The themes in these "women's pictures" intrigue me. I can never tell if any of the men are supposed to be romantic ideals or if they are all meant to be seen as total unreliable dopes and scoundrels. The trope of the wealthy man who stands by his psychotic, bedridden wife: frankly, it seems to grate depressingly against any kind of fantasy - well, I'd rather be enjoying his cash, not going nuts laying in a four-poster. This would be why I found The Damned Don't Cry far more fun than Possessed. Van HEFLIN? OK, I'll dip my toe: maybe Possessed could be seen as a women's noir, with hommes fatals the total undoing of our protagonist.
There's a lot of chitchat between Raymond Massey and Van Heflin about Canada which is amusing - apparently people are all "spread out thinly" (where did they go, Pickle Lake?) and we all drink a lot of "Kentucky Whisky" (not anymore). Massey of course was born in Canada to a well-established family; while a grad student, I once volunteered to give historic tours of his childhood residence. It was super deluxe, with built-in hardwood cabinetry, plenty of decorative plaster molding. I followed a script and monotonously repeated that Raymond Massey was best known for playing Abe Lincoln. The house by that point had fallen on hard times - in the 70s or 80s the basement was kitted out as a DJ booth for a radio station and by the 90s it was abandoned and used by squatters. I came across a few forks while escorting the Raging Grannies through this interesting piece of architectural history. I couldn't tell you if it is even standing today but another adjacent Massey residence is now The Keg. Ah, Canada!
Don't move, or I'll turn the Governor General's grandparents' place into a steak house!
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