dangerous Nagel wants to receive the amount at any price. While fighting with girlfriend Bea Harper (Geraldine Brooks), Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick) takes a spill that leads to his death. Darby claims ties to the Art world and that his interest in Bea is for her artist abilities, then one night after a meeting in which Bea realizes that Darby wants to use her for his own pleasure, she hits him and leaves. While manslaughter may have been the final sentencing, “murder” just feels more reckless. It was first released in Detroit, Michigan, on October 29, 1949. While her husband is away on business, Lucia confronts Darby, a low-life Los Angeles criminal, and demands he stop seeing her 17-year-old daughter, Bea. He gives her the letters. Down in beautiful Balboa, a murder has been committed. Martin falls in love with Lucia and tries to help her too. It starred James Mason and Joan Bennett. Her son talks about "seeing a terrible accident". Knowing that the police will have a difficult time tying Darby to Bea, Lucia relaxes until charming gangster Martin Donnelly (James Mason) arrives to tell her that his boss, a burley opportunist named Nagle (Roy Roberts) has love letters that Bea had sent to Darby clearly implicating her affection for the older man and surely enough evidence to insure that the girl would be arrested and tried for murder. She decides to get rid of the corpse and puts it in her boat and dumps it far from home. Bea is repulsed by this and, during an ensuing struggle, she hits him and he goes down to his knees. Afterwards, Donnelly talks about his warm feelings for Lucia; she says she will call the police and straighten everything out, she cannot allow him to spend the rest of his life wanted for murder. movie theaters are playing The Reckless Moment near you. While driving, Donnelly reaches into Nagel's pocket to retrieve Bea's letters; he loses control, smashes through a fence and into a tree, overturning the car and trapping himself under it. Synopsis When the film was first released in 1949, the film critic for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther, praised the actors but wrote, "But it isn't all right with this picture. When Bea meets meets Darby that evening in the Harper's boathouse, they argue and he dies in a subsequent fall. The Reckless Moment is a 1949 American film noir melodrama directed by Max Ophüls, produced by Walter Wanger, and released by Columbia Pictures with Burnett Guffey as cinematographer. Lucia finds him the next morning and disposes of the body. We know life happens, so if something comes up, you can return or exchange your tickets up until the posted showtime. After desperately pawning much of her jewelry, Lucia has only $800. He will not accept her story and says that while the man in custody may be innocent of this he is "guilty of a hundred other things" and it does not matter, she needs to think of her family. The film is based on The Blank Wall (1947), a novel written by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. Lucia is stricken with guilt because she knows Darby was not actually murdered; she tries to convince Donnelly that she is the killer. Taglines | Max Ophüls’s last American film, The Reckless Moment features a housewife’s foray into crime for the sake of her daughter and the future of her family. SEE DETAILS. While the movie was Ophüls' last to be shot in the United States, it was also the last movie adaptation of any of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding’s books while she was alive. Without telling her family, Lucia Harper drives from her seaside home in Balboa to Los Angeles to warn reprobate Ted Darby to stay away from her seventeen-year-old daughter Beatrice. The last of director Max Ophüls' Hollywood films, The Reckless Moment doesn't necessarily distinguish itself other than Joan Bennett's intense performance. With her husband away on business Lucia Harper (Joan Bennett) has her hands full at home with her teenaged daughter Bea (Geraldine Brooks) who has been keeping company with an older man Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick) whom Lucia distrusts. With her husband away on business Lucia Harper (Joan Bennett) has her hands full at home with her teenaged daughter Bea (Geraldine Brooks) who has been keeping company with an older man Ted Darby (Shepperd Strudwick) whom Lucia distrusts. She responds by telling him he has simplified the situation, that when she tells Bea "how deeply you feel about her" the girl will be glad to break off with him. He asks for money to leave Bea, but Lucia refuses to give any. The heroine gets away with folly, but we don't think this picture will. Synopsis by Tom Vick A blend of melodrama and film noir, The Reckless Moment stars Joan Bennett as Lucia Harper, a suburban housewife whose husband is away on business. This was Mason's third U.S. film, after having appeared in director Ophüls' Caught (released February 1949) then in Vincente Minnelli's Madame Bovary (released August 1949). Bea does not believe her mother when told and during the night she sneaks out to the boat garage to meet Ted who admits that Lucia told the truth.

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