Best acting from all four leads
Never saw Ginger Rogers, Doris Day, Ronald Reagan & Steve Cochran act better than in this movie. I think they must have all really liked the script & director.
shareSaw this movie for the first time on TCM today and was fascinated with the good acting, and given it was 1951, the controversial subject matter portrayed. We can't evaluate through our 21st Century sensibilities, i.e. not showing the overt racism of KKK. The KKK targeted Catholics and Jews, which was portrayed in the movie, and the strict movie codes of the day would likely have kyboshed portraying undisguised racism of the Klan anyway.
I can't agree with the 'this is rip-off of Streetcar' crowd. Other than the white t-shirt wardrobe of the knuckle-dragging husband character, and the 'less glamorous' pregnant sister, the storyline does not mirror a lot of plotline of Streetcar. For example, Ginger Rogers portrays a strong female character (not the mentally disturbed Blanche) and clearly is NOT attempting to come between her sister and her sister's husband. Impressive non-musical acting role for Doris Day, portraying a character somewhat meek or misguided most of the movie, and finally shows some backbone at the end. Pleasantly surprised at the depth and scope for the time period.