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The question to define what type of movie ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers’ (1946) is, be it romance, melodrama, thriller, woman picture, anti-woman picture, noir, murder mystery, class struggle, or even a satire on American small towns, is valid. In this case, it seems like the love of Martha Ivers is quite strange. \n\nMartha Ivers is a young girl running away from her rich aunt who is controlling the town of Iverstown. With the young Martha is Sam Masterson, a wild boy with a crush on her and wants to impress her by bringing her food. The audience realizes that Martha Ivers does not bring sweetness and light as she expected Sam to steal the food rather than buy it. Sam is going to have to be careful.
A different child, Walter O’Neil, notifies the police of Martha and Sam’s location, leading to her rescue and return home to face her aunt. Walter is also in love with Martha and Walter’s father has an eye on her aunt, or, more appropriately, her wealth. But when Martha savagely kills her aunt (SEE! I told you she was bad news!), a cover story is swiftly constructed to mask her guilt and once this alibi is set, Walter’s father takes Martha under his wing with no intentions of letting her money go.
In the meantime, Sam has run off to join the circus and then the army. He now returns to Iverstown as a mature Van Heflin. He learns that Walter, played by Kirk Douglas, is the town’s D.A. and married to Martha, portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck, who is the town’s matriarch. Sam is a decorated war veteran and drinker, and a gambler. Though life has been hard on him, he is a good person at heart. Perhaps it is this goodness that attracts troubled Toni Lizabeth Scott to Sam. Currently, she is on the run skipping bail and when she gets arrested for breaching her parole, Sam decides to reach out to his old buddy. Local D.A. Walter is in a position to help.
But for Walter, who now identifies as an alcoholic, Sam’s intentions are not clear. Does Sam intend to blackmail him by revealing some information from their shared history? Or is Walter just another victim of paranoia, a byproduct of alcoholism, a dysfunctional marriage, and years of hiding a shameful reality? And exactly how far will these influential individuals go to protect their terrible truths? Watch ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers’ to find out!
Phew, that’s a lot and that’s only the basic set-up for everything that follows, and what follows is a thorough exploration of the effects of excess of power, violence, wealth, and the subsequent denial. The film may not be a thriller in the fullest sense of the word, but Iverstown has a permenant ambience of danger, and one of the things the film succeeds in pulling off is letting it stem from differing powers.
The division of such an inherently American force is terrifying, but not as much as the combination of suspense and action. Walter is the D.A., yet manages to be a weak, alcoholic who doesn’t mind physically hurting innocent people with the power of his office. Martha is nothing short of poison and controls Iverstown like it is her personal fiefdom. Whether good or bad, this couple encapsulate the essence of everything great about America, most specifically in politics and capitalism. However, the combination they make is astonishing to say the least, and the treatment given out in this place is as cruel as the physical abuse handed out in an ominous alley.
Without a doubt, our sympathies are indeed with Sam. There’s no denying that his life choices are a bit on the unsavory side, but at least he tries to live morally. It is also clear that this film was directed towards soldiers that had already come back from war because it helps heal their guilt and pain at having been turned into murderers through combat. But there’s a difference between merely fighting for one’s country and mindlessly killing an innocent person. It does seem that the society these men were away fighting for is capable of such savage monstrosities, just like the ones that happen on the battlefront. It is a very fascinating study of violence and power in America.
To these ingredients, one should add an edgy and witty script dealing with all these issues (and including infidelity and underage sexual relations for good measure), incredible costumes by Edith Heas, robust score by Miklós Rózsa, and confident directing by Lewis Milestone, and ‘The Strange Love of Martha Ivers’ greatly enhances the unusual drama of its period. In that aspect, it lives more than fully to its name.
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