Hilda Crane (1956) User Reviews

Too low-rated psychological period drama but...

[info-1405 · 7/10 · 1 June 2021]

I am surprised to read so many bad reviews of this movie on IMDd after having watched the restored version in glorious Technicolor and CinemaScope. Jean Simmons shines as usual and most of the secondary characters deliver a more than satisfying performance. Editing, cinematography and direction are fine.

So I agree with the former review untitled "Feverish melodrama, fifties malaise", except for one important point: I found the David Raksin score to be extremely annoying in the numerous intimate scenes with dialogue, undermining them with strings. It's not a matter of using dissonant music, rather a too old fashioned, and sirupy approach. Except for the opening titles and a few short dynamic passages, Raksin did a lousy job which actually deserves an otherwise very good film.

Hilda Crane-The 1950s Version of A Bimbo **1/2

[edwagreen · 5/10 · 13 June 2009]

Disappointing film starring Jean Simmons as a wayward woman who returns home following her second divorce and is immediately courted by wealthy Guy Madison and Professor Jean Pierre Aumont.

Aumont plays his usual cad like character here. He sees Hilda as merely a sex object with whom he can cavort with at any time in a back alley relationship.

There is an excellent performance by Evelyn Varden as Mrs. Burns, mother to Guy Madison here. A woman who has a supposed heart condition each time her son becomes serious with a woman, Varden gave a truly excellent performance as a common mother, ready to dig up any dirt she can on her prospective daughter-in-law. She is vicious to the hilt and will do anything to stop this marriage including dying on the day of the wedding.

The Hilda Crane character does not develop here. Wearing her mink coat and discussing her 2 failed previous marriages, we really don't know what is making this lady tick even when Madison finds in her a hotel with the professor and she attempts suicide.

The ending is absolutely too sugar coated. The loose ends are not tied up in an ending that Hallmark would stage.

"In case you don't know what 'cortisan' means, it's just a fancy word for 'tramp'!"

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 8 September 2009]

Woman in her late-twenties, twice married and twice divorced, leaves behind New York City for her small hometown, moving back in with her eternally-disappointed mother; immediately upon her arrival, she starts getting marriage proposals...unfortunately, the man she chooses to be Husband No. #3 is a mamma's boy. Glossy, fairly enjoyable soaper from the play by Samson Raphaelson, although we never quite get a grip on Jean Simmons' Hilda Crane, who is alternately haughty, overwrought, idealistic yet aloof (she wants her happily-ever-after, though she needs to be supported financially as well). Hilda's taste in men seems to be her biggest hurdle--perhaps in place of the tall, thin, men's catalogue type, she should try for one of the construction workers over at her fiancé's job site? These assembly-line Twentieth Century-Fox potboilers never seemed to work out that way, making "Hilda Crane" another predictable 'woman's picture' from the '50s, occasionally engaging but nothing special or memorable. **1/2 from ****

What exactly IS wrong with this woman?

[nutinpersonal · 7/10 · 9 July 2009]

I was as confused as the other two commenters about this woman and her frantic behavior and the reason behind it, until the part where she quoted Edna St. Vincent Millay. When I watched this movie I was in the middle of reading What Lips My Lips Have Kissed by Daniel Mark Epstein. A brilliant biography of Ms. Millay and also containing much of her poetry. I think Hilda was struggling with her feelings for men and women. I think she might have known which way she "swung", even before her two previous marriages. But in the '50's I think many women did the marriage, children, husband route even if they were denying their own sexuality. Now it is much, much different.

The Bride Wore Yellow

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 26 February 2024]

If there were a variant on the Bechdel Test that involved a film containing a scene in which two women are engaged in a conversion and one of them is incessantly talking about herself - and particularly about her feelings - 'Hilda Crane' would pass such a test with flying colours.

Despite both male leads being of the Alpha variety, the real action derives from the interaction of the women of the piece; especially the conflict between sweet Jean Simmons (suffering in the lap of luxury while draped in furs in the sort of role you'd normally expect to see Joan Crawford) and grotesque matriarch Evelyn Varden.

Crane your neck,Hilda.

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 29 August 2020]

Women dominate the movie : Jean Simmons, excellent as ever, as a woman who wants to live like a man at a time woman's lib had not yet happened ; her character is very modern : a racy past ,two failed marriages and yet,she comes back to her native town to latch onto one of the best matches :Russell ,a well-to-do guy ,still waiting for her . But this boy has an overpossessive mom, masterfully played by Evelyn Varden as the worst mother-in-law you can think of :doesn't she get as far as to compile a complete file about Hilda ,actions , doings ?

By comparison ,male acting is lackluster:Guy Madison was not suited for melodramas -action movies is his field- and French romantic male lead of the thirties in his native land Jean -Pierre Aumont is already too old for the part of a professor/novelist:maybe his slight accent could seduce a woman who's seen it all before ?or is -it some nostalgia for her student years?

The colors are sparkling in the restored version , recalling Douglas Sirk's melodramas ,but the master is not here .

This is not a movie

[marthawilcox1831 · 1/10 · 9 August 2014]

There is nothing to commend this poor excuse for a film. They call it a movie, but it is even worse than a stage play. It comes nowhere near the quality of 'Footsteps in the Fog', and obviously Jean Simmons lends her name to this project so that it can sell. None of the characters are sympathetic. They are all one-dimensional, and the story itself is unengaging. It is typical of certain studio films in the 1950s which were poorly written, poorly acted and poorly directed.

I would advise all Simmons fans to stay away from this film as it adds nothing to her canon of work, nor will you miss anything but not seeing it.

Feverish melodrama, fifties malaise

[hildacrane · 8/10 · 3 October 2005]

Another of Hollywood's many takes on the independent woman/"career girl" (whoever uses that term these days?), "Hilda Crane" is somewhere mid-point in the cycle. It was made just a few years before that quintessential career-girl movie "The Best of Everything." Hilda has "lived" but is not condemned to suffer, as would have been the case perhaps in a film of the 40's. Late in the film there's a very 50's having-one's-cake-and-eating-it-too scene that would seem to indicate that an adulterous episode has occurred, but also contains some very ambiguous dialogue in that regard. It's interesting to compare the film's take on the proper role of women with the questions that "Bigger Than Life" of the same year raises about men's roles in society. While "Hilda Crane" does not have the degree of subversiveness that Ray's film does, there are still questioning undercurrents. Things were percolating, and it was just a few years before Betty Friedan blew the lid off.

It starts with Hilda's defeated return from New York to her small-town home, just as "Clash by Night" begins with the return of a character played by Barbara Stanwyck. While in many triangle films it is the man who must choose between an exciting "bad" girl and a dull "good" girl, here, as in "Clash by Night," it is the woman who must decide--in this case, between the dangerous and foreign literature professor and the loyal, somewhat plodding boy-next-door type. (Most boys next door, however, do not look like Guy Madison.) The film features not one but two monstrous mothers.

Jean Simmons brings her usual loveliness, intelligence and dancer's grace to the part of Hilda, and David Raksin provides another dynamic score that combines melody and dissonance (he did study after all with Arnold Schoenberg, master of atonal music). Some ten years earlier Raksin did the score for another career-girl triangle film, "Daisy Kenyon."

The lady becomes a tramp.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 21 October 2017]

One of the unsung great ladies of the golden age of Hollywood was the beautiful Jean Simmons, always ladylike and fetching, yet somehow overshadowed in cinema history by stars such as friendly rival Deborah Kerr and the very similar Audrey Hepburn. Here, Simmons is closer to Holly Golightly than Sister Sarah from "Guys and Dolls", fiercely independent yet secretly longing for stability. She's returning to her small minded Nevada hometown (a precursor to Peyton Place) where she becomes torn between two old admirers, Guy Madison and Jean Pierre Aumont, dealing with Madison's nasty mother (Evelyn Varden) who makes her distaste for Simmons. Judith Evelyn, as Simmons' worried but distant widowed mother, is another obstacle, questioning every choice that her daughter makes.

As soapy as classic women's films can get, this covers every archetype seen in this type of film, often over the top and hysterically funny. Varden, it should be noted, goes from her usual Billie Burke type to literally becoming Billie Bird as she over-dramatizes the character's neuvoriche tactlessness, basically becoming a snooty version of Molly Brown who denies her own low class mannerisms while judging Simmons. Varden takes every overbearing mother of stage, screen and soaps and turns her into a human version of Godzilla, as close to a live version of a Disney villain as you will ever see. In short, Varden is deliciously horrible.

These type of films disguise their own tacky trash through colorful photography and beautiful sets. The women characters here are stronger than the men, and Simmons tries to instill her character with hidden qualities that hide the fact that she's too beautiful, classy and vivacious rather than the secretly weather beaten. Marie Blake, aka Granny Addams, looks ironically like Margaret Hamilton, aka Morticia Addams' mama, as Judith Evelyn's housekeeper. Peggy Knudeson gets some very funny bitchy lines as an old pal of Simmons, even getting a great slam in at Varden's expense. I'm sure that women audiences in the 1950's ate these type of movies up, but even with a pretty ribbon on it, trash is just trash.

SOAPY MELODRAMA

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 8/10 · 24 June 2018]

I can honestly say that until the release of this movie by Twilight Time I'd never heard of this movie. I found that strange since there are so many movies that are at least mentioned in various books and articles and yet this one somehow never caught my attention. So I went in with no clue what to expect.

The movie revolves around young Hilda Crane (Jean Simmons), a young woman who returns to her mother's home in small town USA after a run of bad luck, bad situations and bad choices in New York City. She married early, divorced, married and divorced again and had no future prospects relationship or business wise. Now she's returned home to try and find her way with the help of her mother Stella (Judith Evelyn). Of course her lifestyle thus far has left her with quite the reputation there in town.

Hilda proclaims that she'll follow her mother's advice and submit to the way of the world, one of drudgery away from the big city lights and chained to a modest home. She'll give up her freedom and belief in romantic love and replace it with a life of domesticity.

Walking her old college campus she runs into former professor and lover, Jacques DeLisle (Jean-Pierre Aumont). Seeing him again rekindles her dreams or romance at all costs. He takes her to his apartment and tells her she was the one woman he always longed for. He's about to have a book published that should leave him well off and he wants her back. But at what costs? The more he speaks the more she realizes he wants her as the woman on the side and not his wife.

Hilda has always had the eye of someone else from her past. Russell Burns (Guy Madison) owns a successful construction business now and has always loved Hilda. Not only does he send her a message he proposes to her right off the bat as well. He takes her to a home he's in the middle of constructing and tells her that he had the plans made to suit the style she always loved but it will need her touches to make it a home. Still smarting from the run in with DeLisle she accepts Russell's offer. She does so even though she knows she doesn't love him.

Willing to live the life her mother wants her to she finds another roadblock in her way, Russell's mother (Evelyn Varden). A domineering mother who runs her son's life she's unhappy that he wants to marry Hilda. So much so that she goes to Stella's house to confront Hilda. After a series of questions and comments Hilda refuses to change her mind Mrs. Burns leaves in a huff.

Torn between wanting to marry the man her mother thinks she should in the hope of finding domestic bliss and the romantic passion she dreams of in a man who wants her to be nothing but his "courtesan", Hilda finds herself in the middle of yet another romantic problem, still determined to live her life for herself and not for what society thinks is best for her. When DeLisle returns, successful and about to marry a woman for money, still wanting Hilda on the side, her problems become more pronounced.

The fifties were known for so many melodramas like this one, heaping on what had come before them and adding to them a bit of scandal in the making. To imagine a woman returning home after a divorce was one thing in the past but to come home after two was almost unimaginable. On top of that we have a strong willed character here determined to pursue the goals she sets for herself rather than those established by society. The end result is to cause herself more pain. Does that make the movie a morality tale or does it allow her some leeway, enough room to move in her own skin and determine a life for herself that is the best of both worlds?

Watching the movie I couldn't help but think that the sexual revolution of the sixties destroyed the possibility of making a movie like this afterwards. Free love resulted in women unbridled by the morals of the past. They could not be shamed by public standards and that scarlet woman model wouldn't hold water ever again. The goals that Hilda wants in this film would become the norm and whatever it took to reach those goals would be encouraged and applauded. The thing is that both worlds aren't quite reality, both sides have repercussions to deal with in their wake.

I've read some say that this was one of Simmons best performances but I'd beg to differ. Yes, she does what is called for here but the character is prone to overindulgent histrionics, making speeches rather than conversation and certainly more self-centered than most characters on film. Feelings for the character move back and forth from sympathy to dislike but in the end you feel that you're seeing less a woman in control and more a child who wants it all at no cost. Simmons delivers her lines well and acts wonderfully, it's perhaps more the dialogue written for her that makes the role seem a bit off.

The supporting casts does an amazing job here. Evelyn as her mother moves from caring to demanding, supportive and well-meaning but in the worst way possible. Here we have a woman who gave up her dreams for the life of a housewife and accepted it and now wants her daughter to do the same. The opposite side of that coin is Varden as Mrs. Burns, a woman who wants to control everything about her son, pushing away any potential romantic interest he might develop and trying to buy off Hilda with cash at one point. Both women are looking to control their offspring coming at it from different directions and both are more destructive than constructive. Aumont does a decent job here but the accent and attitude seem cardboard cutout rather than a character with depth. Madison is stalwart and little else, the man who suffers for his love but accepts whatever he can get from her.

The movie felt a bit long at times but not overly so. As I said it plays like what it is, a soap opera with an all-star cast made for the big screen. Shot in Cinemascope at the time to compete with television the images are well framed and shot and the print used by Twilight Time has been converted to a pristine 1080p high definition blu-ray. Extras are small but interesting and include an isolated music track, JEAN SIMMONS: PICTURE PERFECT an episode of the old Biography series and the original theatrical trailer. As with all their releases Twilight Time is limiting this to just 3,000 copies so if interested buy one right away.

I think Hilda's a bit of an idiot...perhaps you won't agree.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 27 January 2020]

Hilda Crane (Jean Simmons) is a woman who was just divorced for the second time and she's returned to her old home town to visit with her mother...and perhaps pick up a new husband in the process. The problem is that she's narrowed it down to two guys---both of which would make horrible husbands. Evidently Hilda's learned nothing during her adult life.

The problem with Russell (Guy Madison) is that she really doesn't love him, he's a 'momma's boy' and his mother is incredibly difficult. The mother is worried about her son marrying a woman twice divorced (a very reasonable concern) but she handles it about as badly as possible by being manipulative and vicious. As for the other guy, the Professor (Jean-Pierre Aumont), she loves him...though his intentions are simply dishonorable. He is passionate and offers thrills...but he essentially wants her as a mistress and makes no bones about it. Oddly, the film acts as if these two putzes are her only options. Marrying a goat would make more sense than either of these two guys.

"Hilda Crane' is well made. But the film is a difficult sell because it's hard to like or respect the titular character. Instead of remarrying, she could use some time out as well as therapy! And, by the end of the movie, it's obvious that she's suffering from a mental illness or a personality disorder. In this sense, the film is very interesting...even if you don't like Hilda or care about her poor life choices. Worth seeing but not one of Simmons' more enjoyable pictures.