Such a frustrating disappointment

Sadly Over-hyped

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

I was a bit predisposed to like this movie, since I have a big crush on Dana Andrews. If you actively dislike him, you should stick to Jamaica Inn or Sentimental Journey instead. In The Forbidden Street, he plays a wildly attractive artist who comes from the wrong side of the tracks but captures proper Maureen O'Hara's heart anyway. See why I liked it?Maureen's family disapproves of Dana, and not just because he's poor. He literally lives in the slums, which are visible from Maureen's window. She knows how terrible "the forbidden street" is, but since it's Dana Andrews, she throws everything away and moves to the slums after they're married. As she soon finds out, having a handsome hubby doesn't make everything perfect. Her neighbors hate her, she's estranged from her parents, Dana treats her badly, and they're running out of money. What's a wife to do?Well, you'll have to watch the movie to find out what happens-and it's extremely exciting! While I wish there were a bit more twists and turns to the plot, overall it's an entertaining movie. The ending will definitely make you think. I'm still talking about my interpretation days later!

Starting off slowly and moving to a boil, this movie quickly cools and sadly never regains momentum. But for those middle of the movie moments, this is like a volcano that suddenly burps and dies. With the gorgeous Maureen O'Hara, you'd think it's her, but the honors of making this rise up is the unrecognizable Dame Sybil Thorndike who, complete with wart and mustache, becomes as close to a Dickens character in a non Dickens character. She's a vicious blackmailer, seemingly just around the corner from death, but being the daughter of Satan plaguing the London slums, she's the type of character that you could see living forever.O'Hara is completely ladylike member of the upper middle class (not quite rich, buy mighty close...) who falls for a sophisticated but poor artist (the unrecognizable Dana Andrews) who secretly drinks and turns her marriage into a nightmare. Thorndike, stalking O'Hara and Andrews, witnesses what appears to be his accidental death, and viciously manipulates O'Hara into a payoff. Along comes a promising puppeteer (also Andrews!) who gets the pleasure of dealing with this vicious hag. That's where this loses steam, going from hag to sag within just a very short time.This had so much potential for becoming a classic Gothic thriller, with Thorndike as unforgettable as Martita Hunt in the recent "Great Expectations", but changes to the direction don't really help sustain complete interest. This is gorgeous to look at with upper middle class homes and the peasant setting stark contrasts to each other yet both stunning to look at. Wilfred Hyde White is commanding as O'Hara's father, and the rest of the ensemble seems perfectly suited to the period. Had I been an Academy voter in 1949, I would have pushed Thorndike for Best Supporting Actress, one of the great movie villainesses I've seen in a long time.

Dreadful film.Dana Andrews takes a double role here. In his first part, he tries to do an imitation of Ronald Colman. Where did he ever dream up that accent? It was awful. This was Dana's biggest bomb in pictures. Even in 1945's "State Fair," he was far superior here.The best performance by far here is by Dame Sybil Thorndike as a nasty woman who blackmails Maureen O'Hara, when hubby Andrews takes a fatal flop down the staircase. Had the picture kept up with the blackmailing, it would have been far superior. Instead, it jumps to 3 years later when from out of the blue, Andrews reappears as a look alike to the fallen husband. He quickly chases the old bat Thorndike away; takes up with O'Hara but sleeps separately from her because he is already married. Nice morals are displayed here.Having found the dead husband's puppets, Dana #2 and Maureen soon go into the puppetry business and because of it, Brittania Mews, a slum for all seasons, soon becomes a different environment. Isn't this just ducky?In showing the slum area, the set decorations are even worse than you expect.This misery lasts for 1:37. Too much to handle.

SPOILER This film is a little bit hard to get hold of nowadays, but very worth the watch and purchase. Please rally to get it redistributed. Maureen O'Hara is Adelaide Culver, an upper class Londoner from a very respectable victorian household who is taking art lessons inhome from impassioned impoverished artist Herbert Lambert(Dana Andrews)who resides in a lively ghetto of ne'er do-wells behind the genteel rowhouses whence her family resides. She immediately falls in love with him and decides against her parents and siblings protests to be his wife and live with him there, mostly for worse. He warns her that he is a drunk, but she will not listen. He proves to drink too much and work too little, and her trust fund is dwindling. She says he must go back to giving art lessons which he abhorred and he refuses. He is drunk and tumbles to his death down the long steep stair. A crowd immediately arrives and the constable begins questions. Mrs Mounsey(Dame Sybil Thorndike)across the way declares she saw the whole thing, and that it was an accidental death. She then forces her friendship upon Adelaide, begging and insisting into an odd relationship based on blackmail. To the rescue comes Gilbert Lauderdale(also Dana Andrews), a good natured mailroom clerk and barrister who tells Mounsey to get lost or else. Among is a wonderful Moliere puppet show featuring the noble French marionettes Herbert had created as a dreamy eyed college student in Paris, which he gave up on but were resurrected after his tragic demise. The parents have bought a country estate in the Cotswolds and brother Treff from Oxford sees the show and loves it. Upon discovering it has been put on by sis he lets her know she's been missing all these years and is welcome home. She goes to her parents with Gilbert and they welcome him into the family to a happy ending.