When we had that blackmail trouble
European director Max Ophuls spent a few postwar years in Hollywood, where he worked on five studio pictures. The results varied, but one of his best efforts from this period was THE RECKLESS MOMENT for Columbia. The project teamed him with James Mason, whom he had already directed in another noir thriller, CAUGHT.
Mason costars alongside Joan Bennett, whose husband Walter Wanger served as the producer. Like Ophuls, Mason had just emigrated to America. Meanwhile, Bennett was continuing to freelance in dramas that had her taking direction from European emigres who in addition to Ophuls, included Fritz Lang and Jean Renoir.
THE RECKLESS MOMENT deftly combines formula filmmaking with the flourish of a well-known auteur. A fairly routine plot about blackmail and paranoia is elevated almost to an art form. Mason and Bennett etch vivid portrayals, understanding the characters assigned them are flawed yet still spiritual and deserving of salvation.
It all starts when Bennett’s 17 year old daughter, played by 24 year old Geraldine Brooks, is involved with a man who’s much older than her. The shady boyfriend wants to extort money out of the the family, and if he’s paid what he wants, he’ll leave the teen girl alone. Things go horribly wrong when he shows up at the estate and has a quarrel with Brooks, which results in his accidental death.
There are a few twists. Brooks doesn’t know the guy died at first. And when Bennett discovers the body along the shore the following morning, she assumes her daughter was responsible for the killing, so she disposes of the corpse. After this is taken care of, Bennett then gets a visit from Mason, who has in his possession some letters that Brooks wrote to the deceased man, which would look bad if they wound up with the police.
As I said, it is a somewhat predictable blackmail plot. But what sets this film apart is how Bennett and Mason develop an unusual rapport with one another, while working out how she will pay the five grand expected in exchange for the letters. Bennett’s husband, who remains off camera, is away on business in Europe.
Bennett has trouble scraping up the cash, and Mason is surprisingly patient with her since he’s come to like her. However, Mason has a hard-nosed associate (Roy Roberts) who is pressuring him to wrap up the deal and collect the dough. That backfires, leading to Roberts’ death.
The story’s pacing is quick, with everything squeezed into a compact 82-minutes. The dialogue is not quite rapid-fire in its delivery, but the lines are recited without any pauses, and there are no extra words. Characters get to the point, the scenes accomplish what they need to convey, and we are then on to the next part. Since Ophuls is at the helm, there is a focus on shadowy visuals and a keen sense of time and place. The family’s estate is set on Balboa Island in southern California, and there are plenty of on-location exteriors to add realism.
Bennett’s role could just as easily have been performed by Barbara Stanwyck or Joan Crawford. She is that sort of woman in peril: exquisitely maintained by an absent hubby, perfectly poised and able to successfully negotiate with a criminal element while protecting the home front and retaining her femininity at every turn.
As for Mason, it seems like he is summoning some of the rougher aspects of the character he played in ODD MAN OUT, yet there is a poignant vulnerability. Especially in a scene near the end when he confesses that he was one of five brothers and his mother had hoped he would be a priest, refusing to ever believe he was the bad one. In the end, his reckless lifestyle leads to his demise…but before his time’s up, he returns the incriminating letters to Bennett and assures a happy ending for her and her daughter.
Of or Involving Motion Pictures 