Themes: Love Triangles, Infidelity, Crumbling Marriages
Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Art Baker, Griff Barnett, Henry Fonda, Ruth Warrick, John Davidson, Martha Stewart
Release Year: 1947
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
Plot
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, All Movie Guide
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, All Movie Guide
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; Jimmy Ames - Cab Driver; Monya Andre - Mrs. Ames; John Butler - Cab Driver; Robert Cole - Headwaiter; Mauritz Hugo - Mr. Ames; Norman Leavitt - Cab Driver; Marion Marshall - Telephone Operator; Ann Staunton - Secretary; George E. Stone - Waiter; Fernando Lamas; John Garfield - Man at bar in Stork Club; Don Avalier - Hotel Captain; Les Clark - Taxi Driver
Daisy Kenyon (Crawford) is a Manhattan commercial artist having an affair with an arrogant and overbearing but successful lawyer named Dan O'Mara (Andrews). O'Mara is married and has children. Daisy meets a single man, a war veteran named Peter Lapham (Fonda), and after a brief and hesitant courtship decides to marry him, although she is still in love with Dan. Dan then divorces his wife and tries to convince Daisy to leave Peter. Daisy realizes she no longer loves Dan and remains with Peter. Subplots explore the relationship between Dan and his wife Lucille (Ruth Warrick), the upbringing of their two daughters, and Dan's professional life. One scene is set in New York's Stork Club, and features cameo appearances by Walter Winchell, Leonard Lyons, John Garfield and Damon Runyon. Cast includes Peggy Ann Garner, Connie Marshall, and Griff Barnett.
Reception
T. M. P. in the New York Times noted, "Miss Crawford is, of course, an old hand at being an emotionally confused and frustrated woman, and she plays the role with easy competence." Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. in the New York Herald Tribune commented, "Preminger accomplishes no mean feat in guiding these people in and out among the interweavings of their own complexes, and he does wonders in varying the action of similar scenes."[1]
