Sleep, My Love

Sleep, My Love
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDouglas Sirk
Screenplay by
Based on
Sleep, My Love
by Leo Rosten
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJoseph A. Valentine
Edited byLynn Harrison
Music byRudy Schrager
Production
company
Triangle Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists[1]
Release dates
  • January 12, 1948 (1948-01-12) (Ottawa)
  • January 27, 1948 (1948-01-27) (Los Angeles)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Sleep, My Love is a 1948 American noir film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings and Don Ameche.[2] Adapted from the serialized novel of the same name by Leo Rosten, it follows a chronic sleepwalker (Colbert) who comes to believe a mysterious man is attempting to murder her. The film was co-produced by Mary Pickford. It has been called "a gaslighting thriller."[3]

Plot

Alison Courtland, a wealthy New Yorker, awakens on a train bound for Boston with no memory of how she got there. When she phones her husband, Richard, the police listen in and overhear that she had threatened him with a gun. On a flight home, fellow passenger Bruce Elcott is attracted to Alison. Elcott, it turns out, knows one of her good friends.

Back home, Richard makes Alison agree to start seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Rhinehart. However, the 'doctor' who shows up at the house for their first appointment is not Rhinehart, but Charles Vernay, a photographer hired by Richard, who is having an affair with another woman, Daphne, and hopes to get rid of Alison for good.

Richard's scheme is to drive Alison to suicide and thus inherit her wealth. Elcott, who has come to suspect there is some kind of purposeful plan afoot to confuse and distress Alison, arrives just in time to find her, apparently under hypnosis, about to leap from a balcony to her death. Elcott discovers Vernay's role in the situation. Richard, meanwhile, attempts to drug Alison and make her kill the doctor herself.

Vernay realizes he has been betrayed and shoots Richard; Vernay is later killed by falling through a skylight while being chased by Elcott, after which Elcott and Alison are able to be together in peace.

Cast

Production

Screen rights for the story, which was written by Leo Rosten and had been serialized in magazines, were purchased by Triangle Productions in November 1946. Rosten wrote the first screenplay but The New Yorker writer St. Clair McKelway was recruited to contribute to the final version.

The film was produced by Mary Pickford, her husband Buddy Rogers and Ralph Cohn.[4][5] It was Pickford's first film activity in 12 years since The Gay Desperado (1936), although Cohn and Rogers had produced films for Comet Productions. Pickford was involved in approving the cast and script.[6]

In December 1946, the production company approached Richard Ney to head the cast.[7] In April 1947, Don Ameche was signed as the star and Douglas Sirk agreed to direct[8] before Claudette Colbert and Robert Cummings were added to the cast.[9]

Filming began on May 27, 1947 at the Hal Roach Studios in Los Angeles.[10]

Release

Sleep, My Love premiered in Ottawa, Canada on January 12, 1948 as a benefit to help children in Europe. Mary Pickford was in attendance and delivered a speech about the plight of the children.[11] The film opened in Los Angeles on January 27, 1948.[1]

Home media

Olive Films released Sleep, My Love on Blu-ray on April 15, 2014.[12]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote:

As the latest arrival on an extremely long line of psychological melodramas, "Sleep, My Love" is a sleek entry which manages to run its course without coming a cropper. An intelligent script, facilely handled, for the most part, helps matters along but a general lack of suspense, familiar plot and somewhat uneven direction keep "Sleep, My Love" ... a fairly obvious chapter in cinema psychology. Whether the hypnotic procedures used by the producers will gratify the Adler, Jung and Freud schools or give those professional gentlemen an aggravated anxiety neurosis, is hard to say. ... "Sleep, My Love" can be marked down as a generally competent job. which has its absorbing moments but which hasn't strayed much from the norm.[11]

Variety's review concluded: "Sleep, My Love manages a fair share of suspense and adds up to okay melodrama. Plot gets off to a strong start and windup is high melodrama that brings off the finale on a fast note."[13]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Sleep, My Love". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Sleep My Love". Monthly Film Bulletin. 15 (169). London: 142. January 1, 1948.
  3. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (October 29, 2024). "Movie Star Cold Streaks: Robert Cummings". Filmink. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  4. ↑ Schallert, Edwin (November 13, 1946). "Jacqueline White Wins 'Baldpate' Femme Lead". Los Angeles Times. p. A2.
  5. ↑ Scheuer, Philip K. (July 20, 1947). "Pickford's New Work Thrills Her: Producing Pictures Revives Glamour of Reign as Star". Los Angeles Times. p. C1.
  6. ↑ Brady, Thomas F. (June 15, 1947). "'Your Life' -- Mary Pickford, Producer -- Addenda". The New York Times. p. X5.
  7. ↑ De Havilland Buys Story as Subject for Herself. Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 17 December 1946: A2.
  8. ↑ M'Caret will do new RKO Comedy. New York Times 15 April 1947: 29
  9. ↑ Brady, Thomas F. (April 29, 1947). "Gross Buys Rights to Film 'Mrs. Mike'". The New York Times. p. 32.
  10. ↑ Drama and Film: Wyler Invades Foreign Mart for Film Stories. Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 15 May 1947: A3.
  11. 1 2 Weiler, A. H. (February 19, 1948). "The Screen in Review". The New York Times. p. 29.
  12. ↑ Rich, Jamie S. (April 2, 2014). "Sleep, My Love (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Review: 'Sleep, My Love'". Variety. 1948. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
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