The sensational story of youth on a fling
1954-11-18
$2.0M
116 min
Reporter Charles Wills, in Paris to cover the end of World War II, falls for the beautiful Helen Ellswirth following a brief flirtation with her sister, Marion. After he and Helen marry, Charles pursues his novelistic ambition while supporting his new bride with a deadening job at a newspaper wire service. But when an old investment suddenly makes the family wealthy, their marriage begins to unravel — until a sudden tragedy changes everything.
Journalist "Charles" (Van Johnson) returns to Paris after a two year absence and takes up his stool in the bar where he begins to reminisce about the reasons that kept him in the city after the end of WWII and of those that eventually drove him away. It all started when he was given a blind kiss on the day of liberation celebrations then later he meets the girl again. "Helen" (Elizabeth Taylor). He takes an immediate shine to her just as her sister "Marion" (Donna Reed) does to him. He's an aspiring writer and now settled with new, wealthy and party-going, wife and their daughter, he hopes to finish his magnum opus. Along the way he has crises of confidence and takes to the bottle - all putting a strain on his marriage that ends in tragedy. The purpose of his return is now clear, but will it find any traction with those who still remember? Liz Taylor does exude a degree of star quality here, but for then most part this is really a rather unremarkable melodrama that follows a fairly predictable arc of ups and downs before a Parisian showdown that doesn't really burn very brightly. Johnson is adequate here, and there are a few welcome interventions from Walter Pidgeon but otherwise this is all watchable and beautifully shot but forgettable stuff.
