This is as good an example as any of how you can get a cast to die for, a first-rate screenwriter adapting a best-selling novel and a first-rank director and still wind up with something that's ho hum at best. Lt's talk about that cast; James Mason in his fourth Hollywood movie following a rise to the top in England, Barbara Stanwyck, at the peak of her game, Van Heflin rapidly establishing himself as a leading man after making his name on Broadway in The Philadelphia Story, Ava Gardner, showing she could turn in a half- decent acting job despite being drop-dead gorgeous, Cyd Charisse, not yet the great dancer but a more than competent ingenue, Gale Sondegaard, in a rare sympathetic role but unconvincing only as someone old enough to be Stanwyck's mother and William Conrad still fluctuating between heavy and hero. Put all these against a lush New York background and decide whether we're talking melodrama or crime thriller. That, unfortunately, is a choice ducked by all hands but it's still worth watching for that standout cast.
Review of East Side, West Side
