FEMALE ON THE BEACH

US, 1955, 97 minutes, Black and white.
Joan Crawford, Jeff Chandler, Jan Sterling, Cecil Kellaway, Natalie Schaefer.
Directed by Joseph Pevney.

Female On The Beach is a Joan Crawford vehicle - very similar to many films she made in the '40s and '50s. Films of this kind in the '50s include Harriet Craig, Sudden Fear, Queen Bee and Autumn Leaves, which this film resembles in many ways. Joan Crawford was a strong presence - a tough woman with ultimate vulnerability. She is obviously presented as an image with which female audiences can identify.

She is matched with one of Universal's main male star of the time - Jeff Chandler. There is a very interesting supporting cast led by Jan Sterling. There is a basic murder mystery which is to some extent obvious. However, there are the dramatics of the independent Crawford meeting, clashing with (very dramatically with violence and romance) and being loved by the hero. It is set in typical Hollywood screen affluence with a melodramatic score. Direction is by Joseph Pevney who made many films at Universal at the time and moved to television. It is the perennially enjoyable material of women's soap opera melodrama.

1. The tone of the title - the emphasis on female and the feminine? A woman's picture, the impact on a female audience? Audience expectations of this kind of soap opera? Issues? Identification? The romantic hero? The jealous woman? The alternate title and of the novel The Besieged Heart?

2. The film as a Joan Crawford vehicle her presence. style? Production values, affluent atmosphere? The score and its atmosphere?

3. The focus of the title on men and women and their relationships? The battle of the sexes. relationships? Loneliness, exploitation. love, hate. fear? The beach atmosphere?

4. The establishment of the affluent setting - the beach, the police for the people in the area. the lavish houses, boats? The exploiters and the gamblers? Emotional crises in this kind of setting, passionate encounters and violence?

5. The initial focus on Eloise Crandle - her creating a scene, the relationship with Drum, with Osbert and Queenie? Her death? The lonely widow type, the revelations of her diary and the way these were visualised and their impact on Lynn? Drum and his leading Eloise on and her dependence on him, his thwarting her and her desperation? Osbert and Queenie and their gambling, the borrowing of money? Amy and her professional contact, moving Eloise out? The build-up of her character., her desperation, the exploitation of her, the scene and the calling of the police, her death? The pattern established so as to seem a threat to Lynn? The melodrama of the death - and the shadow mystery figure?

6. How satisfactory the film as a murder mystery - the puzzle. the clues, suspicions, the police and their intervention, the revelation at the end, motivation?

7. Lynn and Joan Crawford's presence, style? Her toughness. loneliness? Her arrival and taking over the house - and politeness? The police and relating her story - typical background of poor girl wanting wealth? Her unhappy marriage, widowhood? The suspicions of Drum and clash with him? The bickering, the moving of the boat? Her growing fascination with him? The diary and her turning against him? Amy and her friendly presence and the selling of the house, Lynn's erratic behaviour - her waiting for Drum's phone call and her behaviour in front of Amy? The telling off of Osbert and Queenie? Her forgiving Drum -the marriage? The scene with Amy and her asking forgiveness? The aftermath of the marriage and Lynn's fears about the boat and the machinery? The chase in the water and throughout the house - the possibility of her death and being saved? Final happiness - vulnerability, tough. a transformed woman? A soap opera heroine?

8. Jeff Chandler and his presence and charm as Drum? A confidence man, the gigolo type? His place on the beach, with Osbert and Queenie and their using him, the example of his relationship with Eloise? His taking Lynn for granted, leading her on, genuinely falling in love? The break with Osbert and Queenie., his presence at their being told off? The three days without contact and the lyrical reunion with Lynn? The build-up to the marriage? The rejection of the friendship with Amy - and the trip in the speed boat and his saving them both? The
confrontation with Anry and the telling of the truth? His causing terror to Lynn? The seeming repetition of the incident with Eloise, his saving her?

9. Osbert and Queenie as confidence gamblers? Their way of life, using people, exploiting Lynn, charming manners, their being told off? Their new friend at the end?

10. Amy and her skill as businesswoman, her encounters with Lynn, the drunken attack, her seeming to ask forgiveness, the revelation of the truth? How credible her motivation - especially in the speedboat sequence and her conversations with Drum?

11. Melodramatic romance - audiences identifying with this? The glamour of Joan Crawford and Jeff Chandler? The romantic scenes - especially the vigorous physical fighting and then kissing? The thews of marriage, love, loneliness, fear? How much truth about human nature is told in melodramatic soap opera?