Main Cast: Greer Garson, Robert Mitchum, Richard Hart, George Zucco, Morris Ankrum, Cecil Humphreys
Release Year: 1947
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Marise Aubert (Greer Garson) has begun seeing a psychiatrist to treat her overwhelming guilt. It seems that Marise was married to Paul (Robert Mitchum), who was sent overseas in World War II. She loved Paul deeply and remained faithful to him. She then receives tragic news that Paul died in action, and months later is visited by Jean Renaud (Richard Hart), one of Paul's friends from the Army. Jean tells Marise that he and Paul were captured by enemy troops, and Paul died in the midst of a heroic attempt to escape. Marise senses that Jean is as lonely and heartbroken as she is, and she allows him to stay at her house. They fall in love, but the situation becomes complicated when a letter arrives from Paul. Jean hides it from Marise, hoping that she will not discover that her husband is still alive. He tries to convince her to sell her home and move away from her troubling memories, but before the sale can go through, Paul appears at the doorstep. While Paul can forgive Marise for betraying him, she is unable to forgive herself. Desire Me was released without a director's credit; the bulk of the principal photography was supervised by George Cukor, but by all accounts it was a troubled shoot, and eventually Mervyn LeRoy] and {$Jack Conway both worked to finish the picture. Garson nearly drowned while filming one scene, and Mitchum claimed that Cukor put Garson through 125 takes of another scene before she could say the word "No" to his satisfaction. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Greer Garson and Robert Mitchum deserve better than Desire Me, an unconvincing romance that, while not terrible, nevertheless can't seem to escape the muddle that it gets itself into. The flashback sequences are intended to create dramatic tension and interest, but they wear after a while, and the ending in which the psychiatrist wraps up Garson's troubles about her guilt so quickly doesn't convince. It's also a problem that the audience never really gets a chance to see for itself the development of the relationship between Mitchum and Garson. Instead, Garson talks about the intensity of their feelings for each other, but the audience, not witnessing it for itself, is kept emotionally at a distance and doesn't have the investment in this crucial part of the film. Similarly, not enough time is allowed to pass between Garson being told Mitchum is dead and her deciding to marry Richard Hart. It would be one thing if the love between Garson and Mitchum had not been as deep as she claimed, if that was a fantasy she had draped around it; that would have been the basis for a different, and far more interesting movie. But that's not the case, and the audience balks at the character's quick change of heart. The actors all do well with what they have to work with, and without a firm directorial hand (no director is officially credited, although George Cukor and Mervyn LeRoy, along with one and possibly two others, worked on it). Without a strong presence at the helm, the film flounders, leaving the cast to pull it all together. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
