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| George Nader, Esther Williams, John Saxon |
THE UNGUARDED MOMENT (1956). Director: Harry Keller.
High school music teacher Lois Conway (Esther Williams) receives insolent mash notes from an unknown young admirer who later nearly assaults her and breaks into her house. When she learns his identity, the young man, Leonard (John Saxon of
The Unforgiven), accuses Lois of coming on to him and the school board seems to agree. Lt. Harry Graham (George Nader of
Carnival Story) thinks Leonard is a creep who needs to be arrested -- and may even be responsible for a series of rape-murders in town -- but the naive Lois still thinks of this 18-year-old man as an innocent "boy." It's a question if Lois will lose her job or maybe her life before everything is resolved.
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| John Saxon |
In these "me too" days,
The Unguarded Moment is still a relevant and timely picture, especially in the way it turns the perpetrator into a victim. (It's interesting that even today some people call this early study of sexual harassment "trashy." Why?) This was Williams' first dramatic role after appearing in many musical comedies with diminishing returns, and she's fine, and plays well with George Nader, whose character starts falling in love with her and vice versa. This was not John Saxon's first movie but he received a play-up in this, with him being singled out at the end as a "new personality." His performance is good, although he isn't quite up to the more emotional moments. Edward Andrews, an actor who somehow always exudes a negative aura no matter what part he's playing, is excellent as Saxon's woman-hating father, whose wife ran off years before. Les Tremayne, Eleanor Audley, Jack Albertson and Ed Platt are all credible in supporting roles. Not a great suspense film, but this holds the attention and isn't entirely predictable. It does sort of gloss over Leonard's inappropriate behavior a bit too much. Esther Williams followed this up with the lamentable
Raw Wind in Eden. Although she did not do the finished screenplay, the story for this film was co-written by no less than Rosalind Russell.
Verdict: Interesting cast and a still timely theme. ***.
2 comments:
Have read about this one but have yet to see it; now I must! Saxon and Nader were both "it" boys of the time, and it will be interesting to see how Williams handles a non-musical, non-swimming role!
-Chris
With her customary sexy sauciness, which is, I think, what put her over in this and all of her other movies. If you can track down a copy, Chris, I think you'll get a kick out of this one.
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