Woman in her late-twenties, twice married and twice divorced, leaves behind New York City for her small hometown, moving back in with her eternally-disappointed mother; immediately upon her arrival, she starts getting marriage proposals...unfortunately, the man she chooses to be Husband No. #3 is a mamma's boy. Glossy, fairly enjoyable soaper from the play by Samson Raphaelson, although we never quite get a grip on Jean Simmons' Hilda Crane, who is alternately haughty, overwrought, idealistic yet aloof (she wants her happily-ever-after, though she needs to be supported financially as well). Hilda's taste in men seems to be her biggest hurdle--perhaps in place of the tall, thin, men's catalogue type, she should try for one of the construction workers over at her fiancé's job site? These assembly-line Twentieth Century-Fox potboilers never seemed to work out that way, making "Hilda Crane" another predictable 'woman's picture' from the '50s, occasionally engaging but nothing special or memorable. **1/2 from ****
Review of Hilda Crane
Hilda Crane
(1956)
"In case you don't know what 'cortisan' means, it's just a fancy word for 'tramp'!"
8 September 2009