Society sculptress in San Francisco marries a war veteran, a man who quickly turns to the bottle after failing to carve out his own niche away from the realm of his domineering mother-in-law; sometime later, the daughter they share apparently kills mom's lover in a jealous rage. Harold Robbins' best-selling roman à clef lifts its subplot from the real-life Lana Turner-Johnny Stompanato case, and those bits and pieces are rather interesting. However, much of the movie is spent with bickering marrieds Susan Hayward and inert Michael Connors trading barbs, and the promising idea loses its impetus and becomes a stillborn soaper. Connors, heavily made-up and with lacquered black hair that never changes during the story's many years, twitches and twists his mouth into a grimace throughout the entire picture, only coming to life while tipsy in a brief dinner scene. Hayward fares better, but her slurpy, silly lines are pure camp ("You're a kept-man, not a war hero! And a drunk! A drunk! A DRUNK!"). Bette Davis is pretty much wasted as Hayward's mother (who would've thought a film co-starring these two high-powered ladies could be so dull?) and Joey Heatherton scowls continuously as the teenager in trouble (I loved her retort though about how she lost her virginity: "It happened horseback riding!"). Tatty-looking picture has some fun trappings (such as Susan's round bed, Princess telephones, and fashions that often match the room decor),but the plot is lazy and Edward Dmytryk's direction is completely rote. Film opens with picture-postcard shots of San Francisco coupled with a cheesy title tune crooned by Jack Jones, which unbelievably netted an Oscar nomination! *1/2 from ****

The premise may have been a melodramatic and not so original one, but it did sound very intriguing. Love Bette Davis as an actress, have made that clear more than once, and Susan Hayward has also been fine in other things. Need to see more of Edward Dmytryk's work to make a proper judgment of him, but he did show with 'Crossfire' and especially 'Farewell, My Lovely' (or its original title 'Murder, My Sweet') that he was capable of greatness.

Really did try not to take 'Where Love Has Gone' too seriously and to take it for what it was meant to be. A big part of me really wanted to like it, it had all the ingredients to be great. Unfortunately, that subtlety is practically cast to the most blustery of winds (with the sole exception of Anne Seymour's character) and the constant assault of unintentionally overblown camp really made 'Where Love Has Gone' quite an exhausting watch and quite quickly with nowhere near enough to it to make it a guilty pleasure.

'Where Love Has Gone', starting with the good, is quite nicely photographed. Jane Greer and Anne Seymour do the absolute best they can with their material and give good performances.

Seymour having by far the most subtle character in the whole film. There are a few entertaining lines that made me laugh, such as the horse riding retort. The title song is quite lovely.

However, Davis, Hayward and Joey Heatherton are constantly competing for who can overact the most. In a close call, Heatherton is the shameless marginal winner and can be quite irritating. The acrimonious chemistry between Davis and Hayward is all over the film and unbalances it. Hayward was never this over the top and even for a camp and melodramatic film the over-the-top-ness was too much. Davis similarly archly over-compensates and on the other side of the acting spectum Mike Connors goes through the motions. That can be said also for Dmytryk's direction, evident in very sluggish pacing in namely the overlong and near-endless flashback.

Other than the photography, 'Where Love Has Gone' looks cheap and inauthentic. The story takes melodrama to a whole new level, the drama is just so uninteresting and not enough to fill the length. The high level of camp doesn't just reach fever pitch on a thermometer it exceeds it. The script is filled with howlers galore, and is both emotionally bland and laughably overwrought. Not to mention very awkward. The ending is overblown to the extreme, awfully so and there is absolutely no character worth rooting for.

All in all, a few good things but not a good film and not a good representation for the talent involved. 4/10

"Where Love Has Gone" is a bad movie. The characters are pretty much one-dimensional, the acting is about as subtle as a baseball at upside your head and the script is salacious and sleazy...yet, this film is incredibly entertaining because it's so over-the-top! Subtle, this movie ain't!! The film begins with a killing that I am sure was modeled after the true-life killing of Lana Turner's husband by her daughter from a previous marriage. Though the details aren't 100% certain, it sure bears a lot of similarity to the start of this film. It was a HUGE and very sensational story back in the 50s--and now the tale is being brought to the screen--in a story that has many, many changes from the original true tale.

The next portion of the film is a long flashback. Susan Hayward lives with her very rich and extremely controlling and manipulative mother (Bette Davis). She's very unhappy yet she doesn't leave...though she longs for change. When a guy comes into her life (Chuck Connors),Hayward is smitten. Why? Because when Davis tries to wrap him around her finger, he tells her to take her money and stuff it! However, he has no idea that this is what made Hayward love him.

Shortly after they marry, Connors' self-esteem is in the toilet. Behind his back, she made sure he'd fail in business and would be forced to work for her company. As a result of this, Connors is disheartened and starts to hit the bottle. And, because he's no longer the virile man who stood up to Davis, Hayward has contempt for him and his weakness--and their marriage fizzles. Soon, he's drunk all the time and she's whoring about with one boy-toy after another. Not surprisingly, they divorce--and the rest is history. These jerks apparently created the poor girl killer (Joey Heatherton) and the rest of the film is about the family trying to pick up the pieces. Who is best to raise this teen killer--the highly unstable and oversexed mother, the ex-alcoholic or the evil controlling mother? How it all ends is,....well....incredible! The plot idea isn't terrible. The problem is that the writing NEVER approaches subtlety or grace-and the ending is just WAAAY over the top!! It's full of screaming, sleaze and, well, a few more doses of sleaze! It's also hilariously preachy. The PRETENDS to be a morality tale to teach parents not to neglect their poor kids, but it's a very, very thin sort of veil for a bucket of steaming..., um,...soap. But it's also very entertaining and you can't keep your eyes off it--like a funny train wreck (if there could be such a thing). And, a lot like "Peyton Place".

By the way, if you care, DeForrest Kelley is also in the film in a supporting role. And, oddly, he comes off the best of any of them--playing the role like he's NOT a combination of constipated and intensely mad!