In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

This is melodrama near it's best - offering style, class, surprisingly good performances and an almost believable script. George Cukor as director and George Folsey as director of photography are a solid combination - drawing the viewer into a rather engrossing drama. It's also quite unlike the general Hollywood production (it's reminiscent of the realistic sharp edge that might have come from a writer more like Clifford Odettes). As far as original screenplays go this must rank as one of writer Isobel Lennart's best dramatic character studies. And, could be one time that enforced studio alterations just may have improved the final outcome.Turner is convincing as the small town girl striving for a modeling career in hard bitten N.Y. city. Milland is always reliable and carries his guilt ridden out-of-town businessman role with fitting aplomb. All performances by an unusually cast, fully professional ensemble, are strong. It could be said that Turner was a little too mature for her part and some script elements might not always gel but this remains class entertain for those that want their melodrama treated with less gloss and more character driven. It was obvious this material was never going to be popular stuff.Bronislau Kaper's (Lili '53) dramatic but melodic score sets the emotional tone for this above average piece of storytelling and ranks as one of his best.

Well...most of the people who have reviewed this movie don't seem to think much of it, even the ones who like it. So I'll go out on a limb and praise it to the skies. I think it contains one of Lana Turner's most interesting and powerful performances. The supporting cast is brilliant, right down to the smallest roles, but the highest marks go to Ann Dvorak and the frequently underrated (to my mind) Barry Sullivan. The musical score by Kaper is one of the finest of all time, with the main theme echoing throughout the film in the manner of Raksin's Laura. It's all fresh on my mind because I watched it again last night...I enjoy it more and more every time I watch it. And...I think the ending is one of the most life-affirming moments in movies, as Lana trashes the bogus "good luck charm" and truly understands that no one else can "make" her happy...A Life of Her Own indeed! Thanks for reading.

Tale of a woman coming from Kansas to New York only to hit it big as a model, but unable to capture the man she loved.Lana Turner is that woman and at the beginning of the film, she acts just like that girl who had been discovered in a drug store sipping soda some years before.There is one terrific performance by Ann Dvorak, an aging model, whose life is on the skids. Dvorak represents what can happen to women as they get older and are not able to cope with the changes that it brings. Miss Dvorak is the embodiment of that discontented woman, bitter and not knowing what else life will bring her. Unfortunately, her appearance in the film is a brief one, as she commits suicide.The rest of the story is devoted to Turner falling in love with Ray Milland, a wealthy married man whose wife is wheel-chair bound due to a car accident that he caused.When love blossoms between the two, Turner becomes hard-boiled in her intentions to tell the wife of what is going on. Of course, kindness and reality set in when Turner sees how dependent the wife is.Louis Calhern is very good as the man about town with a heart and Barry Sullivan is quite adequate as a gigolo, who knows what life can be all about.

Nothing much happens in A LIFE OF HER OWN to make anyone understand why a director as famous as George Cukor would bother to direct this potboiler after reading the script. And even more questionable is why MGM chose this script for Lana's return to the screen after a two-year absence. She's supposed to be a young woman who sweeps into the big city looking for a model agency that will hire her and immediately clicks as a top fashion model even though she lacks the fresh-faced beauty anyone would expect in a New York model. So much for credibility.Nor can one understand why there is absolutely no chemistry between LANA TURNER (beginning to look matronly at 30) and RAY MILLAND, who had already seen better days at his home studio, Paramount. The characters they play, a model and a successful, married businessman, are cardboard through and through with nothing about them to stir the interest in a long soap opera with a bittersweet ending.ANN DVORAK has a brief role at the start, but as soon as she meets her fate we get a sluggish introduction to RAY MILLAND's character and the film simply goes on and on at great length until it's disclosed that he has a crippled wife at home that Turner feels needs his attention more than she does, before she walks off nobly into the night.This kind of stuff wouldn't have been fashionable even fifteen years prior and it just meanders all over the place before it gets to that final scene. Not recommended for fans of Turner or Milland.