Daisy Kenyon

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Daisy Kenyon stars Joan Crawford as the eponymous heroine, a Manhattan commercial artist. Daisy is torn between two men: a handsome, married attorney (Dana Andrews) and an unmarried Henry Fonda. Deciding to do the "right thing", Daisy marries Fonda, but carries a torch for the dashing Andrews. When the lawyer divorces his wife, he calls upon Daisy and tries to win her back. She is very nearly won over, but her husband isn't about to give up so easily. Both men argue over Daisy, who is so distraught by the experience that she nearly has a fatal automobile accident. In the end, Daisy realizes that she truly loves Fonda, and gives Andrews his walking papers. Daisy Kenyon is given a contemporary slant with a subplot about child abuse (in a Joan Crawford film!); and, in one scene set at New York's Stork Club, several celebrities (Walter Winchell, Leonard Lyons, John Garfield) make unbilled cameo appearances. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Subtitle: Spa/Eng/Fre
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • cc
  • Audio commentary by film noir historian Foster Hirsch
  • From journeyman to artist: Otto Preminger at Twentieth Century Fox documentary
  • Life in the shadows - the making of Daisy Kenyon featurette
  • Interactive pressbook
  • Still galleries
  • Original theatrical trailer

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Joan Crawford - Daisy Kenyon
       Art Baker - Lucille's Lawyer
       Griff Barnett - Thompson
       Ruth Warrick - Lucille O'Mara
       John Davidson - Mervyn
       Peggy Ann Garner - Rosamund O'Mara
       Victoria Horne - Marsha
       Nicholas Joy - Coverly
       Leonard Lyons - Himself
       Connie Marshall - Mariette O'Mara
       Charles Meredith - Judge
       Roy Roberts - Dan's Attorney
       Tito Vuolo - Dino
       Walter Winchell - Himself, in Stork Club
       Ann Staunton - Secretary

• Director:

  Otto Preminger

• Producer:

  Otto Preminger

• Screenwriter:

  David Hertz

• Book Author:

  Elizabeth Janeway

• Cinematographer:

  Leon Shamroy

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Alfred Newman

• Composer (Music Score):

  David Raksin

• Editor:

  Louis Loeffler

• Art Director:

  George W. Davis, Lyle Wheeler

• Set Designer:

  Thomas K. Little, Walter Scott

• Costume Designer:

  Charles LeMaire

• Special Effects:

  Fred Sersen

REVIEW:

• Fans of Joan Crawford will have a field day with Daisy Kenyon, one of Crawford's "strong woman stuck in a love triangle" melodramas. But Kenyon should also entertain those who aren't always tuned into Crawford in high melodrama mode. One reason for this is that, while Kenyon has more than its share of soap operatics, it also has a fair share of moments that are of genuine dramatic interest. They're not necessarily revelatory or of high dramatic order, but they are fairly realistic and quite palatable. It also helps that the outcome of the film is kept somewhat in doubt until near the end. Also, while Crawford dominates the film with a star performance as big as her shoulder pads, she also has competition from the quieter but nonetheless powerful performances of Dana Andrews and Henry Fonda. Most helpful, however, is the direction of Otto Preminger and the fluid camerawork of Leon Shamroy. Kenyon is not Preminger's best work, by any stretch, but he makes it a much stronger film than it otherwise would have been. The material does not really seem to engage the director on a personal level, but this has an interesting effect. Preminger sometimes uses Shamroy's camera to intrude into the character's lives, as if he's trying to find something beneath the surface that just isn't there. He occasionally lingers just a second too long on a face or a scene, or frames a performer in a manner that is somehow slightly judgmental. All this adds a slight, welcome weight to the film -- not enough to slow it down or get in the way of the pacing (or, God forbid, of Crawford!), but enough to add a subtle sense of discomfort. Kenyon is no great film, but it's quite entertaining. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi