Linda Darnell: Hollywood's Fallen Angel

[ClassyCo]

Linda Darnell is one of Hollywood's tragedies.

She was a movie star when she was just 16 years old. She was swiped up by Darryl F. Zanuck and placed under a contract with 20th Century-Fox in 1939. She was a star for the studio the next decade, starring in a host of critically and commercially motion pictures, such as HANGOVER SQUARE (1945) and MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (1946) among others. Earlier in her career she had been a leading lady for heartthrob Tyrone Power in a handful of films: BLOOD AND SAND (1941) was probably the most successful. She later starred in FOREVER AMBER (1947), one of the most prestigious films of the late-'40s, but it was a resounding failure. Her acting was shredded by critics and the film failed to live up to its hype. She did later have good roles in both A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949) and NO WAY OUT (1950).

And then... Darnell's career just stopped. She was still popular, but it just seems as if her home studio and the producers that had built her up had quite simply lost interest. She struggled to find film work after the mid-'50s, and she edged herself towards the stage. She died in a house fire in 1965.
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[ginnyfan]

Linda's thread with no responses, that can not be allowed! I knew about her and saw her in several FOX movies (Hangover Square, Clementine, Blood and Sand etc) over the years, but perhaps didn't pay too much attention, even though she was such a stunner. But recently I've randomly seen her in 3 great movies and realized what a great potential she had and just how unfulfilled it was, in the end.

Fallen Angel (1945) is a very good Otto Preminger film noir in which Linda shines as a seductive, trampy femme fatale. She's highly stylized but still somehow real, just like noir itself, which is why she suited this sort of movies so well.




A Letter to three Wives (1949), of course her best known picture and performance. She, along with Thelma Rhitter, steal this movie and makes you want to see more of her character. Jo Mankievicz clearly knew how to use Linda well in a movie and it's no wonder he gave her the next great role.....




No Way Out (1950), a social drama/noir, one of those movies FOX was well known for in late 40s, in which Linda gets another meaty role. Widmark and Poitier are excellent as usual but it's Linda who's at the heart of this movie, bringing home the desperation of someone trying to escape their roots and past, with no success.




But after this, everything sort of goes downward for Linda's career. It's back to bland roles in westerns, adventures and average movies. Maybe there are some more that are good, I haven't seen them all. The 13th Letter (1951), another Preminger noir sounds promising and I will check it out. But clearly, once again, FOX did not know what to do with and how to use its own talent. Same thing happened to Gene Tierney, though she was a much bigger star than Linda. They tried turning Linda into Gene but failed. Anyway, Linda clearly had the acting chops, and from what I've read, worked hard and had desire to improve and prove herself in serious roles. Her dark sultry looks made her perfect for noir and she should have been used more in that genre. I guess when Forever Amber (1947) failed, FOX gave up on her. I have to see this movie.

The way her life ended is so tragic, sad and disturbing. But just like many other, she remains forever beautiful and young in her movies!

 

[Crimson]

Borrowing what I said about Linda in the "Forgotten Faces ..." thread, with some add-on.

I think Linda was one of the better of the 40s pin-up girls, but much less remembered today than many of her contemporaries -- Lana, Rita, Ava, Jane, etc. To my eyes, Linda looks like an amalgam of Vivien Leigh, Jane Russell and Dorothy Lamour which makes her seem emblematic of the era. Linda's acting was often reminiscent of Lana's -- both prone to that hoity-toity huffiness passing for fieriness -- but I think Linda was a smidge better.

Her career -- at least in the 40s -- was robust. A few heroine parts (THE MARK OF ZORRO, BLOOD & SAND) opposite Tyrone Power; a couple of great floosie roles (HANGOVER SQUARE, FALLEN ANGEL); and a classic western (MY DARLING CLEMENTINE). It was her misfortune that what should have been her greatest role -- FOREVER AMBER, touted as the next GWTW -- fizzled. She rebounded with two excellent performances in excellent films (Sturges' UNFAITHFULLY YOURS and Mankiewicz's A LETTER TO THREE WIVES). And then her career collapsed.

There seemed to be no discernible reason for this. She didn't have any huge box office flops or a string of bad notices; she wasn't black listed or the subject of a career ending scandal. Hollywood just ... lost interest. I once read the opinion that just at the point Darnell was capable of playing interesting characters, she stopped being offered them. (And it's amazing how many actresses that description could apply to.) She herself later lamented that while she knew her career wouldn't last forever, she hadn't expected to be washed up at 30.

I haven't read much about Linda's life, other than mini-biographies in books about film stars. She seemed to have an especially sad life, even aside from her gruesome death. She was a subject of a very good episode of the You Must Remember This podcast, which focused on her (inevitable) love affair with Howard Hughes. Hughes treated her rather shabbily, even by his standards. He seemed to regard her as, at best, a backup for Ava Gardner or possibly a stand-in for his unrequited lust for Jane Russell. In fact, it was this photo session -- in which Linda is posed suspiciously like Jane's famous rolling-in-the-haystack photos -- that caught Hughes' eye.



Mankiewicz treated her even worse; when their affair was over, he pretty much pretended that he barely knew her.

 

[ClassyCo]

Linda's thread with no responses, that can not be allowed

I am glad you resurrected this discussion. Linda Darnell is an underappreciated actress from her time period. She was beautiful and talented, but slides right through the cracks within film discussions.

I think Linda was one of the better of the 40s pin-up girls, but much less remembered today than many of her contemporaries -- Lana, Rita, Ava, Jane, etc.

Of all the beauties you've mentioned here, Linda would probably place in my Top 3 favorites, along with Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner. As much as I like Ava Gardner in BAREFOOT CONTESSA and MOGAMBO, I find myself being quite indifferent to her overall, and as for Russell, I always categorize her in the 1950s, even though I know her initial splash was at the start of WWII inside the USA.

And then her career collapsed.

And that's what's baffling. She was maturing into quite a good actress, but Hollywood just simply lost interest in her. By the late-'50s, she was barely in her early-30s, but she was considered washed up. Fox -- her home studio for a solid decade -- even treated her poorly. She was forced to audition for the role of Alice in the movie version of Steinbeck's THE WAYWARD BUS in 1957, but she was still passed over for the younger Joan Collins.

Hughes treated her rather shabbily, even by his standards.

Yes, he treated her bad. She was young and naive enough to believe that Hughes loved her and that his world revolved around her. She got a rude awakening soon enough.

Mankiewicz treated her even worse; when their affair was over, he pretty much pretended that he barely knew her.

And he practically made her think that he was writing THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA as a star vehicle for her that would bring her back to the "prestige" pictures she had been loosing out on. But she was heartbroken to find out in the trade papers that Ava Gardner had been cast instead.

 

[ginnyfan]

I opened this year with a viewing of Forever Amber (1947). I love to start a year with a long, epic movie, usually something like Dr. Zhivago, Gone with the Wind, Bridge on the River Kwai and similar. While Forever Amber (1947) certainly doesn't rank up with the movies I mentioned, it still tells an epic , rags to riches story, of a beautiful, ambitious girl, who would do anything to get what she wants and get the one man she wants.

The movie was FOX's most expensive up to that point, they payed 200.000 dollars for the book rights, made a huge fuss about casting, trying to replicate Scarlett O Hara craze of the late 30s. Many actresses wanted the role, many were considered, but it was the unknown Peggy Cummins who initially got the role ( I guess they hoped she would be the new Vivien Leigh). She would later be best known for the noir Gun Crazy (1950). They even started filming with her, only to realize she was too young to pull of the adult, sexy seductress version of the character. That's when Linda got cast, to her delight, seeing it as a chance to finally breakthrough as a major star. Sadly it was not to be.

I liked the movie, it was perfectly fine, but I guess it was not what everyone hoped for. The story is certainly exciting, with constant twists and turns, troubles Amber gets into and fun ways she gets out of them, by using men of course. There's war, pandemics and a fire in the end. There's big costumes, galas and grand sets. But there's also the terribly colour choice they made for this film. I'm not sure what it is, but the whole thing is sort of gray/blueish, with barely any colour, almost sepia like, and it really hurts the look of the movie. Grand sets, outfits and production looks sort of washed up and not as expensive as it was. But Linda sizzles, among all the grayness, even with a blond wig that I was a bit skeptical in the beginning.

Acting wise, Linda does a fine job, she's no Vivian Leigh and her character is no Scarlett, after all. She does miss that fire and spark Gone with the Wind diva had, but she's still an exciting woman trapped in a man world, who finds her ways to rise and get what she's after. Cornel Wilde, who usually does nothing for me, is kinda hot with that long hair wig and Tarzan look, especially when he's on the Black Plague deathbed. One of the highlights includes Linda in a catfight with Margaret Wycherly, better known as James Cagney's Maaa from White Heat (1949).

The disappointing part of the movie is the actual ending. In fact this is what the movie really lacks, a big climax, a big ending. It just sort of fizzles out, abruptly, with a corny religious quotes forced by the Code and Catholic Legion of Decency, of course....

 

[ClassyCo]

I've had FOREVER AMBER on my laptop for quite some time, but I've yet to take the time to watch it. I know it's a long movie, and I honestly just don't really have the patience (at least all the time) for long movies as much as I used to.

FOREVER AMBER is what Linda Darnell hoped would finally bring her prestige and push into the forefront as Fox's premier leading lady. She spent almost a decade as the ingenue opposite heartthrobs like Tyrone Power, but she was craving a stronger role to sink her teeth into and unleash her skills. She was disheartened when Fox cast Peggy Cummins, but elated when she was removed and she was phoned in to save FOREVER AMBER for languishing in development hell.

Turns out, though, the censors butchered the script for FOREVER AMBER. Most of the bawdy material was removed from the story, and a religious influence was laced over to appease the censorship bureau. The film went over-budget, which rendered it being only a moderate box office success. The critics basically bashed it, and the movie's mixed reception hindered Darnell's chances at mainstream prestige.

Still, she managed to wrangle some strong work even after FOREVER AMBER failed to live up to its hype. She played in Mankiewicz's A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949), and in the gritty noir NO WAY OUT (1950).

Linda Darnell is just another of Hollywood's misguided and misused beauties. Tragic, talented, but sadly wasted for the most part.

 

[ClassyCo]

Linda Darnell was just 15-years-old when she played wife on-screen to 25-year-old Tyrone Power in DAY-TIME WIFE (1939), which I just watched on YouTube this morning. Running just over an hour, there really isn't very much to the story. Basically, young bride Jane Norton (Darnell) suspects her husband Ken (Power) is having an affair with his secretary. In an attempt to seek her revenge, Jane goes to work as a secretary for the womanizing Bernard Dexter (Warren William) without realizing that he and her husband are business colleagues.

Wikipedia lists the movie as a "screwball comedy", but I don't think it necessarily fits that description. Personally, I just found the movie mildly amusing with some decent performances, and a handful of moments that generated a chuckle. I've liked Linda Darnell for a long time, so it was interesting to see her here in what was her second movie, while Tyrone Power and Warren William are always enjoyable on-screen. Binnie Barnes plays Darnell's multi-divorced friend, a young Joan Davis plays William's other secretary, and Wendy Barrie plays Power's secretary.

It was an okayish movie, a decent way to pass an hour, but there just isn't much here. You're definitely not missing anything by not seeing it.