kingrat wrote: ↑January 28th, 2024, 12:28 pm
ElCid wrote: ↑January 28th, 2024, 11:52 am
Just watched
Woman in Hiding and think it is pretty good, all things considered. Probably a 3 out of 4 stars. At least a 2+. Biggest draw back would be too many things happen that are improbable. Having spent time in the areas where it supposedly happens may influence my rating. Glad Ronald Reagan was not in it-much better movie for it.
Now to see if I can find an episode of the 66 made for
Mr. Adams and Eve TV series. Appears might be at least one on YouTube.
I agree with Cid on all points. Check out the good direction in that early scene where Ida visits the mill. Michael Gordon clearly has talent. So does Peggy Dow. The outro discusses her short career in Hollywood and very full life afterward. I couldn't help thinking that Peggy Dow would have made an interesting Maggie the Cat in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, among other roles. Howard Duff was also very good, I thought.
Unusually for Hollywood films of this era, the setting is specifically identified as North Carolina and East Tennessee, although it wasn't filmed there. The fictional mill town of Clarksville, NC must be somewhere near Asheville for the timing of some later scenes to be even remotely plausible. Our villain bounces back and forth between Clarksville and Knoxville, which is on the other side of the Smoky Mountains, with the greatest of ease. Apparently Ida travels east from Clarksville to Raleigh, then later has what would be a long and exhausting bus ride westward from Raleigh all the way to Knoxville. No interstate highways in those days, either. It's very unclear where the train is going in the scene late in the film. I doubt that there would have been a train across the Smoky Mountains.
The biggest gaffe is the screenwriter's assumption that it would be easy to find a steak dinner and a martini, even in a city like Knoxville. Most of the South was officially "dry" in 1951. You'd have to buy your liquor from a bootlegger and take it to a private club, which would serve you a set-up for your alcohol.
Evidently the makers of the film had seen ACT OF VIOLENCE and its scene with the Shriners' convention at the hotel.
Just watched an episode of
Mr. Adams and Eve on YouTube - probably only one of 66 available. Typical 50's calm husband with ditzy wife comedy series based on what I saw. Characters were both Hollywood actors. Howard Duff did have a '56 or '57 Continental. Very expensive cars and Ford lost money on every sale so they only made them for two years.
Kingrat is correct about the implausibility of quick travel between Western NC and Eastern TN at that time. I can remember driving from Asheville over the Smokies to Knoxville in 1970's before I-40 was completed. I think US 70 was the main road back then and I have driven several parts of it. Lots and lots of curves, up hill, down hill, two lanes, etc. Not quick at all.
As for trains, the only passenger trains operating in that area would have been Southern Railway. It ran the
Carolina Special from Cincinnati to Charleston SC via Knoxville TN and Asheville NC, but it went
around the mountains so it would have been a lengthy trip.
Unlikely they would have had passenger trains leaving every three hours - probably once daily in each direction.
I thought it was strange that Lupino checked out of her hotel room where they were having a convention and then later decided to go back to her room without re-registering - if a room was even available.
The car is a 1958 De Soto Fireflite Sportsman hardtop.