The Bigamist (1953) User Reviews

How one man came to have two wives

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 12 September 2019]

This film is centred on freezer salesman Harry Graham. He and his wife, Eve, are hoping to adopt a baby. Before this can be done adoption agent Mr Jordon must do a background check on each of them. His checks take him to Los Angeles where Harry spends much of his time. Here he meets Harry again and makes a shocking discovery... he has another wife, Phyllis, and a baby son. He is horrified but listens as Harry tells the story of how he came to meet, fall in love with, and finally marry Phyllis.

I found this to be an interesting film; it certainly wasn't the sort of topic I expected to be explored in a film of this era... especially given its sympathetic portrayal of Harry. While he is clearly misleading the two women the way his second relationship starts feels almost accidental and more than once he plans to do the 'right thing' but then something happens to stop him. Edmond O'Brien does an impressive job as Harry and gets fine support from Joan Fontaine and Ida Lupino as Eve and Phyllis. Ida Lupino also does an impressive directing job at a time when women directors were incredibly rare. The story is told in a way that makes it easy to believe Harry's behaviour and the fact that he got away with it for so long. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of older films looking for something rather different.

Ida Lupino was Outstanding

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 28 June 2007]

Always enjoy a film in which Ida Lupino directs and stars in the same film. This story has a twisted tale about a guy named Harry Graham, (Edmond O'Brien) who is married to a very successful woman, Eve Graham, (Joan Fontaine), who devotes her entire life to her business along with her husband who is a traveling salesman for their company. When Eve found out she could not have any children, she unknowingly neglected her husband and they went their separate ways, only seeing each other maybe once or twice a month. Harry meets up with a young woman, Phyllis Martin, ( Ida Lupino ) on a tour bus in Los Angeles and they both get interested in each other. One day, out of the blue Eve Graham asks Harry if he would like to adopt a child and so they engage the help of Mr. Jordan, (Edmund Gwenn) who works for a child adoption agency. Mr. Jordan explains that he will have to investigate both of their backgrounds and Mr. Jordan begins to have his doubts about Harry. It is at this point in the film when it gets very interesting. This is truly a great 1953 film Classic; I was surprised to learn that Joan Fontaine and Ida Lupino were both married to Collier Young who wrote the screenplay for this film.

Lupino-directed not-quite-weeper betrays archaic attitudes

[bmacv · 7/10 · 26 May 2002]

Selling deep-freezes has been very good for west coast salesman Edmond O'Brien. He maintains a posh apartment in San Francisco and a bungalow in Los Angeles, both equipped with all the appurtenances of post-war prosperity, including a wife in each. In the city by the bay, Joan Fontaine serves as his helpmate not only at home but at work, where she serves as his executive secretary. But those long trips south can get lonely, and one afternoon, killing time on a tour bus, he flirts with Ida Lupino. Next thing, she's pregnant and married to him, too.

He might have gotten away with living his bigamous life but for the fact that he and the barren Fontaine decide to adopt a child. Enter Edmund Gwenn, an investigator for the adoption agency. No flies on Gwenn: He delves into O'Brien's background as if he were vetting him for Secretary of Defense. Caught in his two acts, O'Brien divulges his sad saga, in flashback, to the fascinated Gwenn.

Directed by Lupino, The Bigamist looks like it's going to turn into a weeper but doesn't quite make it. For one thing, odd touches crop up. The San Francisco high-rise is decorated in chic Chinoiserie, while in Los Angeles, Lupino slings chop suey in a dump called the Canton Café. Then, on the tour of Beverly Hills mansions, the driver points out the homes of movie stars; among them is Edmund Gwenn's. Meant as a light in-joke, it ends up as a distancing ploy when O'Brien and Lupino start chatting about Miracle on 34th Street.

But, closer to the bone, The Bigamist treats O'Brien with lavish sympathy. To be sure, there are the ritualistic mentions of `the moral laws we all live by' and the like, but on the whole he's portrayed as a victim of circumstance. For every victim, however, there's usually a villain. In this case, the finger wags at Fontaine, who can't bear a child and who takes her husband's work more seriously than she takes his ego.

Much is made, justifiably, of Lupino's bucking the male-dominated system by daring to direct movies. Yet The Bigamist demonstrates how hard it must have been to buck the social outlook of America in the early Eisenhower era.

Gossipy note: Writer/producer of The Bigamist was Collier Young, Lupino's second husband. They divorced in 1951, two years before they collaborated on this movie. She went on to marry Howard Duff; he to wed none other than Joan Fontaine. It must have made for an interesting production.

Interesting Drama With Some Thoughtful Moments

[Snow Leopard · 7 December 2005]

An interesting drama with some thoughtful moments, "The Bigamist" succeeds in offering a sympathetic look at everyone involved in an emotionally trying situation, and in maintaining drama and tension for the entire running time. Ida Lupino does a good job both in acting and in directing, playing one of the key characters while telling the story in a careful fashion that does not oversimplify the issues involved.

As the three main characters, Lupino, Edmond O'Brien, and Joan Fontaine all give believable and effective performances. All of them make their share of mistakes, and yet all three characters are worth caring for, and their mistakes are understandable ones. The double-life situation and its consequences for all concerned is set up so as to go against some of the usual preconceptions. O'Brien's character is lonely, but by no means ill-intentioned, and the situation is sad, never sordid.

The tone is somber almost from the beginning, and except for a couple of amusing references to Edmund Gwenn's earlier role in "Miracle on 34th Street", there are few or no moments of humor to break the tension. Thus you can feel the unending sense of foreboding that O'Brien's character feels in regard to the complications he has caused.

Lupino and the script also manage to provide an honest look at the situation with few hindrances from the strict production code of the era. Only at a couple of odd moments can you tell that they had to shift gears slightly so as to placate the censors. Although the movie is low-key and straightforward, it's a commendable effort, and it makes for good drama.

Sad and quietly honest film-making..the three central actors give lessons in the art of restrained, subtle performance

[jem132 · 7/10 · 31 October 2008]

Ida Lupino directed and starred in this haunting 1953 film "The Bigamist". Lupino, a rare female director working in the 1950's made a number of cheaply budgeted, but highly interesting films in that era. The plot of "The Bigamist" is probably the most intriguing of them all- but Lupino doesn't let the sensational subject matter slide into pure melodrama. This is a sad, quiet and painfully honest look at the lives of the three central characters and the tragic situation they find themselves in.

Joan Fontaine gives the film's best performance as Eve, who is married to Harry (Edmond O'Brien) and can't conceive a child. So she turns her energies into trying to become the perfect wife and business partner to O'Brien. Fontaine's portrait of a woman, outwardly confident, but desperate for approval and the "completeness" of motherhood, is subtle and highly affecting. Lupino is almost equally good as Phyllis, the woman lonely O'Brien, working in a city away from Fontaine, turns to ad falls in love with. In a way, Phyllis is very similar to Eve. Both of them seem to not need anyone, but inwardly there is a huge gap in their lives. Phyllis becomes pregnant with a child, and to protect her, Harry marries her.

This sad tale is told is flashback to adoption agency head Edmund Gwenn, who, at the beginning, sense's Harry's deception of the desperate Eve. I haven't mentioned O'Brien much yet, so I will now. While we are drawn to sympathise and connect more with the two women involved, O'Brien's character is hardly a villain. In the affecting courtroom scene, where looks say a thousand words, we are asked to question our own morals. Harry cheated on his wife, yes, but he actually married Phyllis, instead of abandoning her and the child. It is a terribly complex situation, and as the judge says, the result result is nothing compared to the damning effect on all their lives.

very strange, but good, by gum!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 February 2006]

This is one of the strangest films I have ever seen coming from Hollywood in the 1950s. It is a very engaging film about Edmond O'Brien and his double-life. He is married to Joan Fontaine and loves her, but there marriage is very distant--both emotionally and because O'Brien is on the road so much as a traveling salesman. Eventually, he is driven by loneliness to another woman in another town. Over and over, he vows to break it off but eventually this other woman becomes pregnant and he just can bring himself to either leave her or his wife! The movie is shown through flashbacks. And, despite the sensational plot, the movie is actually done very sedately and avoids sensationalism. Instead, it tries to portray O'Brien in a pretty sympathetic light--while not excusing his actions. And, by doing so, the movie really gets you thinking. An excellent job of acting by all, but the star of this picture is Ida Lupino who plays the second wife and so deftly directed this little film. It's well worth a watch.

PS--one very cute little inside joke was when O'Brien and Lupino were on a bus going past homes of the stars. Among the many stars' homes that were pointed out by the tour guide was that of Edmund Gwenn--who actually plays a major role in the film as an adoption agency investigator!

A family affair of sorts

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 30 May 2008]

Ida Lupino directs and costars in "The Bigamist," a 1953 film starring Edmond O'Brien, Joan Fontaine and Edmund Gwenn, as well as Lupino. O'Brien and Fontaine play a married San Francisco couple, Harry and Eve Graham, who are unable to have children and are planning to adopt. Eve is a very successful businesswoman; Harry is a traveling salesman with a big territory in Los Angeles. Harry becomes quite nervous when he realizes that a thorough background check must be done before the adoption can take place. Mr. Jordan (Gwenn), who works for the adoption agency, knows something is wrong but can't quite put his finger on it. Eventually he finds out - Harry Graham is Harrison Graham in Los Angeles, and there he has another wife (Lupino) and a new baby. Harry tells Jordan the whole story of meeting Eve (Lupino) in Los Angeles, drifting into an affair with her, learning she was pregnant and being unable to abandon her.

Well directed by Lupino, the film pushes the sympathy toward Harry and his dilemma and keeps a good pace and interest throughout. Fontaine was no longer a big movie star, having passed the magic age of 30 several years before, and she can be seen often in these black and white B movies of the '50s. She does a good job and looks quite glamorous, but Lupino's role is the showier one. Edmond O'Brien does an excellent job as the beleaguered Harry.

This film truly was a family affair - this screenplay about a man with two wives was written by Collier Young, the ex-husband of Lupino and, at that time, the current husband of Fontaine; and Fontaine's mother, Lillian Fontaine, plays Lupino's landlady. Worth seeing, if only to wonder what went on during the filming.

Who Do You Love?

[Bucs1960 · 6/10 · 26 June 2007]

Ida Lupino was a tough little dame, both on the screen, behind the camera and apparently in real life. The daughter of British music hall star Stanley Lupino and niece of Lupino Lane also in the Halls, she was a trouper from day one and specialized in playing hard-boiled, world-weary women. Here, she is directing and co-starring in a tight little film about a man who gets himself in hot water with two wives, one baby and an adoption agency investigator who looks like Santa Claus(!).

Edmond O'Brien, the everyman of film, portrays the bigamist of the title, who just can't seem to help himself.....so he helps himself to both Lupino and Joan Fontaine. All goes well for a while but circumstances catch up with him and then it hits the fan. The ending leaves the unanswered question, "Who do you love?", and leaves the viewer wondering which one will take him back. My money is on Lupino.

Joan Fontaine plays the rather elegant business woman "first" wife in her usual cool and detached manner. She was coming off of a glorious career but was starting the descent that was inevitable for female stars of the 1940s. O'Brien does a yeoman's job as the man with the wedding bell blues and Edmund Gwenn, the real Santa Claus of 34th Street, is a little less jolly as the investigator. Jane Darwell, a staple of the 30s and 40s, has a bit part as the cleaning lady.

Lupino was directing Fontaine, who was the wife of her ex-husband Collier Young, who was the producer. Got that? All they needed was Howard Duff, Lupino's next husband to pop up as a detective!....or maybe Brian Aherne, Fontaine's former husband, to be the judge. All that aside, this is not a bad film and it did receive some good reviews when released. It's worth a watch.

Directed in an understated and thoughtful way by Ida Lupino

[kidboots · 7/10 · 15 October 2008]

Ida Lupino had an amazing life, starting out as a chorus cutie to giving some of the most dramatic performances of her time. In the late 1940s, early 1950s, she turned her hand to directing and tackled subject matter that was both shocking and topical - "Outrage" dealt with rape, "Hard, Fast and Beautiful" (1951) was about a pushy parent on the tennis circuit. "The Bigamist", despite its subject matter, was not at all sensationally handled and was a fine film.

Harry (Edmond O'Brien) and Eve (Joan Fontaine) are first seen having an interview with Mr. Jordan (Edmond Gwen) from the adoption agency. They are both keen to adopt but when Harry has to provide personal details, he is clearly uncomfortable. Mr Jordan starts investigating him and finds he is leading a double life. Harry has another wife Phyliss (Ida Lupino) - he also has a baby boy.

He and Eve had been drifting apart. After finding she couldn't have children she concentrated on building up their business and Harry felt unwanted. He meets Phyliss on a bus tour of movie stars' homes and they start to see each other every time he is in Los Angeles. When he finds out Phyliss is having a baby, he has to decide whether to be a man, get a divorce and stand by her - he decides to be a mouse, not confront Eve and marry Phyliss while he is still married to Eve!!! Eve surprises him with a visit to his Los Angeles office and while out with her is seen by a neighbour, who wastes no time in telling Phyliss.

Things come to a head in a court case, where the judge amazingly is very sympathetic to all parties concerned. He says something like "it is not which woman you want, but which woman will want you"!!!

Joan Fontaine is good, playing what she did best - a brittle woman who yearns for sympathy. Ida Lupino comes across as the most likable of the trio. You get the feeling she will end up with him at the end. Even though Edmond O'Brien gets sympathetic treatment as Harry - he is so stern and wooden, it is hard to believe he could charm any woman.

Recommended.

Intelligent, Compassionate, Romantic Drama

[ZenVortex · 9/10 · 13 January 2009]

Ida Lupino sparkles as the director and star of this deeply moving romantic drama. The subject of bigamy is unusual for a Hollywood movie of that era and is handled in an intelligent, compassionate way.

Edmond O'Brien convincingly portrays a traveling salesman in love with two women -- his cute, barren, career-minded pre-feminist wife (Joan Fontaine) and a lonely, stunningly beautiful waitress (Lupino) -- neither of whom know of the other's existence.

The direction is excellent and elicits beautifully nuanced performances from the entire cast. O'Brien is portrayed as a decent human being who becomes entangled in a romantic triangle and tries to find a viable solution for everyone. Unfortunately, his well-intentioned plan to be a loving husband to both women comes unstuck when a nit-picking adoption investigator (Edmund Gwenn) probes too deeply.

Although not classic film noir, there is some sharp, insightful dialog. For example, the courtroom scene effectively challenges traditional American values when the judge sympathetically remarks: "If you had simply taken her as your mistress instead of marrying her, you would not be here now."

This is a well-crafted and provocative movie that showcases Lupino's considerable talent as an actress, director, and student of human nature. Ida Lupino was an extraordinary woman, years ahead of her time. Enjoy.

Worse than that, you've been unfaithful - you're going to be a father. How can you hurt someone so much?

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 29 July 2012]

The Bigamist is directed by Ida Lupino and adapted to screenplay by Collier Young from a story by Larry Marcus and Lou Schor. It stars Lupino herself with Edmund O'Brien, Joan Fontaine, Edmund Gwenn and Kenneth Tobey. Music is scored by Leith Stevens and cinematography by George Diskant.

Harry Graham (O'Brien) tells adoption agency inspector Mr. Jordan (Gwenn) how he came to have two wives. One in Los Angeles (Lupino), the other in San Francisco (Fontaine).

Initially released as part a double bill with Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker, The Bigamist is the lesser known film and the lesser thought of picture at that. Where The Hitch-Hiker is a more aggressive and claustrophobic noir picture, The Bigamist is more a Sirkian melodrama with noir touches. What transpires in the gifted hands of noir darling Lupino is a film examining a complex male protagonist, a guy suffering desperately from loneliness and alienation, his only moments of happiness comes in the arms of two women. If this sounds like Lupino is taking a sympathetic approach to Harry Graham? Then yes that is true, but he is portrayed as being morally ambiguous and weak, with the deft insertion of fate's deadly hand into the story as Harry tries on occasions to do the legal and right thing.

"I can't figure out my feelings towards you, I despise you, and I pity you. I don't even want to shake your hand, and yet I almost wish you luck." Once the story reaches the pinnacle, female parties are left dislocated, hurt and confused about their emotions, Harry is crushed, and we believe his pain because he is not a selfish bastard. Some of the most telling passages of dialogue come from other men, Gwenn's agency inspector and the Judge (John Maxwell) presiding over the court case, these helping to not stereotype the Graham character. The finale also refuses to take an easy way out, it's left deliberately ambiguous, the final shot open ended. Shot at real L.A. and Frisco locations, film has some nice visual touches. Harry in shadowy hotel rooms, his lonely walks down town, while venetian blinds feature and a shadowed bathed staircase banister showcases the talents of Diskant (On Dangerous Ground/The Narrow Margin/Kansas City Confidential). It's not an overtly film noir picture visually, but there are snatches in the mix. Cast are bang on form, with O'Brien particularly impressive when portraying conflicted emotions.

It's not perfect, strong characters the lead trio may be, but they are all so nice, there's no edge there. There's an inside joke that comes off as flat and misplaced, while Stevens' score is often intrusive in desperately trying to set up emotional impact. But these are small complaints that don't stop the picture's great strengths from storming through to hold the attention. It's an interesting picture, a cautionary tale choosing to analyse rather than point the finger. It deserves to be more well known these days and certainly shouldn't be viewed as an apology for Bigamy. 7.5/10

Well done, Ida!

[wisewebwoman · 8/10 · 13 September 2009]

Ida Lupino, the trail blazing female director, both stars and directs in this extraordinary 1953 film "The Bigamist".

Ms. Lupino made interesting films and tackled some difficult subject matter. This being one of them, the plot conveyed in the title. However, Ms. Lupino, brings sympathy and understanding to all 3 main characters, herself playing Phyllis, Joan Fontaine playing Eve, the barren wife and the travelling tortured salesman played by Edmond O'Brien. Twee in-jokes aside and a few groan-worthy melodramatic moments, the film has aged well.

Eve plays the business woman extremely well. Everything starts to turn on its head when she decides she does want a child after all and they proceed with the adoption process.

Lupino plays the tough farm girl, working at menial jobs in the city and all too ready to have a romance. Her vulnerability is beautifully portrayed. Her pregnancy is handled with subtlety.

Edmund Gwenn plays the adoption agency investigator and does an admirable job.

The climax comes in the courtroom scene and this is where some melodrama comes into play but it does not affect the restraint shown by the director in letting the audience decide the moral outcome.

8 out of 10. Recommended.

Modern psychological viewpoints mixed with some old fashioned ideas

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 23 June 2012]

This film is unique among production code era dramas in that everyone is painted in shades of gray. It is not unique among production code dramas in that it displays some very old fashioned ideas, primarily that a woman will go somewhat bonkers if she finds out she cannot have children, and a symptom of a married woman gone bonkers is for her to take a deep interest in big business.

In this film Eve Graham (Joan Fontaine) discovers about six years into her marriage to Harry Graham (Edmond OBrien) that she cannot have children. As a result she plunges herself into her husband's business and is always telling him that she trusts him completely while he is on the road in Los Angeles - something Harry actually takes as a bit of a rebuke. While on one of his many long business trips in L.A. Harry meets waitress Phyllis Martin (Ida Lupino). Harry intends just to keep it friendly between the two of them, but on the road and alone on his birthday things go too far and Phyllis becomes pregnant as a result. Phyllis is alone in the world, and having a rather difficult pregnancy, so Harry feels needed by her. He decides to call Eve, make a clean breast of it, and ask for a divorce so he can marry Phyllis. Unfortunately, the recent death of Eve's father has shocked her out of big business mode and the conversation Harry was going to have with Eve that was going to end it between them winds up being a conversation about adoption. So his new plan is this - marry Phyllis - who does not know Harry is already married - and stay married to Eve long enough for the adoption to go through because he doesn't want to leave Eve with nothing.

The film paints Harry as a sympathetic albeit a somewhat weak character. He is torn between the sweetheart of his youth and the mother of his child, who, unfortunately, are two different people. In more simplistic directorial production code era hands Phyllis would have conveniently died in childbirth after producing Harry the son he always wanted, Harry would have confessed all to Eve who would have forgiven him, and the two would have lived happily ever after raising Harry's biological child. In this film things don't work out that tidily and how Harry, society - and the wives for that matter -handle this situation and its complete resolution are left somewhat up in the air.

This film is feminist?

[david-schildkret-1 · 5/10 · 30 May 2009]

I find it odd to see "The Bigamist" described as a feminist film in a number of online reviews, including a couple here on IMDb. In my view, it is anything but.

As some other reviewers have noted, the hapless Harry (played by Edmond O'Brien) is treated somewhat sympathetically. He's hangdog, he's lonely, and he just wants a little attention from his careerist wife.

Everything that happens in "The Bigamist" stems, it seems, from the failures of Harry's first wife--called, significantly enough, Eve, the first woman, from whom original sin and all the woes of humanity flow, in the common view. This Eve leads her man to the sin of adultery.

Not only is Eve unfailingly careerist, she's infertile to boot. We're to understand that it's her insufficiency as a woman that drives Harry to infidelity. That hardly seems feminist to me.

I realize that this argument applies a current standard to a work from a half-century ago, but calling it feminist would be making the same kind of judgment. Lupino was certainly a path breaker as one of the first women to direct films in Hollywood. And it's typical of the times that she made "women's pictures"--films whose stories would address women's concerns.

But to call this film feminist--with its cold and ultimately condemning portrayal of a successful (and infertile) woman--seems really to miss the point. The film affirms everything about the role that women were expected to adopt after World War II. No longer working on assembly lines as Rosie the Riveter, women were expected to step aside in the workplace to make room for returning veterans. Women had a job to do: to make happy homes for their husbands. When Eve fails to take her rightful place, the most terrible of consequences ensue.

I find this a fairly typical film of the 1950s, affirming in a rather sordid and unappealing way the mores of the time. Harry is a far from likable character, and the women are hardly better. Lupino is the most interesting, because she shows a bit of spunk. Fontaine's character vacillates between hard-bitten businesswoman and expectant mother who goes all girlie at the sight of a mechanical soldier. (Really? A mechanical SOLDIER???) This is not a feminist film.

I despise you but I pity you!

[dbdumonteil · 21 October 2006]

Ida Lupino was one the few women who dared to direct a movie: at the time it was almost unknown.There's another example in France (no,it's not Agnes Varda): Jacqueline Audry ,who,like Lupino ,was filming woman's subjects during the forties and the fifties.

Lupino made only six films but all of them are interesting ;four deal with woman's condition: this one, "Outrage" (story of a rape) ,"Hard Fast and Beautiful" (story of a Steffi Graf of the fifties)"never fear " (story of a ballerina who suffers from polio).Her best film ,however,remains "the hitch hiker" which was not really Lupinesque but was an excellent suspense story which is to be recommended.The last one was "trouble with angels". "The bigamist" is an interesting effort: although overtly feminist,Lupino has pity on his male character .When the judge speaks ,he is probably Lupino's spokesperson:"should this man have taken a mistress,he would not have had such problems ;but he did give his name to his child."Several feminist concerns appear in the movie: Fontaine's character cannot have a child,so she works very hard ,she is a businesswoman ,which in melodramas leads the heroine to lose the man she loves .Lupino's work is not really melodrama:it could happen (and is still happening today);her treatment is classic as she uses the flashback all along her film.

When he goes out of jail,he will not choose the woman he'll live with.It will be up to both of them....(the women).

Pretty good little movie.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 12 December 2009]

Considering its resources and it's rather small budget, this is a pretty good movie, from director/actress Ida Lupino. It was made without the backing of any big studios but yet it starred some capable and big name actors in it, no doubt thanks to Lupino's connections in Hollywood.

Ida Lupino was quite a big name actress at the time, thanks to roles she played in "High Sierra", "They Drive by Night" and "The Sea Wolf", among others. But due to her age good acting roles were becoming more hard and hard to get by. She then decided to do a not so common thing for a female at the time; she decided to direct and also write movies on her own. Not that she ever became much successful with it though but that seems hardly her fault. There were simply no big studios or producers at the time who dared to back a female director up at time, despite of her good reputation as an established actress. Therefor she got mostly stuck to directing low budget films that never got big releases. This is a real shame, since she definitely had some directing qualities and knew how to bring a good story to the screen.

Perhaps with this movie Lupino also tried to make a social statement and address the issue of bigamy, which supposedly was happening on quite a large scale at the time but was of course not much talked about. So seems to me that this movie was handling a quite delicate matter, though the movie doesn't ever try to make a big issue out of it, or try to be preachy about it.

You don't really know whether you should hate or care for this man and the situation that he got into, as the Edmund Gwenn character also says in the movie. You don't like him at first or what he is doing but yet you can also grow some understanding for him and hope things will work out for the good of him in the long run.

It's pretty obvious that this movie was low budget, especially when you compare it to the other stuff that got done in 1953. It has a simplistic and cheap look over it but the movie sort of overcomes this all, thanks to its good story and the overall handling of it, by the director and actor.

This movie has quite some big names in it, next to Ida Lupino herself of course. Edmond O'Brien plays the real main and not so grateful role of the movie. He does handle his character and manages to be unlikeable in the beginning but likely toward the end. Joan Fontaine also stars, as does her mother Lillian Fontaine, in a much smaller role.

Definitely a good movie, also especially when consider its limited resources and the fact that a female directed it, in a time when this wasn't really socially accepted in Hollywood.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Film Review - The Bigamist (1953) 7.0/10

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 13 October 2020]

"THE BIGAMIST is a moral conundrum, San Franciscan couple Harry Graham (O'Brien) and Eve's (Fontaine) conjugal harmony begins to crumble after they they find out Eve is infertile, turning her disappointment into business-driving entrepreneurship, Eve distances both emotionally and physically from Harry, who feels excruciatingly lonesome when on his business days in L.A, where he meets Phyllis Martin (Lupino), a waitress he finds rather sympathetic."

read my full review on my blog: cinema omnivore, thanks

Very well done film, but with too many loose ends at the end

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 7 August 2013]

I have to give director Ida Lupino quite bit of credit for the way in which she handled what some directors might have made very sensationalistic. Instead, she directs this with restraint, seemingly saying that normal people do things that are not necessarily accepted...it just happens.

The cast does a fine job here. Edmond O'Brien comes across as a sort of "every man", as the traveling salesman who has 2 wives. Joan Fontaine is wife #1, and she and O'Brien are trying to adopt a child. Along comes Edmund Gwenn, as the head of the adoption agency, who has a hunch something is wrong, and discovers the bigamy. Gwenn had the ability to play both heavies and beloved figures...here, it's sort of in-between as he refuses to make another mistake in assigning a child; he's very good here, as he discovers wife #2 -- Ida Lupino, who seems very real and likable, despite the situation. The wonderful Jane Darwell has a minor part as a custodian. Interstingly, Lillian Fontaine -- mother of Joan Fontaine and Olivia DeHavilland -- has a small part as the owner of a boarding house.

Ida Lupino, who directed, certainly did have a subtle sense of humor. Early on in the film, Joan Fontaine referred to Edmund Gwenn's character as seeming like Santa Claus (and as you may remember, he indeed did play Santa Claus in "Miracle On 34th Street" six years earlier. And during the bus tour, they show the houses of (among others) Jack Benny, Jimmy Stewart...and Edmund Gwenn! A negative about this film probably has to do with...well, the negative. This film was produced by the production company that Ida Lupino and her husband (Collier Young) formed. Their budgets were thin, but the topics dealt with popular social issues. Lupino herself directed all 6 films made by The Filmmakers company. The films were distributed by RKO. The company folded after this film. The print used on TCM for this (and several of the other The Filmmakers films) is not in particularly good condition. I imagine that is because the negatives/prints were not kept to the higher standards of the large studios. It's not uncomfortable to watch, but in some spots the quality of the negative is a little distracting.

I wasn't totally pleased with the ending of the film. What happens to each of them...particularly the women...and children. And who does he come back to after prison? If anyone. Too many loose ends to be totally satisfying, but nevertheless, a well done film.

A DUAL LIFE...

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 9 July 2020]

Ida Lupino's 1953 effort about a man, played Edmond O'Brien, who wants to have it both ways, when it comes to wives. O'Brien, a salesperson, is seemingly in a happy marriage to Joan Fontaine, who runs a freezer business but after some time on the road it starts to get to him where we see he walks around whatever city he happens to be in aimlessly & dejected, even to the point when he's in Los Angeles he decides on a whim to take a celebrity tour bus of their homes where he meets a woman, played by Lupino, sleeping near the front of the bus. Amused, he strikes up a conversation w/her & they find they're both simpatico w/each other so while at home he puts on a brave face to his predicament, living not his best life, but whenever he's in town w/Lupino, he comes out of his shell & they both revel in the fact they've found their soulmates. The crux however becomes that pesky marriage he's already a part of but when Lupino disappears for a bit (she's quit her job, left her old boarding house), O'Brien tracks her down to find she's pregnant which spurs O'Brien to become the titular man of the hour. Treating subject matter which when this film was made was probably royally taboo (but now is an ongoing series on cable TV) is surprisingly very even handed & humane, despite the eyebrow raising subject matter. O'Brien acquits himself in his usual 'matter of fact' performance w/the lovely ladies fully fledged & committed to their circumstances. Co-starring Edmund Gwenn (which this film keeps alluding to Miracle on 34th Street which he won a Best Actor Oscar for) as a adoption rep (Fontaine wants to adopt & uses his services) & Kenneth Tobey as one of O'Brien's fellow salesman.

Great Direction of a Sensitive Subject - The Bigamist

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 19 May 2021]

Ida Lupino could do it all; act, direct and produce. And she did it with style. Howard Duff (her real life husband) was a lucky man. There were a half dozen ways this film could have gone into the crapper; but Lupino made sure she avoided all of them. The script is intelligent and sensitive; and the direction is letter-perfect. Choosing between Ida Lupino and Joan Fontaine is like choosing between a rich French dessert or yesterday's congealed leftover steak; very easy choice. But what the film really accomplishes is that life is just not in black and white; there are many gray areas. No pancake is so flat that it doesnt have two sides. I wish I could think of another hackneyed phrase or aphorism, but hwo is the best I can do. A highly recommended soap with an appropriate ending. In real life there is little immediate resolution. (oh no, I did come up with another hackneyed phrase).

Moving

[calvertfan · 9/10 · 24 March 2002]

A couple who have been married for 8 years, and can not have children, wish to adopt one. When going through the form-filling procedure, Mr. Graham pauses very noticeably at one form which allows the adoption agency to delve into their private lives and "check him out", if you will.

The reason for this pause is told in retrospect to the agent after it is found that he not only has another wife, but a son by her.

Joan Fontaine was the standout star from this film. Just watch her face in the final courtroom scene - her expression really speaks a thousand words.

A short film, but utterly compelling. If you get the chance to see it - do!

One Wife Too Many

[daoldiges · 6/10 · 30 December 2022]

The Bigamist is an interesting film for its time and I enjoyed and appreciated that it didn't judge or make anyone out to be the bad guy at any point in the film. Instead the director holds a camera to the actions and lets the audience to decide for themselves. I don't recall ever having seen O'Brien in anything previously but feel he does some nice work here. I've never liked Fontaine better, and Lupino is equally solid as both actor and the films director. There were a few parts where the script was a little weak, but overall it was mostly solid. I did find the end slightly unsatisfying, but despite its shortcomings it's still worth a viewing.

Lupino's best, a downbeat melodrama of loneliness worthy of Sirk

[OldAle1 · 9/10 · 8 April 2008]

Lupino's second 1953 directorial effort (her first was the nightmarish road-movie/film-noir "The Hitch-hiker") is at first glance an entirely different affair -- pun intended -- charting the investigation of San Francisco adoption agent Mr. Jordan (Edmund Gwenn) into the background of a childless couple who wish to become parents, Harry and Eve Graham (Joan Fontaine and Edmond O'Brien). For the first couple of reels, the investigation is the story, as Jordan discovers several rather suspicious items about the husband, a traveling salesman who makes quite regular trips to Los Angeles. Suspecting that all is not as it seems, Jordan eventually follows Graham to L.A. and discovers that he goes under a different name, and doesn't seem to register at any of the typical hotels. We know from the title what is going to happen, and sure enough when Jordan tracks Graham to a small house out in the suburbs, a baby cries, and Graham's big lie unravels....

Yes, Graham has another wife, Phyllis Martin (Ida Lupino), a waitress and the mother of his baby boy. He admits it all to Jordan, admits that he fell in love with Martin because she offered something that his career-woman wife and partner Eve could not -- real love, need, romance. Most of the rest of the film is a flashback, detailing the last year or so of Graham's life; probably the best part of the film lies in the next couple of reels, O'Brien showing real pathos as the lonely husband, the romantic and would-be lover whose marriage has become a business arrangement, wandering a large and unfriendly, alien city -- Lupino does a beautiful job of conveying the desolation and unfriendliness of Los Angeles -- and finally striking up a tentative friendship and would-be romance with a tart-mouthed waitress from Pennsylvania who's still dreaming of a better life. Eventually that friendship becomes a one-night stand on Graham's birthday that results in the unexpected, but not unwanted child, and when back in San Francisco Eve decides to finally look into adopting after 8 years of childlessness, Graham realizes that difficult choices are closing in, though he avoids them until caught.

What's most striking about The Bigamist to me is how it avoids taking an easy way out, avoids making any of the characters into villains or clichés, though Fontaine's Eve is a little scantily fleshed out and is probably the least likable character of the trio; the film really comes off as an indictment of the career and capitalist-based world, of the conflicts between money and real joy that we face in this society, and it nearly achieves mastery in its exploration of these themes through the great location work and fine acting (especially by O'Brien) -- until a weak and fairly slapdash moralizing courtroom ending which boils it down all too simply. Still, for the most part this is a beautifully worked out look at the challenges people face alone and together, and a bravely realistic portrait of a crime that was barely talked about in an era where even divorce was often taboo. Though I haven't yet seen all of her films, I suspect this is Lupino's best; and though stylistically it couldn't be more different, in theme and feeling it is rivaled in its era in American film only by Douglas Sirk. Kino VHS rental.

Wish I'd been her script advisor

[WSteG-iMac · 6/10 · 26 May 2018]

Ida Lupino, born into a British show business dynasty, was as convincing as any foreign player at passing for American in movies. What's more, she got to direct seven features, unheard of for a woman in the late 1940s and '50s. The Bigamist was the last of consequence; probably the best is The Hitch-hiker of 1953.

The major problem with the movie under review is its title. If we didn't know this fact about Edmond O'Brien until it transpired in the plot, we would have had a lot more to bite on. So the extended play between O'Brien and Lupino (as actress) loses tension because we already know how it will play out. What's more, most of the story is told in flashback, which means that there is other information we carry right through the movie that we would have found more nourishing to gain later. It cries out to be told chronologically, with the arrival of Edmund Gwenn postponed until much later. And indeed the opening sequence in Gwenn's office is directed over-emphatically by Lupino, pointing us towards concerns about O'Brien's character.

A small issue but one that diminishes the film concerns the coy remarks, occurring in two separate scenes, about Miracle on 34th Street and Gwenn's role in it. Indeed, that O'Brien and Lupino meet on a studio tour bus interrupts the sequence with name-dropping to no useful purpose.

But I want to end positively. The acting is first rate - Joan Fontaine is especially good in what could easily have become a thankless role - and the willingness to tackle difficult material (including out-of-wedlock pregnancy) is wholly admirable.

Strangely uninvolving, unsatisfying melodrama about a bigamist...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 26 June 2007]

IDA LUPINO may well have been one of our great dramatic actresses, but the feminist films she chose to direct in the '50s were not up to the standards of her best acting performances while under contract to Warner Bros. in the '40s in the films that established her as a star.

Nor are any of her co-stars seen at their best in this story of a man (EDMUND O'BRIEN) who keeps the secrets of his unscrupulous behavior (which gets sympathetic treatment here) from the women who love and marry him. The story is told from his viewpoint, as he recalls how he met a lonely woman (IDA LUPINO) and fell quickly in love with her while his marriage to JOAN FONTAINE was suffering from a lack of time spent together.

It's rather smoothly directed and acted by the cast, including KENNETH TOBEY as a lawyer friend who makes a courtroom plea for understanding O'Brien's situation. The presiding judge also passes comment that seems to suggest society is somewhat to blame for what happened.

Summing up: A strange film that really avoids taking a stand on the issues involved and leaves the viewer feeling as remote from the events on screen as O'Brien's attitude toward his loving wife, Fontaine.

Trivia note: Ida's landlady, Miss Higgins, is played by none other than Lilian Fontaine, mother of Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland.