Beautiful Peggie Castle had had several uncredited parts in various films but her role as Diana Ramsey, the sophisticated daughter in "Payment on Demand" should have put her on the road to stardom. Unfortunately the road was paved with Westerns and the role she became identified with was Lily Merrill, owner of the Birdcage Saloon in the popular TV series "Lawman". Though eighth billed Peggie had a choice role caught up in the turmoil of her parent's divorce. Although Peggie actually looked and acted as if she could have been Bette Davis' daughter, the person who walked away with the acting honours was Betty Lynn, who played youngest tomboy daughter Martha with great sensitivity. Lyn, like Castle, also had an unsatisfactory career, even though she showed such promise in movies like "Carousel".
Bette Davis is her usual brittle mannered, staccato sounding self as Joyce, a ruthless social climber who barks out orders to her perfectly controlled family who rapidly are falling apart. Her easy going husband has finally had enough of the endless round of cocktail parties and his wife's underhand machinations and is now demanding a divorce.
As Joyce remembers their life together the scenes show just what David (Barry Sullivan) had to put up with. It is filmed in an odd way, trying to be innovative but it somehow just doesn't come off. Walls appear, then dissolve into outdoor scenes, the initial scenes are dimly lighted (obviously to help Bette Davis, who could never be made to look like a young bride). From the start Joyce was always two steps ahead of nice guy David. During the depression when David and his friend Robert (Kent Taylor), a pair of out of work lawyers are working as ditch diggers, David suddenly gets a lucky break as his first client, Swanson, seeks to include him in his corporation. Later when Robert, completely discouraged, plans to give up law, the truth comes out - Joyce had specifically recommended her husband to Swanson, telling him to disregard Robert. The next wake up call comes when David announces he wants to buy a small farm and commute to the city. Joyce flies off the handle and is downright abusive fearing the children will grow up among "hicks" and that as a family they are too young to bury themselves in the country.
Twenty years later Robert, down and out, comes to the house hoping David will lend him money to help him out of a jam. David does but not before he sees yet another awful side to Joyce. David has found someone else and as played by Frances Dee, she is beautiful, calm and serene, just what David needs but unfortunately she only has a small scene. Loyal Martha opts to stay with her mother as the person who will need her the most even though she has a closer bond with her father.
Davis comes into her own during the last half hour when she realises what being lonely means. While on a cruise she not only meets an old, now divorced friend who employs a young houseboy to attend to her when she is drunk but also an oily gigolo (John Sutton) who informs her he always goes back to his wife and children and keeps his two lives separate. The stage is set for a disappointing ending, one I didn't expect. After seeing Joyce's manipulations over the course of 20 years of marriage, I don't believe that a leopard could change it's spots from just a few months of loneliness.
Joyce's divorced friend is played by Jane Cowl, a beautiful stage actress who in 1917 was one of the first stars signed to Goldwyn Pictures.
Bette Davis is her usual brittle mannered, staccato sounding self as Joyce, a ruthless social climber who barks out orders to her perfectly controlled family who rapidly are falling apart. Her easy going husband has finally had enough of the endless round of cocktail parties and his wife's underhand machinations and is now demanding a divorce.
As Joyce remembers their life together the scenes show just what David (Barry Sullivan) had to put up with. It is filmed in an odd way, trying to be innovative but it somehow just doesn't come off. Walls appear, then dissolve into outdoor scenes, the initial scenes are dimly lighted (obviously to help Bette Davis, who could never be made to look like a young bride). From the start Joyce was always two steps ahead of nice guy David. During the depression when David and his friend Robert (Kent Taylor), a pair of out of work lawyers are working as ditch diggers, David suddenly gets a lucky break as his first client, Swanson, seeks to include him in his corporation. Later when Robert, completely discouraged, plans to give up law, the truth comes out - Joyce had specifically recommended her husband to Swanson, telling him to disregard Robert. The next wake up call comes when David announces he wants to buy a small farm and commute to the city. Joyce flies off the handle and is downright abusive fearing the children will grow up among "hicks" and that as a family they are too young to bury themselves in the country.
Twenty years later Robert, down and out, comes to the house hoping David will lend him money to help him out of a jam. David does but not before he sees yet another awful side to Joyce. David has found someone else and as played by Frances Dee, she is beautiful, calm and serene, just what David needs but unfortunately she only has a small scene. Loyal Martha opts to stay with her mother as the person who will need her the most even though she has a closer bond with her father.
Davis comes into her own during the last half hour when she realises what being lonely means. While on a cruise she not only meets an old, now divorced friend who employs a young houseboy to attend to her when she is drunk but also an oily gigolo (John Sutton) who informs her he always goes back to his wife and children and keeps his two lives separate. The stage is set for a disappointing ending, one I didn't expect. After seeing Joyce's manipulations over the course of 20 years of marriage, I don't believe that a leopard could change it's spots from just a few months of loneliness.
Joyce's divorced friend is played by Jane Cowl, a beautiful stage actress who in 1917 was one of the first stars signed to Goldwyn Pictures.