Too much of everything

Brilliant and touching

Admirable film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

"The Arnelo Affair" is like a pig wearing a Chanel dress. It's a lovely dress....but you still have a pig hiding underneath. So, while the movie looks nice since it was made by the top studio of the day, at its heart the film is unappealing.Mr. and Mrs. Parkson (George Murphy and Frances Gifford) appear to be a happy and successful couple. After all, he's a lawyer, they have a cute son (Dean Stockwell) and have a lot going for them...except Mr. Parkson is about as romantic as a punch in the kidneys! Considering how much he neglects his wife, it's not surprising that Anne would be drawn to Tony Arnelo (John Hodiak)...a suave thug who runs a swank nightclub. On the pretense of going to his apartment to give him decorating ideas, Anne goes alone to Arnelo's...and he tries to woo her. She never says yes, she never says no...and seems like a bit of a milquetoast, actually. Later, she comes to his apartment again and witnesses him slapping around an actress...and Anne stomps off due to his boorish behavior.The next day, the newspaper says that the same actress was found dead...and Anne is pretty sure Arnelo did it. EVERYTHING she does from her on in the film makes zero sense and made me question whether or not the character was supposed to be suffering from a head injury or a case of indigestion. Regardless, Frances Gifford delivers a confusing mess of a character--some, no doubt, due to bad writing. And, by this point, the film completely lost me. Bad dialog, confusing and irrational characters and a script that seems like it never even went through re-writes or revisions make this a very difficult film to finish. It does look great...but is a mess nevertheless.

You want to scream at the character as she stumbles into an obvious man hole, lacking the minimal effort it would take to prevent it. But, that's the storyline. Once you see that happening, you have the choice to either turn it off or put up with it to the finish. I did the latter.Gifford had to be at the height of her beauty in this - flawless. Obviously, hubby got over it, as makes a case for beauty being only skin deep, and she sure was passive. George Murphy is one of those "leading men" that cause you to scratch your head and figure it must have been who was available at the time after better choices were not.John Hodiak is contemptible, as was his usual film persona. Our heroine is repulsed, but drawn to him; again, the frustrating element that sadly made up the story. I think Eve Arden does help in this. She's always a refresher, and did relieve the intensity. Actually, she seemed to have a fuller part than usual.The child's situation, again, was frustrating to watch. Why didn't this dame get her focus off herself, get actively involved in her child's life, school, friends, volunteer work, learn to make potholders - anything to get herself off the severely underemployed roster.But, that's the way of this type of story, and once bit, you have to endure to the cure. I wouldn't say not to see this, but if you are easily frustrated, better skip it.

The Arnelo Affair has John Hodiak in the title role of a nightclub owner with tax troubles getting an affair going with his lawyer's wife Frances Gifford.Frances is a woman with an itch and Hodiak is quite willing to scratch it. But as it turns out he's doing a bit of two timing himself on actress Joan Woodbury. Later on when Woodbury is murdered Hodiak is on the short list of Detective Warner Anderson suspects, but so is Gifford.This film is a great example of the Code strangling the creativity of film making. Today it would be quite explicitly filmed with proper sex scenes in their place. George Murphy played Gifford's husband and his is a strangely underwritten role. If I were doing the film and being that Hodiak is having tax troubles, when Murphy does find out there are hundreds of creative ways he could have done Hodiak good and proper.Eve Arden is in the film in an Eve Arden part. Though in this one she's sporting a hint of jealousy that Hodiak isn't giving her a tumble. That too should have been brought out more.The Arnelo Affair if someone decides to remake it has lots of room for improvement.

This movie is unsuccessful as a noir, a crime drama -- as anything, really.John Hodiak is always compelling, though he isn't a convincing villain here. George Murphy is barely adequate.Frances Gifford -- whose bio I just read here, and who had a tragic life -- is very beautiful but directed to act as if in a coma.Even Eve Arden's quips fall uneasily flat in this context.The best performance is given by Dean Stockwell, as the strangely troubled child Murphy and Gifford profess to adore but who seems to be ignored by his father and to have an extreme affection for his mother.