Sleep, My Love (1948)

OK, it's a no brainer. I love Claudette Colbert, I love this post-war period, and I love Douglas Sirk, the director. So it only figures that this unfolds in a delicious way.

The closest film to this is "Gaslight," which George Cukor makes into something more intense and memorable than this. But "Gaslight" is burdened by a kind of contorted plot--the reasoning behind the fake madness is some crazy lost jewel. This one, by fortunate contrast, is a really believable plot, and Colbert is faced with a very normal plot of a husband out to drive her away.

There are some weaknesses--the husband's girlfriend is pretty stiff, the Chinese pal is decent but sort of tacked on, and the overall development of things is too linear for a second viewing. But as a straight up drama, from start to finish, it's really strong. And a surprise for me was how charming in a low key way was Robert Cummings, the white knight of the story. Colbert's husband was played by the more famous Don Ameche, who is fine, though you get a sense he's going through the paces of a part, something he wasn't quite invested in.

The director is famous for his later dreamy, drippy soap opera movies that are quite something on their own terms, but this is good, and an important one to see if you like his work. For me, above all, is just another great Colbert appearance. First rate in many ways.

I love film noir--so the fact that I really enjoyed "Sleep, My Love" is not especially surprising. What did surprise me, however, is that although the film has a familiar plot, it still was a good film. So, if you watch it and you are reminded of "Gaslight", "Experiment Perilous" and "Dial M For Murder", don't be at all surprised.

The film begins well and really grabs your attention. A woman (Claudette Colbert) awakens to find herself on a train bound for Boston. Considering her last memory was going to bed back in New York, this is pretty amazing. What's more amazing is that as the film progresses, Colbert continues to behave strangely. At first it looks like she might be losing her mind, but very soon you begin to suspect she's being set up by her philandering husband (Don Ameche). What happens next? Tune in and see.

"Sleep, My Love" has some very nice things going for it. Although she's only in the film here and there, Daphne (Hazel Brooks) is amazingly effective. She's cold and a great example of a film noir dame (also called a 'femme fatale'). In addition, the film really, really ended well. I'd say more--but it was violent and exciting--and the fact that the .22 was not an especially effective weapon is quite realistic. See this film--you'll be glad you did.

Claudette Colbert wakes on the train bound to Boston. He has no memory of anything beyond going to bed the previous evening. In South Station she runs into college chum Rita Johnson, and her friend, Robert Cummings. Meanwhile, Claudette's husband, Don Ameche is reporting her as missing to the police. He seems relieved when he gets her phone call. But there's more.

It soon becomes clear this is a rather sinister film noir, with Ameche gaslighting Miss Colbert so he can have her committed. It's a slow, deliberate movie, and quite creepy, with director Douglas Sirk getting in early potshots and the well-to-do. Mary Pickford is credited as the presented, and her husband, Charles "Buddy" Rogers is one of the producers. It's a topnotch noir, one of the last Miss Pickford produced.