EAST SIDE, WEST SIDE (MGM 1949) Warner Home Video
Based on the scintillating novel by Marcia Davenport,
Mervyn LeRoy’s East Side, West Side (1949) is a potent melodrama that
takes a rather frank and unvarnished look at marital infidelity and the fallout
incurred in the name of keeping up appearances. Interesting to consider this an
MGM picture – as its premise is likely something, then reigning studio raja,
L.B. Mayer would not have approved, even if the morally high-minded Mayer (at least where his pictures were concerned) was, by then, off and promoting his own affair with socialite, Lorena Danker, who had become his second wife in 1948. Nevertheless, LeRoy’s participation on East Side, West Side ensured a two-fold responsibility was upheld; first, that the picture would remain
a ‘glamorous affair’ – of the uber-polish and ultra-sheen for which Metro was
best known, and second, that the more insidiously adult portions of the story
will be given that antiseptic white-wash, so as to make even their
corrupting acts appear gently forgivable at a glance. And who could resist, when
the stars on tap were as lovely and accomplished as Barbara Stanwyck and Ava
Gardner? Indeed, interesting here to pause a moment and consider Gardner as the movie’s
accomplished sexpot. Barely a decade earlier, she was a nobody with a Southern
drawl, visiting her sister, Beatrice in New York when Beatrice’s husband, Larry
Tarr, a professional photographer, took her portrait, displaying it in the
window of his studio on 5th Ave. From here, so the legend goes, Loews’
legal clerk, Barnard Duhan became smitten and, after some finagling, set up
Gardner for an interview at MGM's New York offices. Mayer’s initial response to
her screen test was “She can't sing. She can't act. She can't talk. She's
terrific!”
Until East Side, West Side, Gardner’s greatest
performance had not been for MGM, which chose instead to squander her in a decade's worth of disposable bit parts. But she lit the screen afire in Mark Hellinger’s indie-produced smash, The
Killers (1946) oozing absolute sex appeal as Kitty
Collins. It was all the prodding Mayer needed to begin to cultivate a ‘persona’
for Gardner – that of the reckless, but desirable vixen, luring men to their
doom. In her private life, the actress was also something of a train wreck,
having already wed (in 1942) and divorced (in 1943) MGM contract player, Mickey
Rooney. Her second marriage to band leader, Artie Shaw was as short-lived
(1945-46), and by 1949, Gardner was already well into her affair with Frank
Sinatra that would culminate in her third and final trip to the altar in 1951.
As a matter of record, that union lasted until 1957, despite being tumultuous
from the outset.
Isobel Lennart’s screenplay for East Side, West Side is
a largely pedestrian affair. The story begins on New York’s fashionable east end
with married couple, Jessie (Barbara Stanwyck) and Brandon Bourne (James Mason)
enjoying a ritual Thursday night feast at Jessie’s mother, Nora Kernan’s (Gail
Sondergaard) apartment. The gathering seems idyllic and quaint enough. However,
as the couple departs for their own home – Nora has her suspicions all is not
entirely well. You see, Brandon was having a rather torrid romance with
viper/mantrap, Isabel Lorrison (Ava Gardner) – an affair for which Jessie
forgave him. However, Isabel is back in town, and meaner, hotter and more
sensually tempting than ever before. She lures Brandon away from Jessie at
every chance, flaunting her wealth and womanly attributes while arrogantly
confident she will win over Brandon in the end. Not that it matters either way to
Isabel, who is currently seeing New York thug in a three-piece, Alec Dawning
(Douglas Kennedy), much to the chagrin of his other playmate, Felice Backett
(Beverly Michaels). In the meantime, Jessie has befriended former cop turned
man of the people, Mark Dwyer (Van Heflin), on leave from his job in Italy.
Dwyer’s girlfriend, Rosa Senta (Cyd Charisse) has been nursing a school girl’s
crush and keeping her home fires burning for Mark over the last two-years in
the hopes he will feel the same toward her upon his return to America. Instead,
Mark quickly develops a yen for Jessie. In the end, rather predictably, all of
the natural relationships are restored; Brandon, going back to his grateful
wife, and Dwyer, rejoining Rosa.
East Side, West Side may not be a fantastic movie, but
it does hold together rather nicely, with Miklós Rózsa’s plush score the
epitome of urbanite sophistication, and, Charles Rosher’s gorgeous B&W
cinematography making a fantasy-scape from MGM’s uber-glamorous reincarnations
of Manhattan. The great mystery and skill of LeRoy’s direction is how it
manages to effortlessly shift from a seemingly conventional soap opera about
six lives inexplicably and unpredictably intertwined, into a full-blooded pseudo-noir
after Isabel’s body is discovered, strangled to death inside her apartment – a plot
twist I did not see coming. On the surface, LeRoy’s direction is straight-forward. He keeps the pace moving, inserting comedic bits of business to
break up the murky monotony involving these more sinister plot twists. And the
entire cast is superb. Mason, in particular, gives a brilliant read of the
‘weak/troubled’ and utterly flawed, though handsome enough man about town. This
would become something of his stock and trade during the 1950’s – most notably
as Norman Maine in A Star Is Born (1954). There is a queer maternal
conviction in Stanwyck’s performance as it shifts atmospherically from doting/dutiful
wife to a woman who has had enough of both her own life and the man who only
pretends to occupy it with her.
Warner Home Video’s DVD is adequately rendered with
minor flaws worth noting. Edge enhancement plagues the main title and end
credits. Age-related artifacts are present throughout and, at times, heavier
than expected. On the whole the gray scale has been impeccably rendered. Film
grain looks very indigenous to its source. And a considerable amount of fine
detail evidently shines through. Blacks are solid and deep; whites, nearly
pristine. On several occasions image quality falters – the image becoming more
softly focused and with lower than anticipated contrast levels. On the whole,
however, this transfer will surely not disappoint. The audio is Dolby Digital
1.0 mono and adequately represented. Extras include a radio broadcast, several
short subjects and the film’s original theatrical trailer. Recommended.
FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)
4
VIDEO/AUDIO
3.5
EXTRAS
1
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