THE OTHER LOVE

US, 1947, 96 minutes, Black and white.
Barbara Stanwyck, David Niven, Richard Conte, Gilbert Roland, Joan Lorring.
Directed by Andre de Toth.

The Other Love is an entertaining '40s soap opera. The characters and the situations are the familiar stuff of so many films of the '30s and '40s - romance, dying, melodramatic crises, integrity. It is the perennial material of entertainment.

Barbara Stanwyck is, as always, the staunch heroine even though she is dying. David Niven does his charming style as the doctor. Richard Conte is the playboy motor-racer. The film is reminiscent of so many films of doctors and ill patients from Dark Victory to Magnificent Obsession. However, Sidney Pollack's Bobby Deerfield with Al Pacino and Marthe Keller in the '70s is more than reminiscent of this story - focusing on the motor-racer rather than the dying heroine.

Elegant black and white photography, lush European settings and the ‘all stops out' performances of the stars under Andre de Toth's direction make this enjoyable, if unbelievable, melodrama.

1. The perennial popularity of this kind of film: characters, situations, romantic melodrama? The quality of this film of its kind? Audiences' acceptance of the conventions for this kind of entertainment?

2. Black and white photography, European locations. affluent society Swiss sanatoriums, the world of the international concert pianist, of the international playboy motor-racer? Restaurants, hotels, yachts etc.? Audience delight in such a glossy world? The lush score?

3. The title - to whom did it refer? Sufficiently enigmatic to arouse audience interest? The ambiguities of the relationships?

4. The portrait of Karen Duncan - Barbara Stanwyck's strong heroine, the concert pianist and her performances, skills, illness, burnt out? Her booking herself into the sanatorium - her own view of her illness, the opinions of the doctor, her room and the style of the staff making things easy for wealthy patients? Disturbed in the night, the dead person being taken away? Her being reassured against this? Diet, sleep. learning to relax? The socialising with the doctor, growing dependence on him, falling in love? Her unwillingness to die? Her encounter with Paul Claremont? Infatuated by him. the drive. the exhilaration, his world? Rebelling against the doctor, going out with him, not telling the truth? The hotel. the social whirl - and Tony finding her again? Her going on the yacht? Paul's realisation of the truth after the clash with Tony? Her return to the sanatorium - to health? A strong characterisation of an almost stereotyped character?

5. The contrast between the two men? David Niven's charming style as the doctor - reassuring, socialising, falling in love, betrayed, searching for Karen? The clash with Paul? The contrast with Paul's debonair style, fast driving, the racing track, his friends, social atmosphere, the social whirl and involving Karen? The relationship? Infatuation? The yacht? His letting her go?

6. The film's sketching in the background of the sanatorium - the range of patients, the friendships that Karen made, her girl friend and the going out, socialising, seeming to be healthy - and dying? The impact on Karen? The effect of tuberculosis on people in the '30s and '40s? The dread of it? The need for sanatorium health care?

7. The world of motor racing, affluent society?

8. The blend of melodrama and romance? The basic appeal to human values - career, dedication, commitment, falling in love, changes of perspective and values, happy resolution?