An Ageing Neurotic

Mercedes McCambridge, an actress not seen much since her brilliant performance in All The King's Men (she did have a bit in Giant), is magnificent as Sarah, the ageing and pitiful wife. The scene where she examines her face, cruelly exposed by bright lights, in a too-revealing mirror, her venomous insults hurled at Jenny during their disastrous final meeting, the neurotic agony she is constantly expressing in Biblical quotations—all are moulded into a convincing picture of a tormented woman attempting to find the wrong kind of Salvation in religion.

As Jenny, Salome Jens, a newcomer to films is likeable and quite adequate. She has an attractive (? Tennessee) accent and is a blonde who is not glamorous but has a glow of character in her almost homely features.

The picture's faults (in the sense of technique, that is, rather than such lapses of plausibility as occur in the story itself, e.g., the convenient death of Paul's wife), are the sometimes slipshod editing and George Hamilton's overdependence on his good looks as a substitute for solid acting ability. But even if it is still obviously a cheap film, within its limitations, it is still a most entertaining one.